Buying property. Solicitor.

ree123

Hello all.

Very hard to explain this so please be polite.

We are in the position to buy a property, needs a bit of TLC. But optimistic. We have viewed the place 3 times and placed an offer.

Was told initially by the agents that was probate and in the hands of a solicitor to deal with. Ok fine. Put in an offer Friday, and have asked for the last couple of days has there been a response or reply. Agents kept saying no.

Today by the agents, we have been told, that there is a person/family member who is selling and has instructed a solicitor to deal with the property for any offer made, solicitor has to ask them every time an offer is made, but was told it was the solicitor that is selling. . Does this sound right? It feels like the agent is stalling? Surely everytime someone contacts the solicitor , the sellers bill goes up. So I'm thinking something is not quite right, I don't know.

Thank you

TroubledTarts

Houses sold through probate can be that little but more complex the offer might have to be passed onto multiple people for agreement as an example so yes everything could go through a solicitor even an initial offer.

ree123

Thank you for that. We were initally told there was no 3rd party involved. Thank you for your time. Appreciate it

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82006250#Comment_82006250

Quite possibly the estate agent was misinformed.

Dealing with probate properties with multi family members involved ( if that is the case) can be problematic with or without a solicitor involved.

user1977

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82006250#Comment_82006250

Probably not a third party, more that the seller comprises multiple parties who will need to reach consensus on everything.

whizzywoo

It's probably a set of siblings who are finding it difficult to agree on things especially the price. They probably can't agree on who should deal with the estate agent about offers so it's easier for the estate agent to contact the solicitor who then contacts each sibling with the offer.

Bigphil1474

OP, when you say probate property, it's worth double checking it has been through probate rather than is going through probate. Can't be sold until probate is completed.

As above, there may actually be multiple people affected by the price even though there is technically one seller. Normally the executor sells the property on behalf of the estate and the proceeds of the sale are shared by any number of beneficiaries. The executor is likely asking all the beneficiaries if they are happy with the price. I sold my dads house as an executor, my sister was also an executor so we sold it together, our 4 brothers were also beneficiaries and we agreed we would discuss sales price with all of them before selling. Worked fine for us, but it's still 6 people who had to agree. In your case, the solicitor may be the executor of the estate.

Albermarle

I had the experience where three siblings where realistic about an acceptable price for their parents house, but a fourth had unrealistic expectations, probably linked to an emotional tie to the house. and a fear of being ripped off.

Caused a lot of arguments…….

ree123

Thank you all. Turns out, there are beneficiaries and will be a charity. Which we now know, but was not told about previous. We've put in our final offer and we'll see. Thank you very much for your kind responses