Husbands death just before exchange of contracts

Iwanttobefree

Hi all

Obviously my relative will be incontact with her solicitor about this, but wondered if anyone had faces similar.

Husband severly ill, they decide to sell their house, now living in their new rented place designed for people with mobility issues.

The initial plan was to just sell their house (have a small mortgage on it) , and stay where they are for now,  but over the last few months, as he became bed bound, they decided they should find a smaller property to buy as stairs becoomes a mute point when he cant leave his bed.  They weren't in a hurry tro move out of the rented accomodation, they were going to look for a place to buy in January.

They were told on Friday that the contracts have been sent out for them to sign, hoping exchange woud take place anytime soon.

Sadly, he died yesterday.  She did have power of attourney over both financial and health, but that ends the second he died.

They both jointly own the house hence both on the title.

I know when there's a single owner and they die, you have to wait for Probate to be granted, but googling brings up very litle information for a situation like this.

Some sites imply that if it's jointly held and one of them dies before exchange, the sale can still go ahead, other sites arent that clear.

Anyone witnessed a similar situation please?

Again obviously she will seek professional advice, but at the moment, the last thing she will need is more stress with regards to the house sale, wondered if anyone had been through this and what happened.

Many thanks

jonnydeppiwish!

Depending on which way they owned the house, but possible no probate required if they were joint tenants as she automatically owns the whole house.  If tenants in common, then it may be different, depending on values etc

Keep_pedalling

If they owned the house as joint tenants then she now owns the house outright and probate will not be required to sell the house, although it might be required for other assets. The same applies if they were tenants in common and she inherits his share under his will or under the laws of intestacy if he had not made one.

It gets a bit more complicated if he died intestate if he has children and his share of the house exceeds £270k as his widow would only inherit £270k + 50% of the remainder, the rest would go to his children.

TBagpuss

AS others have said, if they owned as Joint Tenants the houe passes automatically to her on his death so she will still be able t osell without needing probate - she will need to provide a cpy of his death certificate and the paperwork will need to be redrafted to reflect that she is selling solely.

IF it was owned as tenants in common (i.e. with each of them having a saparate and distincy share) then she'll need to wait for probate .

Her conveynacer should be able to confir mwhich way they hold it. 

propertyrental

As above - did they own as

• Joint Tenants or
• Tenants in Common?

https://www.gov.uk/joint-property-ownership
If TIC, was there a will and if so who inherits?

This may also help:
https://www.gov.uk/update-property-records-someone-dies

Alter_ego

Post 1 says joint

youth_leader

So very sorry to read this.  When my husband died I inherited the house, but had to go to probate as we had a joint plus a single bank account each.  Best wishes to your relative.

tacpot12

Alter_ego said:

Post 1 says joint

But people often say "joint" when they don't actually know how the property is owned, but know that there is more than one owner. If the OP had said "joint owners (not tenants-in-common)" we could have more faith that they understood the legal position correctly. 

Iwanttobefree

Many thanks everyone

Turns out, one call to her solicitor from her daughter , said as she's joint tennant, it wont delay the sale at all  (well more than a few days), she just needs to bring in his death certificate.

Very helpful information, while it was easy to solve, it was nice knowing where things stand when I visited her yesterday as the last thing she needs right now is any more stress.