Buying a house in probate

[emma123456]

Argh! We put an offer in on the property mid Nov. We sold mid Dec. Seller assured us that the probate wouldn't be an issue, it was all super straightforward and was well underway.

We are now 4 weeks away from moving. Probate is still not through. Their solicitor cannot respond to our solicitors queries etc on searches until probate is finalised. Our legal process therefore hasn't started.

Seller has assured us that they are paying the IHT upfront to fast track the process and it wont be an issue.

How worried should we be? Can this still complete?

And to add insult to injury, seller wants extra cash for an outbuilding that was included in the sale particulars. Surely thats taking the piss?

Should we walk away? Feel very sorry for those below us in the chain.

We applied (no solicitor involved) last year towards end of June got probate midish Sept, "super straightforward" will, all IHT paid directly into revenues bank when application was submitted. Revenue said it would take 12 weeks absolute max and it did.
I'm pretty sure our solicitor did respond to queries etc before we got probate but I could be wrong we had an absolute pratt of a buyer so its all a bit of a blur TBH.

Why on earth did they market the house before provate was granted!
I did my own probate last year and got it through in a few weeks. The sale of the house then took 5 months from the start of conveyancing. Solicitors are very slow at everything at the best of times and they are even slower cos covid.
I very much doubt this will all bedone in four weeks. Either accept an indefinite timescale or walk wawy now, especially as they are asking for more money.

We got probate pretty quickly in the summer - do you know when the application actually went in?

There's no reason why you can't get things going on your side albeit you're potentially risking costs if it takes a long time and your buyers pull out. I can't see why the sellers won't let their solicitors deal with replies though as presumably they're committed to selling as soon as possible once they've got probate? If they aren't, that would concern me more.

I'd worry about the outbuilding once you know what the score is. is it something they can really take out of the garden? If not, seems illogical for them to try and get more money for it as they'll have the hassle of removing it otherwise!

@Skyppy - completely agree. I just wish that they had been upfront about it. We felt under a lot of pressure to sell when actually they shouldn't even have had their property on the market!

If probate was started in Nov when property was first marketed, maybe it isn't too far from being done though? maybe????

This is what we have been told by the seller:

"The solicitors cannot send any documents until they have a clearance from the probate"

Argh!

Probate applied for in Sept, vendors only got the grant of probate 2 weeks ago.

Don’t pay extra for the outbuilding.

@emma123456
What they mean is that they won't instruct their sols to do that, not that they can't! You can't exchange without probate (though occasionally it's done) but you can absolutely all work though so that you are ready to exchange as soon as it comes through.

@GU24Mum - thats interesting - I assumed that you just couldn't proceed without the probate.

People tend to be unkeen on exchanging before probate is though (though it's only the executors named in the will who could exchange) - it's that you can't complete.

You certainly can do the prep stuff. As someone else has said, if the sellers didn't intend to do anything til the probate came through, they really shouldn't have accepted offers.

Good luck - sounds like they're messing round a bit.

I'm afraid probate on my MIL's very easy to sort out estate still took 1.5 years and that didn't even involve selling a property. HMRC will not be your friend at this time of year.

@MiniCooperLover - was that the whole process from start to finish or just the time to apply for and get the grant of probate - it's that bit which OP needs.

Getting the grant of probate itself took around 4-5 months, I have no idea why. It was pre Covid and not at a traditionally busy time of year for HMRC.