CGT on Dad's House

[NewbietoMN]

Can anyone help with some advice on the valuation of a house for probate and CGT please? My dad passed away in June 2019. We applied for probate in 2020 which came through a few months ago.

When we applied for probate we had an estate agent value the house and it was valued at £370,000. We have just agreed a sale for £490,000. We did some work on the house (spending about £10,000) to get it into a better condition for sale.

I feel the original valuation was low since, even with the work we did, house prices in the area have not risen by over 30%. If the valuation for probate is revised up it won't mean we have to pay inheritance tax. However I believe we need to pay CGT on any increase between June 2019 and when it is sold, so a revised value for June 2019 would reduce the CGT liability.

Any advice on how to proceed would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Hmmm tricky. I agree that it was undervalued initially. What did they base that valuation on? Presumably sales around the area. Were they at that price point or were there perhaps no nearby comps?
I think you will have to have some facts to back up the undervaluing. As to how y then get it changed - can you speak to the probate lawyer?

How many beneficiaries are there and are they married? It might be an option to transfer the property into the beneficiaries’ names and then they could transfer half to their spouses so there are a few CGT exemptions available to use?

Thanks changing Will have to look into the points you raise. We did probate ourselves. I guess we need to speak to a probate solicitor now.

Thanks retrieve. Interesting suggestion.