Sale of house through court order

[zippyswife]

We have offered on a property whereby there is a separation and one party has been directed by court order to sell the property- until this point they had refused to sell.

I've had a bad run of luck on properties and I don't know if this is going to be a lot more complicated/take longer or ultimately not happen.

Anyone have any experience of this?

No experience, but good luck.

Usually when that happens the judge gives one person alone sole authority over the sale. If one person has sole power over the sale then it should be ok

Be very wary and pay attention to the detail. Sales where one wants to sell and the other is dragging their heels are likely to take longer.

You could always put an offer in but continue to look in the meantime

I was in this position but I was the seller having to sell my home through the court order and I had sole authority over the sale.
I guess it depends if the seller here has the means to continue paying the mortgage, assuming the property still has a mortgage on it but does not want to sell.
I could not afford to take on the mortgage so had to move.
The seller might try to delay the sale by attempting to take it back to court, but likewise the joint owner could equally apply to have the sale enforced.
However the fact it is currently on the market and viewings are been taken surely means the wheels are in motion.

Thanks for the replies.

Does someone always have the sole authority? The woman has accepted our offer, the man, who didn't want to sell and has been ordered by the court to sell, hasn't accepted the offer yet. We have put in a full asking price offer. We await a response. I can't go higher nor do I think it is worth more.

If both parties need to agree the offer does that mean that no one has sole authority?

I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole unless you were prepared for a very long wait.
If one party doesn't want to sell, they can use all sorts of delaying tactics, such as making out they haven't received paperwork, taking ages to sign it, insisting on more valuations, dicking about with fixtures etc.
If one party has sole authority, that is different, but you would want to see proof that they do in fact have it.

@zippyswife

Thanks for the replies.

Does someone always have the sole authority? The woman has accepted our offer, the man, who didn't want to sell and has been ordered by the court to sell, hasn't accepted the offer yet. We have put in a full asking price offer. We await a response. I can't go higher nor do I think it is worth more.

If both parties need to agree the offer does that mean that no one has sole authority?

No, someone does not always have sole authority. Don't assume anything. Asking the estate agent is usually a quick way of finding out the answer, but you would want to see proof before you commit time/money.

Who is currently living in the property? Unless he has completely moved out I imagine it could be a stressful moving day.

This is no help to you, but I have always wondered how on Earth the courts can actually 'force' this. Short of coming round and selling it themselves. The person who doesn't want to sell can so easily sabotage it - possibly by refusing to accept any offer, even those way over its value. 'No, I'll only accept one million' on a 100k house for example. Or, by leaving it in a state for viewing. Etc etc
We had to sell our house by 'court order' but the difference was we both wanted to sell.

We had an offer accepted on a different property then after 5 weeks have found out that they haven't submitted papers for probate!

So we went to view this other property which turns out to be a sale through court order.

I just want a house. It all is so complicated. I'm trying to work out which is going to be the less griefy of the two situations. I've wasted so much time and money on this house move it's unreal.

I think both parties still live at the address with children- according to the EA. The house was pretty empty though of furniture etc.

@arethereanyleftatall

This is no help to you, but I have always wondered how on Earth the courts can actually 'force' this. Short of coming round and selling it themselves. The person who doesn't want to sell can so easily sabotage it - possibly by refusing to accept any offer, even those way over its value. 'No, I'll only accept one million' on a 100k house for example. Or, by leaving it in a state for viewing. Etc etc We had to sell our house by 'court order' but the difference was we both wanted to sell.

The courts can decide if an offer is fair, and force the sale. Happened to our sellers last time. We had to drop our offer a little after survey, it had to go to court again with the evidence as to why, they accepted the drop in price. It's slower and more difficult if one person is being obstructive, of course, as you have to wait for the court at points in the process, but it can be done. Our conveyancer suggested a 'pre-exchange visit' (i.e., immediately before exchange) to check that nothing had been done to damage the property since we had seen it. This would have been difficult had we had a chain, but we didn't.

That's interesting, thank you @BlueMongoose

@arethereanyleftatall

That's interesting, thank you *@BlueMongoose*

(In our case there were no children involved, which I understand makes a big difference to the attitude of the court.)