Probate delays

[FManc]

Hi. I was just wondering if anyone has any recent experience of probate being delayed with COVID etc.. Our chain is currently being held up waiting for it to be granted and we haven't got a clue how long it will take. Apparently it was due back a week or two ago but that's all the info we have. Anyone got any similar experience?

I am interested in this too. We have just had an offer accepted on a property that’s going through probate. Our downward chain is ready to exchange so we will need to progress the purchase ASAP.

I have a wills and trusts solicitor friend who says that the backlog is now cleared and timescales are back to normal, however my conveyancer said that she has a case that has been waiting for 4 months since the application when in. The estate agent we are buying through thinks it’ll be quick because it’s a simple case but she might not know what she’s talking about. When we offered she said the application went in a month ago but I’ve since found out it only went in recently.

Yeah it's a difficult position to be in as there are simply no timescales. Our solicitor asked their probate team who said there are significant delays but each case is different. We offered on our property in July so we were hoping to be done and dusted soon but I've got a feeling that's not going to be the case. We do love the house but won't be able to wait indefinitely for it i.e. months and months.

Do you know when the application went into the courts? I thought 8 - 12 weeks was standard from application submission to grant. Our chain will fall apart if it goes beyond March 31st, unless the stamp duty holiday is extended.

I would suggest that whoever told you it was “due a week or two ago” doesn’t know what they’re talking about. It notoriously takes an unpredictable amount of time.

And that’s in normal times

Scottish. We applied late August. Got it last week.

It's called confirmation here though not probate.

We were advised not to try selling until we had it.

Accepted offer on house today (the Scottish housing market moves super fast!)

@Ginandtonic1234

Do you know when the application went into the courts? I thought 8 - 12 weeks was standard from application submission to grant. Our chain will fall apart if it goes beyond March 31st, unless the stamp duty holiday is extended.

I should probably find out as I haven’t a clue tbh. Our next immediate deadline is the end of January when our mortgage offer expires; rates have gone up since we applied and god knows what a new valuation would throw up!

@PeachPotato

I would suggest that whoever told you it was “due a week or two ago” doesn’t know what they’re talking about. It notoriously takes an unpredictable amount of time.

I think it was the vendors solicitors

We are in Greater London, and ours just got granted shockingly quickly, about 4 weeks after applying. I was expecting it maybe Christmas time.
I also did it all myself, paid good chunk of tax, about 80k, and after that it went pretty smoothly.
I was told 8 weeks, but pleasantly surprised it came earlier

I'm a probate lawyer. I've just had one back in 3 weeks, but I'm still waiting for others that I submitted in July.

It was taking 8-12 weeks, but they seem a but all of the place at the moment. They've just moved onto a compulsory online submission system for some applications , so not sure how that's affecting things.

Just an update - probate ended up being granted a few days after posting this thread which was great news!

Oh, that's interesting, thank you for the update.

Thanks for the update. We are still waiting. When we viewed and offered on the house we were told that the application went to the court in early October but I’ve since found out that it was November 26th. We are annoyed as if this one doesn’t go through by the end of March we will have missed our opportunity to benefit from the stamp duty holiday and will have to pull out of the purchase.