Probate question - Do you need to pay for a house evaluation IF the property is WELL below IHT ?

Briansteen50

Hi.

About to start doing a relatives probate ourselves.
They have a property that was valued 3 years back at 140k. No savings or anything else of value. Zoopla currently says it's £150k. The house next door which is literally identical was sold for 145K in December so we are very confident that it'll be around this price.

Most online guides suggest getting 3 'free' valuations from local estate agents, taking all three valuations and then using the median. However, i was told on reddit two days ago you need to PAY each estate agent for a written valuation which costs around £150 each. When I said the above I quickly got 30 down votes (im not saying that bothered me but it showed me I may be wrong). Is this correct?

We were literally going to just do the median thing due to it being so far below the threshold of inheritance tax.

Keep_pedalling

Unless other assets take them near or into IHT territory you don’t need to professional valuations. If the plan is to sell the house once you have probate then most EA won’t charge if they have the chance to sell the house once probate is obtained.

Assuming IHT is a long way from being an issue then I would value the house on the high side to reduce the risk of a CGT liability when it is sold.

Gonk1967

We didn't bother with a professional valuation for my father-in-law's flat, we just took the middle price from Zoopla. But then it was, like you, no-where near the threshold.

Briansteen50

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81972927#Comment_81972927

No, the plan is for us to move into the house so there aren't any plans to sell. I'm guessing we shouldn't tell the E.A we don't plan to sell then? lol

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81972928#Comment_81972928

So is it even worth getting in an estate agent? Did you have any issues with just taking it from Zoopla?

Keep_pedalling

As you are planning to move in I would not bother with EAs and value it at £160k just in case you change your mind which should avoid a CGT liability if it goes for a bit more then the Zoopla valuation.

Gonk1967

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81972940#Comment_81972940

In my opinion, no, not at all. No, we did the IHT calculation and got a figure that wasn't questioned by the Probate service. We filled in the online forms on the Friday, sent his will on Monday which they received on Tuesday and we received the grant of probate on Saturday.

Newly_retired

I contacted three local estate agents who were all more than happy to give a vaulation for free. They might get some business one day but not yet.

gplion55

Most estate agents will give you a free "Appraisal" based on what they can see on the day. It makes sense to ask 3 at least. This way you have a decent idea based on agents' local market knowledge which is often quite different than your own. These values are essential to establish the Probate Value which is what you need when submitting the paperwork, even if you know the value of the estate is way below IHT levels.

Be aware that a higher sale price than the probate value will attract capital gains.

ranciduk

yep our small local estate agent came round and did it for free