Probate properties

[HouseWoe]

Hi all. Had an offer accepted on a house we like, only to now discover that probate has not yet been completed. The EA mentioned nothing about this - just that the house was empty and in no chain. The documents from the solicitor stated that they were still waiting for the probate certificate, which had been applied for in June. Does anyone know how long this would take and does it mean that probate has not yet been granted? We don't have the option of waiting months of that is the case, as our buyer is chomping at the bit and is not prepared to wait for much longer. Help please ?!

I have a house on the market and probate was applied for end of June and granted 6 August. We were told probate was 4 to 6 weeks when we applied and this has proved to be true. Probate notified us of receipt of the application. We paid by cheque £218 which cleared early in the process and we have received all documents back.

It should have been granted if they applied in June. Seems a little long.

Thanks both. Yes, I would have thought the same. Ea today said they'd promised it would be granted in a firtnight. Seems a bit suspect to me.

There have been delays since some changes in the system in 2019 and lockdown and WFH apparently made these worse. However, it is supposed to be 5 to 6 weeks now.

It can take longer if the estate is complex but if they don’t have it from June, it appears there is a problem and you might want to enquire as to what it is.

Thanks talia99. That's very useful to knoe. Think I need to look into this more. The problem being the ea knew we were in a rush and needed to complete asap. They actually advised it could be done within six - eight weeks timeframe (dependent on searches etc), so to now find this out is very poor on their behalf.

@HouseWoe Hi there, we have just had the exact same thing happen to us. How long did it take in the end (if you don't mind me asking)?