Renting out a property whilst waiting for probate

[Anna713]

My mil has died without leaving a will. Her estate will pass to my husband and sil. Her house is currently being rented out as she has been living in a care home and the rent was going towards the costs. Coincidentally the present tenants leave at the end of the month. Can my dh and his sister continue to rent out the house to a new tenant whilst we wait for probate. I understand it is not possible to sell the house until probate has been granted but I am not sure where we stand with renting out the property. Obviously the rent will continue to go into my deceased mils bank account.

who is/are the executor(s).

Her bank account will have been frozen so no rent can be paid in and no bills paid out. As there is no will there are no executors so your dh and/or his sister need to apply for letters of administration before they can deal with her estate. Sorry for your loss.

Air b&b?

Nothing can be done with the house until probate or letters of administration are granted

We don't have any executors as yet. She only died a few days ago. I was hoping my son and his young daughter who are presently living with me could potentially move in, perhaps paying a nominal rent . I don't want to upset my sil though. I have no idea what the legal position is though.

Probate of non-complicated estates is being granted pretty quickly these days. Any new tenants would be moving in only to be leaving again soon if your husband and SIL want to sell the property.

As an aside, why should your son only pay a “nominal” rent and not the going rate? I can certainly see how that benefits you and your son, but what’s the benefit to your SIL?

Given your MIL only died a few days ago, maybe wait a few weeks before you bring it up eh?

so no will?

Thanks for all the responses. My son is still paying the mortgage on his ex marital home. It's complicated! I do take the point that it's not my sil's problem though. I just thought that if it is not possible to rent it out to new tenants she might be OK with my son moving in temporarily and paying the council tax and other bills and some rent. As I said though, the last thing I want to do is upset my sil. It is half my husbands property too.

Whoever takes over the execution of the estate has a legal duty to do their best for ALL the beneficiaries of the estate. The beneficiaries will either be named in the will or will be beneficiaries according to the laws of inheritance. I can't imagine a circumstance where allowing family members to move into the deceased's house and pay a nominal rent would be considered to be in the best interest of the beneficiaries.

DF is in a care home & his house is rented to help with costs. He’s not a well man so we have asked the agents what happens in this situation.

Bank accounts will be frozen when he dies, so the rental money will continue to be collected, and accumulate with the agents without it being paid to Dads bank. When probate is completed the total that has been collected since death will be paid to his estate.

@exhaustedbeinghappy Thanks. That's very useful

I rented out my Mum's house before probate. It was all 'official' thorough letting agents. I didn't know I couldn't/should not have done this. I got a hard slap on the wrist from solicitors who were acting as executors, but no other consequences. But this was over 20 years ago, and she had a will leaving the house to me and my brother (who also wanted to rent it out).

Unfortunately, there is no will. The only beneficiaries will be my dh and sil so it should be reasonably straightforward but no doubt it will take some months to sort out.

Can you not speak to your SIL and ask her opinion on it?

Who would the rent go to? Mil bank account will be frozen, once letters of administration are granted you pay tax, any outstanding bills, when the accounts are finalised the house can be rented or sold. Whose name is the council tax and bills in, to change this you need supporting documents.

I will speak to my sil. I just wanted to find out the legal position first. If its not possible legally then there is no point mentioning it to her.

If there is no will the next of kin applys for letters of administration to enable them to deal with the estate legally. The same person/s once they have the death certificate should inform the banks of her death the banks will freeze the accounts until probate through although banks can release certain funds towards funeral costs or hmrc if IHT bill payable etc. It sounds like both your husband and his sister are the next of kin’s and beneficiareis they need to agree between them if they are both applying jointly for the letters of admin. If the property is going to to joint beneficiareis most siblings will choose to sell and split the profit once probate through as this is often the most easy solution to ensure a fair split of the proceeds between them. Your DH and SIL would need to agree to anything affecting the property.

https://www.gov.uk/applying-for-probate/if-theres-not-a-will

Until probate is granted, the property legally still belongs to the deceased person and they are the only person able to deal with it. So I don't think you can rent it out or do anything with it because you have no legal title or right to do it.

Having said that, in practical terms if your DH and his sister are the only beneficiaries and they are happy to rent it out, in reality you probably could do it in an unofficial way either through Air BnB or finding a 'friend' or someone you know who is happy to rent in a more informal way. It's a bit of a risk though because if you have a problem, because you have no legal title you can't do anything about it until you get probate. Eg if you 'rented it out' to someone who then changed the locks and started using it as a party mansion, it would be more complicated to go to court to stop it if probate hadn't been granted.

You can usually keep paying money into the account, you just can’t take any out (other than paying for funeral expenses).

Thanks all. I am reading with interest

How can you pay money into a frozen account, you need an executor account

No you cant

It’s interstate. No one is executor .

Some one will need to apply for grant of administration - probably husband and SIL jointly …unless there are other beneficiaries under law of intestancy

this process is usually around 6-12 months if there’s a property involved , longer than simple estate probate people are saying is “is quite quick now”

no one can do anything until grant is given. Accounts frozen . No executors to make decisions. Short answer nope it can’t be rented. bank accounts can’t be touched. Bills will go frozen so I think that’s only thing they can try to do to notify all bill company, and council via the tell us once that’ll stop her pension etc. at same time

it’s a bugger, but is what is it . Instancy is very problematic

OP, you must follow the law on this.

Your DH or SIL should contact the Council re council tax and the utilities companies. You may find that there is a period where no council tax or water charges are levied whilst the estate is being dealt with. And home insurance, as the house will be unoccupied.