House purchase - probate

[AladdinSane]

Hey everyone,
I'm just hoping someone may be able to offer some reassurance.

Just received a phone call today to say our seller has unfortunately passed away and the house needs to go through probate. We have been advised that the partner of the seller still wants the sale to go ahead.

We are second in a chain and the buyer has not been informed yet but their mortgage offer runs out at the beginning of September. I have been advised that they may be able to get an extension of this offer.

Just wondered if anyone had been in a similar situation and what the outcome was?

We do have contingencies in place if we have to complete the sale but any advice would be awesome.

 

[Megansnarkle]

It could be months. Unless this is the one, I'd start keeping your eye out for other houses. If this is the one you may have to accept the chain collapsing or that you need to break the chain.

 

[Be More Pacific]

WilmaHun is your woman. She works in conveyancing and bought a house that was going through probate. I can't @ her though and haven't seen her around for ages

I would add that mortgage offers can be extended but the lender may require a new application, run new searches/scoring, which could affect their affordability (especially if they have been idiots and bought a load of stuff for the new house on credit) and, more importantly, given the current state of the market, a new rate, which could price them out altogether.

 

[Lht30]

Our probate sale completed within 12 weeks. Sounds like you are already in the house buying process so the chain should move quite quickly once probate is granted. The internet suggests 8-12 weeks for probate to be granted but in my experience it is no where near this long (provided everything is straightforward).

 

[AladdinSane]

Thank you guys this is all really helpful!

Our probate sale completed within 12 weeks. Sounds like you are already in the house buying process so the chain should move quite quickly once probate is granted. The internet suggests 8-12 weeks for probate to be granted but in my experience it is no where near this long (provided everything is straightforward).

This is really nice to hear actually as everywhere I look it says over 16 weeks positive probate stories are what I'm after!

Annoyingly, we had just signed the contracts and sent them both off yesterday morning prior to getting the phone call. We were so so close. Our buyers solicitors slowed the process massively by requesting variations be made to deeds which delayed us 8 weeks already

I'm hoping it will be straightforward but am aware, knowing our luck with the sale and purchase in this chain, is that it's likely to be a pain!

The sellers have already moved out as they purchased a property as a cash buy.

 

[Libertine1975]

Probate solicitor here. The timescales for Probate will depend on a number of factors including if the deceased left a Will and if there is inheritance tax to pay.

The Probate Registry is advising timescales of up to 16 weeks to issue Probate once it has been applied for but I've had some applications come back within a week or two.

As an aside did the deceased own the property in his sole name? If it was owned with the partner as Tenants in Common they could appoint a second trustee to overreach the restriction to sell the property before Probate is granted.

 

[AladdinSane]

Probate solicitor here. The timescales for Probate will depend on a number of factors including if the deceased left a Will and if there is inheritance tax to pay.

The Probate Registry is advising timescales of up to 16 weeks to issue Probate once it has been applied for but I've had some applications come back within a week or two.

As an aside did the deceased own the property in his sole name? If it was owned with the partner as Tenants in Common they could appoint a second trustee to overreach the restriction to sell the property before Probate is granted.

That is super helpful thank you!

The property was owned solely by the deceased and their daughters are the ones handling the estate. So I'm not sure if the partner is even involved and if it could get quite messy.

Our buyers obviously want to move in and are pushing us a bit to move before the probate is granted. Financially that would be a silly move though.

It's good to hear quick probate success stories though. Once the grant has come through, can they proceed with the sale of the property regardless of the decision of what happens to the money once it is sold?

Thank you!

 

[mee43]

I sorted out probate on a sale for someone else and it took around 5 months to be finalised.
BUT there was a delay due to an admin error; without that I’m thinking it would probably have taken around 2-3 months. And this was at a time when there was a “backlog” of applications.
I’ve heard of others, where there’s been a straightforward Will and no hitches, where it’s turned around a lot quicker.
I remember being pressured because the buyer was worried about their mortgage offer lapsing; it was all quite stressful.
If you have a contingency plan, and this is the house for you, I’d maybe be prepared to have to go with that, but hope for the best.
If they’re getting a solicitor to handle the probate, chances are it will be a lot smoother than my experience, because the solicitor will know exactly what they’re doing!
Good luck