Owner passed away- what happens if no will?

housebuyer143

Khaderbhai said:

user1977 said:

Albermarle said:

user1977 said:

Khaderbhai said:

user1977 said:

It will almost certainly be marketed by someone eventually - as above, things fall to the Crown in the absence of anybody else.

Why do you want to know?

A few reasons. Among just generally interested on what the process is when this happens, I wanted to know if its going to stay empty for a long time (of no help to anyone) and I would also be genuinely interested in purchasing the property. 

Silly question but who do you contact when it falls to the Crown if you were interested in purchasing it? Or is this just not an option?

You contact whoever the estate agents are, it will be sold on the open market.

Or maybe at auction if it is in a poor state.

Well, however they do it, it will be advertised. They're not allowed to do deals behind closed doors.

The intention is not to do a ‘deal behind closed doors’. I wanted to know how the process worked. It goes on the open market when the crown are satisfied no one has come forward or after a set timeframe?

Eventually it will. There is a ruin of a house next to my mate which is being cleaned up by the council and being sold. That owner died with no relations so it was taken by the crown.
It's been empty a long time though so if you are waiting for it, you could be waiting a while.

Albermarle

There are over a quarter of a Million houses empty long term, with 11,000 empty for over 10 years.
The number has dropped significantly since it was possible to charge owners extra council tax. However this does not apply to properties subject to probate, which is presumably the case here.

Khaderbhai

Thanks all, interesting