Probate delay - what to do?

[edibletreats]

Hello,

Last April we offered on a house. We are chain free and the house was advertised as chain free - elderly lady moving to a care home. The sons were in touch with the agents re the sale and our offer was accepted after a bidding war which meant we ended up offering 25k above the asking price. At the time we thought it was fair given it ticked all the boxes for us and it was still within the our budget etc.

Unfortunately the lady who owned the house died after our offer was accepted meaning the property now goes into probate. Which would be fine except for the fact there is a nationwide delay in probates being granted due to a change in their processes. Therefore 10 weeks later we are still waiting for the documentation.

We have had no indication of when it may be granted. All the probate office have said is that there is a backlog they are working through. The automated message on their phone says its a 12 week wait. Worryingly it does look like they are still granting probates from deaths that happened in Jan/Feb but maybe families don't always apply for probate straight away?

DH now wants to go back to the agent in the hope that the vendor will lower the price and if not, thinks we should start to look at other properties. Although the market is dead. I am worried the vendor may pull out and offer it it to one of the other potential buyers and we should sit tight for now.

What would you do??!

I have had to recently apply for probate for my mother via the Winchester Probate Registry. I received the grant 12.5 weeks after the date I hand delivered the application (28th March). Previously it took about 2 weeks!
I would ask via the solicitor for confirmation of exactly when the probate application was made and then you could make some judgement about how long you will need to wait. As I understand it all the legalities can be sorted but just exchange of contracts can't take place until probate has been received. I would be tempted to look at other properties but I can't see why the vendors would be anymore likely to drop out now. If anything they may be the beneficiaries and so will be glad of a sale going though to receive the money.

I think we are with Winchester too as that's who the correspondence is from. Good to know they are at least sticking to the 12 week ish timeline then. From what the agent said the probate was applied for around the 10th of May so hopefully that means another three weeks or so? I really don't want to have to start from scratch all over again especially as we have everything in place our end to exchange as soon as the probate comes through.

I viewed a house which was going through probate. Someone else's offer had already been accepted and I think they had actually had a survey done. However I was told that since it was going through probate any one could come along during the process, put a higher offer in and gazump the other buyer. Seemed madness to me and I was not prepared to gazump anyone or risk being gazumped myself later down the line.

It can take people/executors a while to apply for probate because they have to value the estate first, so I wouldn't worry too much about the Jan/Feb ones just going through - they may have applied 12 weeks ago (Mar/Apr) because they have been getting the figures together.

I hope the probate is granted soon and the sale goes through for you, OP.

If it's 12 weeks from when they received the application, do you know when that was?

However I was told that since it was going through probate any one could come along during the process, put a higher offer in and gazump the other buyer

No different to any other sale really, you can get gazumped at any point up until contracts are exchanged.

Just because a higher offer has been made there is no obligation on the part of the executors that they must accept it.

If the executors are different to the LPA, this can be an issue. Our contract covered our right to buy if our vendor died - the solicitor nearly exploded, but the attorney was clued up and happy to consent.

@crimsonlake that’s a bit worrying. I know the agents have taken it off and are not doing any more viewings so hopefully that will stop any gazumping

@ChicCroissant thanks for the good wishes!

@PigletJohn the agent told DH 10/11 May but we should probably find out if that was her own guesstimate or she knows for a fact.

@Mildura yeah this mad system means its always up in the air until completion isn't it?!