Denied buying probate house because I am not local, even though offer was better

sidA30

I put the first offer in a probate house for 380k, cash. On the same day, someone in a chain sold their house and offered 402k, so I ammended to 405k.

The house has been left in a will to three charaties, and is handled by a solicitor. The estate agent is selling multiple houses in the other buyers chain.

The estate agent told me to send a letter stating why we wanted to house, where I said I have 2 kids under two, and a local job and relocated to be closer to it. I was told the solicitor selected the other buyers over me because they are local.

This feels discrimintory, in this case as the solicitor should be getting the maximum value for the charaties, and I am not really sure what to do. I understand with a private seller, but in this case, there is no real seller as the house is going to charaties so shold be inpartial and not take into account personal stories (subject to lying also).

Just a simple look at it, the other buyer was on day 1 of sale, and I am cash. If I close in 8 weeks and other chain takes 16 weeks (if it does not fail), the extra 400k in charities bank, the interest alone would be nearly 10k + my 3k higher offer. I've never know a lower chain offer be accepted in a case like this.

Any advice?

MattMattMattUK

sidA30 said:

I put the first offer in a probate house for 380k, cash. On the same day, someone in a chain sold their house and offered 402k, so I ammended to 405k.

The house has been left in a will to three charaties, and is handled by a solicitor. The estate agent is selling multiple houses in the other buyers chain.

The estate agent told me to send a letter stating why we wanted to house, where I said I have 2 kids under two, and a local job and relocated to be closer to it. I was told the solicitor selected the other buyers over me because they are local.

This feels discrimintory, in this case as the solicitor should be getting the maximum value for the charaties, and I am not really sure what to do. I understand with a private seller, but in this case, there is no real seller as the house is going to charaties so shold be inpartial and not take into account personal stories (subject to lying also).

Just a simple look at it, the other buyer was on day 1 of sale, and I am cash. If I close in 8 weeks and other chain takes 16 weeks (if it does not fail), the extra 400k in charities bank, the interest alone would be nearly 10k + my 3k higher offer. I've never know a lower chain offer be accepted in a case like this.

Any advice?

Find a different house.

user1977

sidA30 said:

Any advice?

Find another house to buy.

theartfullodger

Part of life.  Find another.

sidA30

Yes, seems like an unwinable situation. 

Section62

sidA30 said:

...

The estate agent told me to send a letter stating why we wanted to house, where I said I have 2 kids under two, and a local job and relocated to be closer to it. I was told the solicitor selected the other buyers over me because they are local.

This feels discrimintory, in this case as the solicitor should be getting the maximum value for the charaties, and I am not really sure what to do. I understand with a private seller, but in this case, there is no real seller as the house is going to charaties so shold be inpartial and not take into account personal stories (subject to lying also).

...

Have you had sight of the will? Are they the executors?

The obligation on the executor(s) is to implement the Will in the terms it is written.  If the deceased specified the property should be sold to somone who is already based locally then that is what they are legally obliged to (try to) do.  It isn't always about maximising the amount of money raised.

If you haven't seen the Will then you can't know what the executor('s)/solicitor's instructions were.

sidA30

I have no idea what it says. I can ask but may get refused. 

Other than that, I am left in the dark other than the fact, I was not born to the area they will only sell to.

Section62

sidA30 said:

I have no idea what it says. I can ask but may get refused. 

Almost certainly.  But eventually it will become a public document you can access online for £1.50, so if you are still curious at that time then you can apply to get a copy.

https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/help

AskAsk

when i sell a property and i am presented with a few offers, i always favour someone who is local because i feel they know the area and so will be more likely to stick with the process as they obviously like the location.

if someone is out of town, then i would put them lower down my preference list, if everything else being equal.

gazfocus

Just to say, assuming the charities are going to have an extra £10k in interest is unrealistic. Firstly, the interest rate on a commercial/charity bank account is likely to be peanuts, if anything at all, secondly the money would only be in their bank an extra 2 months (assuming your 8 weeks vs 16 weeks is accurate) so even if the interest rate is 1% (which is still high for a charity current account) they’ll only earn around £620 interest over 8 weeks. 

Unfortunately, when faced with multiple offers, the solicitors (or any sellers for that matter) have to choose based on what matters to them. For us when we sold, it was which buyer we thought had more to lose by pulling out further down the line…they weren’t the highest offer. When there’s only a couple of grand in it on a £400k house, I’m sure the charities will trust the solicitors judgment. 

Grumpy_chap

sidA30 said:

I put the first offer in a probate house for 380k, cash. On the same day, someone in a chain sold their house and offered 402k, so I ammended to 405k.

The house has been left in a will to three charaties, and is handled by a solicitor. The estate agent is selling multiple houses in the other buyers chain.

The estate agent told me to send a letter stating why we wanted to house, where I said I have 2 kids under two, and a local job and relocated to be closer to it. I was told the solicitor selected the other buyers over me because they are local.

This feels discrimintory, in this case as the solicitor should be getting the maximum value for the charaties, and I am not really sure what to do. I understand with a private seller, but in this case, there is no real seller as the house is going to charaties so shold be inpartial and not take into account personal stories (subject to lying also).

Just a simple look at it, the other buyer was on day 1 of sale, and I am cash. If I close in 8 weeks and other chain takes 16 weeks (if it does not fail), the extra 400k in charities bank, the interest alone would be nearly 10k + my 3k higher offer. I've never know a lower chain offer be accepted in a case like this.

Any advice?

It is possible that the Solicitor has assessed the other Buyer as more likely to complete.

• In your favour is the extra £3k you are offering.  That is nothing in the context of the value of the house.  Less than one percent.
• The other Buyer is already local so committed to the area.  You might be assessed as more relaxed on location.
• You are a cash Buyer but assume the other Buyer is in need of a mortgage.  The other Buyer will have more invested in the property should the chain fail later.
• The other Buyer is selling their property.  Another reason they are more invested in the property.
• You initially offered £380k, so £25k lower than the current offer.  You may be assessed as a greater risk of withdrawing or reducing the offer further along the line.

It may be that none of these apply, but it can be helpful to try to see the other party's perspective why the offer you see as less attractive might have some balancing considerations.

In the end there is nothing you can do about it other than look for an alternative property and assume this was all down to fate.