Buying a house in probate

Lolly1896

Good afternoon! 

I’m currently in the process of purchasing a house that’s in probate. 

The seller of the house is an only child so the house is only going to him. We have had our mortgage accepted on the house and now going through the solicitor to finalise everything. 

The seller of the house said it should take 20 weeks for probate to be granted, what happens after this? Does this mean we will get the keys? Has anyone else been through probate and can give us some idea of timescales etc 

Thank you! 

swingaloo

Once probate is granted the process can move forward, it does not mean you key the keys straight away. According to the website it currently takes 16-20 weeks but that's if everything is straight forward. Being an only child has no bearing on that.

Our last house which we bought 3 years ago had to go through probate. It was being sold by an only child but there were several beneficiaries and there seemed to be continuous paperwork issues as the seller had to keep apologising for the delay. It all depends on the size and complexity of the estate.

We found it in March and finally got the keys mid November. Of course that could have been due to a backlog caused by Covid.  Other than waiting for probate it was a straight forward cash sale.

SkyeD

My parents both died in 2023.  Their house was owned as Tenants in Common. 

I applied for probate for both parents in June 2023.  I put their house on the market in late August 2023 and received an offer in October 2023. 

I received the Grant(s) of Probate, one in September 2023 and the other in October 2023 (the first Grant was 14 weeks from application and the other was 16 weeks and 1 day from application). 

The conveyancing process was held up only because the buyer was waiting for his mortgage offer, plus he went on holiday for a couple of weeks (plus closures for Christmas etc).  No hold-ups at all from my side as the seller.

The house sale completed in mid February 2024.