House For sale after death

Nickyno

MIL died in January and she had no will.  We are currently sorting out her home and will have it valued today.   We will then apply for probate.  Question is when can our should we put the house on the market?

Marcon

Nickyno said:

MIL died in January and she had no will.  We are currently sorting out her home and will have it valued today.   We will then apply for probate.  Question is when can our should we put the house on the market?

See https://www.thegazette.co.uk/all-notices/content/101349 which sets out the legal position and gives helpful information about getting things ready to go.

RAS

I'd suggest making an on-line application as those seem to be processed more quickly, based on the published stats.

McKneff

If there is no will, probate is not required 

You need to apply for letters of administration.

TonyMMM

You can put it on the market whenever you like, but you won't be able to complete the sale until you have probate/admin.

But you need to speak to your local estate agents - they will have their own policies about when they accept instructions from executors/administrators. 

When I sold my mother's house as her executor recently the EA I used wouldn't market it until I confirmed ( and provided evidence) that probate had been applied for.

Nickyno

RAS said:

I'd suggest making an on-line application as those seem to be processed more quickly, based on the published stats.

Applied online for late dad, but this time no will, and 3 descendents, couldn't find out how to do it online. Is it because there's no will?

thegreenone

My Mum left a Will but I still waited until probate was granted before putting the flat on the market.
Probate = how long is a piece of string.

SVaz

Letters of administration seem to be taking up to 6 months at the moment.  I wouldn’t be marketing the house for at least 4 months after applying.

Sarahspangles

Nickyno said:

MIL died in January and she had no will.  We are currently sorting out her home and will have it valued today.   We will then apply for probate.  Question is when can our should we put the house on the market?

The most recent application in our family for letters of administration (submitted just after Christmas) came back within five weeks. So we could have marketed the house pretty quickly.

Nickyno

House was valued and we applied for "letters of administration" by post on 29/2/24.  HMRC signed for it on 1/3/24.  Austin is what can I use for "proof" that letters of administration have been applied for, so we can put the house on the market? Only got receipt from posting form and signature that it has been received?

Keep_pedalling

Nickyno said:

House was valued and we applied for "letters of administration" by post on 29/2/24.  HMRC signed for it on 1/3/24.  Austin is what can I use for "proof" that letters of administration have been applied for, so we can put the house on the market? Only got receipt from posting form and signature that it has been received?

I presume you meant HMCTS rather than HMRC who deal with IHT applications not probate. Estate agents are going to require proof that you have the authority to sell the house and without a will naming you as executor that is going to be difficult. Most buyers won’t touch a probate property where probate / LoA have not been obtained so I don’t think it is actually putting it on the market until you have it. 

I would spend the intervening time getting the house in a marketable state, such as removing any old worn carpets, a new lick of paint ect.