buying a house that has power attorney

[Lavenderflower]

Does anyone have experience, advice or thoughts?

My house was a probate sale and I had thought with no chain either side it would be quick. It was not. The solicitors liaised very slowly with the charity it was left to and very slowly with my solicitor. They seemed very old fashioned and took things personally (like I wanted to make sure the boiler and electrics were serviceable because it was a very old lady who had lived here. It just as well I did because the boiler was not). Even their EA got fed up in the end and told them that if they continued to be obstructive I would walk away.

But I absolutely love it here!

POA or probate should not make any difference to the selling process. The only difficulty I can see is that the house was an HMO.

That's interesting because everyone I know who has sold a house had to wait for probate to complete before the buyer could move in.

Ours is a bit complicated in that it was calculated based on market value before sale which allowed Probate to be granted but the house sold for less than market value which meant we had to apply to HMRC for an adjustment which requires recalculating the tax bill and having probate sealed again which is where we are 5 months after the buyers moved in and we are still waiting for the Probate to be granted so the estate can be distributed.

Yes, that’s what I said.

The POA wouldn’t be on behalf of the person who died. If the solicitor is dealing with the sale but is not the executor then they will need a POA from the executor in order to transact the sale on the executor’s behalf.

Can't be sold by PoA if person owning has died. Would need to go through probate so you need to know where that us up to.

I’m confused. I had PoA for my relative who has died. PoA died with him. I no longer have PoA but am the Executor for the estate. I engaged a solicitor to deal with Probate and instructed them to sell the property. No requirement to generate another PoA.

Presumably you instructed the solicitor but were still around to sign for the sale. However, if you are elsewhere and cannot do that (if you live abroad, say) then you need to give your solicitor POA in order that they can do that for you.

POA ends on death, they must mean Probate.
Buying a Probate property is fine as long as it has already been granted and you aren't waiting for it

Yes, you can set it up in that way, but it doesn't usually take effect until the person does become incapacitated. It is also used when someone is spending a long time overseas, so someone in their home country can deal with their finances for them.

Another thing to consider when weighing up whether to buy is you may need to apply to the planning department at the local council for change of use from an HMO.

Financial POA, unlike a health POA, is often used when people still have full capacity.

For elderly parents, for instance, sometimes just because they no longer want to be so involved in all the back and forth or complex transactions. It allows someone close to them to legally use their bank account to pay bills or to move money around for the best returns providing it’s with their agreement.

Edited to remove bit that just repeated what you’d said.