House sale of deceased

[ConnieHeart]

Hi I was lucky enough to be a beneficiary of my late aunt's estate. She left no will and had no children. Her property was valued at £350k but it transpires that a distant relative bought the property for £200k less than it was valued at. I can't help but feel there may have been something a bit underhand going on regarding the property being sold at such a low price.

Also the solicitors charged £50 for a bank transfer! Is this about right? If so I'm gonna start charging every time I send my dd pocket money!

IANAL.
If the executors / person who got letters of administration sold under value and you were the main beneficiary then you may have a claim.
Who dealt with the sale?
Who valued it?
Could it have been in a bad state of repair?

I have been involved in the sale of a house of a deceased relative, last year. It must be a sale at “arms length” , and must be put on the open market. The person executing the estate can accept the best offer even if it lower than the original valuation, but they cannot sell directly to a relative at a bargain price.

You could google the property to see if you can find an archived listing.

But your do need to query this with the administrator of the estate.

If your inheritance has been reduced as a result of the property being sold for less than half the valuation, you may have a claim against the executor but it depends what happened. It may be that the valuation was too high and this was the best offer they received after placing it on the open market, in which case you don't have a claim. However, if they sold the property to a relative at an artificially low price you do have a claim. You need to find out what happened.

A solicitor will use a business account rather than a personal current account. Many things that are free with your current account have a cost attached when using a business account, one of them being money transfers. The solicitor's fee reflects that.

The £50 is legit.

The rest of it - you need to ask questions.

I second this. I work for a law firm. The bank charges us to make payments, so we pass that on. Personal accounts dont usually have a charge to make payments, only usually if you go into a branch to do it.

Edited for typo

Agree. Payments from personal accounts are limited (generally <£10k per day). House sales through solicitors (and not through solicitors) pay bank charges so that bit is fine.

A house sold to a relative for less than half its value not so much.

Who managed the sale and the administration of the estate?

I would start with the solicitor who transferred money to you and ask about the house sale, how it was valued and how the sale price was decided.

Also if she died without a Will and you were the closest living relative and therefore beneficiary, why weren’t you simply given the house?

Write down all your questions so you have them clear in your head and e mail the solicitor.

Was your aunt in England? Are you?

It was managed by solicitors/estate agents
I'm not the closest living relative. There are loads of beneficiaries due to there being a large family. Yes I'm in England

Oh, I see.

Well, I would ask the solicitors the questions about the valuation of the house v the price to a relative. Are any other beneficiaries suspicious about this?

Yes one or two! It's hard to know what went on & whether the executors were consulted about any drops in price of the house as I'm not in contact with them or any of the family but my db & another aunt are suspicious