What happens if a seller dies before exchange and completion?

silvercar

Awful time for you.

There is a way round it: if your FIL gifted his half of the house now to your wife, he would no longer be the owner of the property at the time of sale.

amaseal

I am sorry to hear that your FIL is ill.

I think it would be an extra complication to change ownership of his half of the house whilst inbetween exchange and completion.

If they had any savings they may be able to put these towards your deposit. Is there a Life Insurance policy that may help if the worst happens? Some pay out quickly if left in Trust.

It may be too hard for you all to deal with anymore than their house sale and your FIL's illness.

merlinthehappypig

amaseal wrote: »

I am sorry to hear that your FIL is ill.

I think it would be an extra complication to change ownership of his half of the house whilst inbetween exchange and completion.

If they had any savings they may be able to put these towards your deposit. Is there a Life Insurance policy that may help if the worst happens? Some pay out quickly if left in Trust.

It may be too hard for you all to deal with anymore than their house sale and your FIL's illness.

I agree.

Whilst what silvercar suggests is a sensible idea, they don't understand finance at the best of times (I have a thread in the 'loans' board about how they have been 'persuaded' to take out a 5 year loan for an alarm system without being aware of what they have done).

In addition, the only way that we could justify changing ownership would be by being honest about the outlook for him and that isn't what they want to hear right now.

Having slept on it I think the best way is to simply delay exchange on our purchase until after they complete and have the money. They were going to a hotel for a couple of weeks anyway whilst we sorted out cleaning their house and removals etc so this can easily be extended a little. If anything happens in the meantime my mother in law can stay at the care home where she is at present.

I'll speak to their buyers on Monday and see if they could bring completion forward if we pay their outstanding rent. They have been very good so far.
If that isn't possible I'll slow the process down a little on our purchase and delay the exchange on that until after 28 March. At worst then we will only lose the legal/survey fees that we have spent.

Once again, I appreciate all the replies. This is where these boards come into their own. There is simply no-where else where I could have got immediate and helpful replies on a topic like this.