Selling Grandmas house

darrend2812

Hi all, 
My grandma passed in 2019 and probate was issued in 2021. She left behind her estate which according to the will now needs to be sold and money to be divided amongst her grandchildren (4 of us). 
My mother and her sister (my aunt) were executors of my grandma's will however recently my aunt has since passed. 

I have been advised by some that we now need a new executor on the will and also we must notify Land Registry to put the house in all 4 of the grandchildren's name. My concern is paying for solicitor fees twice for both of these services when our intention is to just sell. 

Can someone confirm if the above is true, or if you have any advice for us. 

Brie

I was under the impression that the estate could simply sell the property without putting it into the kids' names first.  Saves all those issues of owning 2 homes, loss of FTB benefits etc.

RAS

Has anyone actually got probate? Check on the gov.uk site, £1.50.

darrend2812

Yes probate granted in 2021 

elsien

You don’t need another executor. Your mum can carry on administering the will in her current executor role. But I have a vague memory that if probate has been granted, there might need to be a re-grant of probate. So you might want to  check that with the probate office.

Also pretty sure the house doesn’t need to be put in the grandchildren’s names if it’s being sold by the estate. It would only be put in their names if they were planning on keeping it.

NannaH

You definitely don’t need to transfer ownership, the conveyancers will do that from the estate to the new owners.
By transferring to the Grandchildren, it would rob them of any first time property buyer perks. 

I believe that if the Aunt had a will, HER executor carries on with the original estate admin alongside your Mum. It’s called ‘chain of executorship.’

NO - scratch that,  apparently your Mum carries on alone. 

RAS

There may well be a CGT liability if the house had increased in value since grandmother died. Mum needs to pay that before she distributes the money.

She needs to sell from the estate, apart from the fact that the grandchildren will lose their FTB status, it is currently taking a year for the Land Registry to sort out ownership changes. So transferring ownership to the grandchildren would delay the sale even further.

Since mum has probate, she can put it on sale ASAP.

Land_Registry

darrend2812 said:

Hi all, 
My grandma passed in 2019 and probate was issued in 2021. She left behind her estate which according to the will now needs to be sold and money to be divided amongst her grandchildren (4 of us). 
My mother and her sister (my aunt) were executors of my grandma's will however recently my aunt has since passed. 

I have been advised by some that we now need a new executor on the will and also we must notify Land Registry to put the house in all 4 of the grandchildren's name. My concern is paying for solicitor fees twice for both of these services when our intention is to just sell. 

Can someone confirm if the above is true, or if you have any advice for us. 

Generally speaking if one of two named executors dies the surviving one can still deal with the estate and sell the property. It’s one of the reasons most will writers recommend appointing more than one. But check the probate to see if any restrictions apply but assume none as you didn’t mention it. 

If a sole executor dies then their executor can apply for probate for them and create what’s known as a ‘chain of representation’ - mentioning that purely as someone posted that but retraced it as doesn’t apply here. 

Transferring it into the names of the beneficiaries is unnecessary as the named executor can sell and then distribute the monies 
If you did transfer it first any delays (nearer 4-5 months for that type of transfer) won’t impact as if a buyer is found you can fast track the application with us. But again irrelevant as no transfer required. 

darrend2812

Thank you all for the useful comments. 


All four of us grandchildren are not keen on sell my grandmas home right now -  where does that leave us if the will states it needs to be sold? My mum is happy to leave the house un-sold but she is unsure how to deal with this? Once again, if we delay the sale, do we need to move the property in to our names? Regarding the FTB which I assume means first time buyer status.. we are all homeowners. 

Land_Registry

darrend2812 said:

Thank you all for the useful comments. 


All four of us grandchildren are not keen on sell my grandmas home right now -  where does that leave us if the will states it needs to be sold? My mum is happy to leave the house un-sold but she is unsure how to deal with this? Once again, if we delay the sale, do we need to move the property in to our names? Regarding the FTB which I assume means first time buyer status.. we are all homeowners. 

There’s no timing issue if everyone is in agreement as you’re the only ones who might challenge the ‘not dealing with the estate’ by not selling for example. 

Whether you put it into the four names or not is your choice as well. All depends on personal circumstances and choices as we won’t know the owner has died and more until such time as there’s an application to update the register 

If you leave as is then it’s worth signing up to the Property Alert service for some added protection 
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/property-alert

RAS

You need to be aware that if the value of the house rises between the date of death and the date of sale, the estate will incur a CGT liability. Not so difficult if prices in your area are stable, but in some areas it could cost you.

If sold this financial year after the house was transferred to the 4 beneficiaries, you could each claim £6k allowance. If sold in two years time there will be no allowance.

Do you have specific plans with the house and the means to maintain it and pay any enhanced CT bills plus insurance etc?