another question about valuing a house for Probate

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My mother has died, and I genuinely have no idea what her house is worth. We've been given such a range of valuations that it's hard to know what to do.

We started out with four estate agents. Three of them were in the range £150k-170k. One was out on a limb at £250k, a value which would mean the estate would incur IHT (there are other savings and investments). An auctioneer has also suggested £130-150k at auction.

So I instructed a chartered surveyor. His valuation was £95k.

Now in theory, I should go for the professional valuation. But this will then leave us liable for a lot of CGT if we sell for £170k or thereabouts.

So my inclination is to put it at £180k in the probate accounts. But my brother wants to put it on with the estate agent with the high valuation (who to be fair has done the most research, but I think is a bit deluded).

But how can I put it on at that value without then putting the whole estate into IHT territory?

What would a professional do in these circumstances?

I would go on net house prices.com or other sold prices websites and look if any very similar houses on the same road have sold recently and what they sold for (not advertised prices but sold prices) and assuming that is not too far beyond £170k go for that.

That's part of the problem, though - it's a row of four houses, very different from anything else in the area (think old cottages in amongst Victorian terraces) and nothing in the row has been sold for 20 years. Which is why I suspect the estate agents don't know either.

I see. Well may be look at what local per square foot prices are or just sell it quickly. We thought our parents house would take ages to sell but got an early offer which made the probate easier. I think we had it at a higher price on the probate form than it sold for and or may be there was one initial probate form with the higher first price on and then the lower one added once we had the agreed price. I cannot see any advantage in your case of putting a price in which puts you into the inheritance tax bracket when it may well be worth less.