Selling a house as the attorney (POA).

torchie

We are just about to set the wheels in motion to sell my father-in-laws house. Valuation appointments are booked this weekend and then we will appoint a conveyancer from a short list. I know the conveyancer will answer this question but I thought I would ask on here first. We will be selling his house as his attorneys using the LPA that has been in place since 2022. This will be the sale of a freehold, mortgage-free property where there is one owner and no chain as he has moved into residential care. What additional issues may arise for us as attorneys as opposed to the owner?

Ms_Chocaholic

The only thing I can think of is that you won't be able to answer all the questions on the seller's questionnaire forms (TA6) but that's what happened to us when we bought a property that was going thru probate and it didn't stop us. Does your FIL have capacity to help complete the form. Maybe download it in advance so you can go over it with him if u r able.

ka7e

You will probably have to sell with "Limited Title", which means you have no personal knowledge of the property - you may not be able to answer all the questions that a buyer's solicitor may ask. Some buyers are a little wary, but it is quite common in cases of POAs or probate.

It helps if you can access things like FENSA certificates, warranties for works or appliances, certificate of boiler service, but using Limited Title means you don't have to produce them and it is up to the buyer's solicitor to do due diligence.

Bigphil1474

Agree with above really. Just tends to be practical stuff. If he was well organised he might have a box full of papers (my dad did), but we still struggled with some of the answers. Took us months to find the water meter which was in the street, 3 doors down. Buyers tend to ask some standard questions like when was the boiler last checked, gas safe certificates, electrical installation checks, how old is the roof etc. Not knowing may put some buyers off, but most likely will see people chipping at the price.

Murphybear

Thanks for the advice. I will be in that situation in the near future

jaybeetoo

Keep your fingers crossed that the buyer’s solicitor is realistic. Ours kept asking the same questions about the property many times even though we answered we don’t know as we’ve never lived in the property and we have rarely visited it. The owner has dementia and cannot answer. It took a lot of repeats before he finally understood and got the message.