buying a house that has power attorney

[Lavenderflower]

Does anyone have experience, advice or thoughts?

That sounds straightforward, it wouldn’t put me off purchasing a property.

Exactly. They're the executors, so it's up to them to decide how much it sells for, and then to distribute the proceeds.

The solicitor will be applying for probate , then once that's been through the system and the house sale , the proceeds will be distributed

We bought a house that was under POA and we completed in 3 months.
I was told there could be more complications though, mainly if the POA hasn't actually been granted yet, or if the people inheriting the house aren't getting along as any of them could block the sale.

Our experience has been mostly positive, but negotiation was very difficult when the surveys revealed some (minor) issues. According to the estate agent, they were 5 siblings and 1 absolutely refused to budge on the price. We managed to get a bit off, but I think we slightly overpaid compared with the market at that time.

In your situation, I would really want to know why the 2 previous sales fell through.

I have no idea what you mean. They are simply selling the property. They will decide whether or not to accept an offer on the same way that the owner would have. That's all.

Definitely probate rather than POA. Have sold a couple of houses in this way.

Ask if the relative selling is the executor or whether they have solicitors acting as executors. I have done both, but the process took a little longer when the solicitor was executor. (I could reply to questions v quickly whereas the solicitors took a while to respond.)

You still have to wait for the probate office to grant probate but I could explain exactly how far through the process was and what day I had submitted the forms

So ask whether probate has already been granted and if not, when the probate form was sent off.

I may be wrong but the impression I got is solicitor were not accepting lower offers and but the family seem a bit more flexible.

It should be fine.

Power of Attorney simply means giving power for a third party to act. So a solicitor has been given the power to act for the executors or beneficiaries.

But… you might not get quick or complete answers to all the queries that you or your solicitor might raise (because neither the solicitor nor the family know the answer, not having lived there) , and I would ask whether they have probate.

Probate gives the Executor / Solicitor permission to sell the property and distribute the estate. As an HMO there will be assessment for CG tax, and may indicate that the estate’s a whole is above the IHT threshold. None of that is of concern for you, not your tax bill, BUT if they don’t yet have probate it could take a while. It’s quick with an uncomplicated estate, but ownership of other properties may not be so quick.

And yes, as a PP said, ask the EA why two sales fell through.

We bought a house that was being sold through probate. Didn't really affect the sale. But there was 6 siblings who had to agree on the price. In our case it just meant that we paid full market price. This was over 10 yrs ago.

Exactly, probate can take ages. I thought it was bonkers to put late parents property up for sale before getting the probate

Yep, agent is clueless. Sounds like he meant that the owner has died and it's a probate sale being managed by the executors of the estate (who could be relatives and or solicitors). Either way don't think it matters from your perspective and lack of onward chain could well make it easier.

Poa ceases on death so this can't be a thing

Never a good idea to entirely rely on what an estate agent says in my experience.

It's likely a probate sale where the executors are selling. It's possible the solicitors are acting as or for the executors.

When we bought the house was a probate sale. There were no problems at all. It was helpful that there was no chain beyond the purchase.

It needed a lot of work though.

My understanding the the first sale fell through because it would have cost the buyer to more 120,000 to refurb from a HMO to a family home. The second sell fell thought due to the chain.

You need to find out the stage of the probate process - when is probate likely to be granted?

Also, the solicitors who are the executors of the estate will liaise with the family who will inherit, i.e. the beneficiaries of the deceased's will, which could potentially slow down the sale.

Ask your solicitor to talk to the executor solicitors for more information.

Is it possible the person who lived there has dementia and has been moved into a home, and the person with POA is selling it to pay for the care home?

The executor must make sure that they get the best price they can otherwise beneficiaries can claim that the estate was mismanaged.

Sounds like a probate sale with solicitors appointed as executors. So those solicitors are acting as the "seller" hence any offers go to them to consider and decide just like it would have gone to the seller if still alive.

There property sale itself is no different to any other, other than those selling it can't give quite as much detail as the seller would have been able to for themselves but for many properties it is very little difference

It is different if the probate isn't granted yet. It can take, solicitors especially, a superbly long time to complete probate cases, and for probate service to issue it. I do wish houses wouldn't be marketed without the grant. OP should walk away if it's not in sight.

It’s possible that the seller has died and they have a spouse who has inherited the estate but lacks capacity, is in care, and the solicitor has power of attorney. It shouldn’t make any difference in terms of the mechanics of the sale - the solicitor’s obligation is to get the best value for the estate and that’s usually served by a smooth and timely sale.

It can. In this case.

Yes, if an elderly parent gives PoA to their Dc, that does indeed cease on death, and the estate goes to the Executor to administer and distribute the estate within the terms of the Will.

But PoA just means giving a third party authorisation to act on your behalf.

If family members inherit the house, for example, but don’t want to handle the sale (due to their own circumstances, e.h maybe infirm, live abroad, can’t be bothered, have done a Deed of Variatuon to leave all proceeds to cat home as don’t want any thing to do with late parents…) they can give power of attorney to a solicitor to handle every aspect of the sale.

This is correct.
The sale cannot go through until probate is granted so the question to ask is whether the seller has probate.
Power of attorney ends as soon as the person dies.

All that POA means is that someone acts for the person who cannot make their own decision for whatever reason.

In this case it looks like a solicitor already had power of attorney over the homeowner's affairs prior their death, and were looking after their finances, paying care home fees etc out of the homeowner's money. However, POA lapses at death. The only way the solicitor could still have POA is if the chief beneficiary or whoever had been nominated as Executor is themselves incapacitated and unable to deal with their affairs. So the solicitor could have POA over a surviving spouse's affairs, for instance.

Now that the person has died, the house belongs to the Estate of the deceased person, and presumably the solicitor is dealing with the will and its progress through probate. I would surmise that they have been nominated as the Executor of the estate, and as such they are duty bound to obtain the best price possible for the property. This could be why they are ignoring the wishes of the family, who presumably want their inheritance money.

Just think of the solicitor as being the seller, and that they will decide whether to accept your offer or not.

My bad, our situation was indeed probate and not POA!

Sorry I don't know about POA then!

You can actually give someone PoA for various responsibilities (as allowed by you) when you are in full capacity in every way.

Yes PoA is often set up for loss of capacity but a fully able owner could give a solicitor PoA to sell a house on their behalf.