House Valuation for Probate

DandelionBlue

Hi everyone,
We’re in the process of dealing with probate and need to complete the inheritance tax forms. I just wanted to check — does the property valuation need to be carried out by a specific type of surveyor (e.g. RICS-qualified), or is it acceptable to use written valuations from local estate agents?
There’s no dispute between beneficiaries and we’re simply trying to ensure we provide an accurate open market value for the date of death.
Has anyone been through this recently and can share what HMRC actually expect in practice?
Thanks in advance 🙏

Flugelhorn

I sold one a few years back - fortunately there was a road of similar bungalows and it was fairly easy to guess the figure - it wasn't near a threshold for IHT so no problem there. In the end sold for a figure very close to the value I put

Daniel54

if the total value of the estate is over or close to its IHT threshold then it would be prudent to obtain an RICS valuation,which is less likely to be queried by HMRC

If the estate is well below IHT levels then tax would only become an issue if CGT is payable on the eventual sale price.

Broadly speking,you would not want a property to be overvalued if IHT might be payable,but you would less concerned if it were overvalued considering CGT only.

pcgtron

Based on my recent experience.

The estate was well over the Iht threshold, and there were 2 properties involved. Got a rics valuation for both properties rather than estate agents as I didn't want Hmrc to question them and hold up the iht form. Got estate agents coming round in the next month or so, but I'd be amazed if their valuations aren't actually more than the rics ones. Obviously selling price is all that matters, but I'd go with rics if there's Iht to pay

Skint_yet_Again

When my mum passed away her estate was well below her own IHT NRB so we used values of other similar properties for sale in the same area to work out the value of her half share

Recently my dad passed away and his estate included the whole house but was below the IHT threshold with mums remaining transferable NRB, so this time we got 3 estate agent valuations and used the highest.

Fairplayguy

Coming up to the two year anniversary of my mother's passing.

My experience was being the sole executor with the property pushing the estate well over the iht threshold. Initially i got three estate agents to value said property and took an average. Of note is that they were well aware it was for probate purposes and stated this in their written valuation i.e. they were valuing as low as they thought would be realistic/sensible.

Probate was obtained but shortly after I got a letter from H.M.R.C. questioning the value and asking me to give some property details and email some photos. To be honest this wasn't a big surprise due to the lowish value in a very popular area. Duly sent in the requested info and a few weeks later got an email back saying they were referring the case to the district valuer's office to reappraise the value. Again not a big surprise. At this point I got a local R.I.C.S. surveyor to assess a value for the date of death (even though it was a year after they can still do this). They agreed with the estate agents' valuation. The district valuer however did not and asked me to suggest an uplifted value based on a list of relevant local sales which he provided. The R.I.C.S surveyor and the district valuer then played email tennis for a few weeks and we eventually agreed on a 5% uplift. In retrospect maybe i should have got a R.I.C.S. straight away.

So if you're well below the i.h.t. threshold I can't see a reason to get a R.I.C.S report unless you need one for other purposes. Above i.h.t. maybe it's a good idea.