Buying a house going through probate

[EverydayCook]

Can anyone advise or share their experience of doing this? Any pitfalls to watch out for? There's something we are keen on but it's all a bit unclear what the process and timings would be. Probate applied for but not yet granted, one of the beneficiaries of the sale (there are several) is currently staying in the house and would need to find somewhere to go.

Took us 9 months from offer accepted to exchange despite us being first time buyers so no chain. Deeds were missing, seller’s solicitor was awful, seller wasn’t benefitting from the sale so didn’t really have any motivation to get things moving, seller couldn’t answer questions about shared access so had to take out indemnity insurance etc etc etc. But we got a good size house (in need of major updating) for 40k less than the neighbours either side paid for theirs and we never plan to leave, so it was worth it in the end.

My mum is buying a probate sale. They put the application in about the same time as my mum put the offer in, and they had grant of probate within 3 or 4 weeks. They said it was a straight forward one, and they’ve been quick to answer solicitors queries so clearly an organised bunch of people. My mum’s solicitor did warn though that it could take months and months. So it depends on how critical timing is to you - my mum was desperate as the market was impossible, so was willing to stay with me if there was a delay.
You’d want to clarify whether the person living there needs to find somewhere to rent or buy and if they have a backup plan.

I was told not to put a probate house up for sale with a beneficiary still in it. It took 18 months to get them out...

Thanks Ginger and Happy for the quick answers!

We are chain free and willing to rent if necessary. What concerns me a bit is whether all the beneficiaries are on the same page about selling. The agent seems to find it difficult to get clear instructions from them. It's a rare house and there isn't anything else on the market so we'll probably hold out for a bit, but it's disconcerting!

@svalberg - yes, that does concern me as well! We haven't asked if it's temporary (i.e. for security while selling) or if he's been there all along and it's his home being sold...

We were buying a probate house but ended up pulling out and buying something else as it just took far too long. Nobody was chasing at their end as there was no motivation to hurry things up, and the EA was pretty powerless to move things too.
After months of limbo we had to give it up and buy something else, despite having already spent money on searches, survey, etc.

@fellrunner it really confuses me that there's no motivation. The beneficiaries stand to make several hundred thousand each in inheritance - that would motivate most people!

I wouldn't be keen getting involved in this. Probate is slow at the moment I've heard. Even without the complications of joint ownership. Never mind somebody living in it. But I wouldn't be keen on spending money on surveys until the house was ready to be sold. What does your solicitor say.

Solicitor said that probate is back to a more normal time frame - 4-8 weeks. We won't be instigating searches and surveys until we have more information on what's going on at the beneficiary end. It takes them forever to communicate with one another and I still have doubts as to whether one party doesn't really want to sell. It's an expensive house and they are selling right at the top of the market so I do find the whole thing odd.

@viviennemary can you say more about the complications of joint ownership? We really are new to this whole situation!

We bought ours through probate, but it was 5 years ago. It was pretty quick - the probate delay was a matter of a couple of weeks. The whole purchase took around 10 weeks from offer to moving day, but there was lots of pressure from all sides to complete quickly.

The most awkward thing was the checklist of things that a vendor fills in - the entire document was "don't know" as the property was being sold by a distant (in all senses of the word) relative. We had to take a lot on chance and knocked the price down accordingly, although the house being less than 10 years old helped.

We’re selling a house while probate has been applied for and it’s flipping ridiculous. DParents died end of last year and, despite both having wills, probate still hasn’t been granted for one of them 😢
Probate was applied for in December and January. It’s definitely taken much longer than the 3 months we were told. Goodness knows how much longer the poor buyers are going to have to wait. It’s infuriating to say the least.

I've just sold my Mum's house. My solicitor advised getting it on the market at the same time as starting probate as the two would take the same amount of time. Worked for me- started both early/mid April, sale agreed May time, probate end of June, completing in a week.

Though from reading on here and friends' experiences I may be an outlier!

Relative bought a probate sale house, it took nearly 12 months (he was in a rental so no hold-up his end).

@EverydayCook

Solicitor said that probate is back to a more normal time frame - 4-8 weeks. We won't be instigating searches and surveys until we have more information on what's going on at the beneficiary end. It takes them forever to communicate with one another and I still have doubts as to whether one party doesn't really want to sell. It's an expensive house and they are selling right at the top of the market so I do find the whole thing odd.

Just to confirm, my mum's purchase is happening at the moment, the 3 to 4 weeks from application to grant was this month. So if it is straight forward the system is fine at the moment.

We bought a probate house in March of this year.
Cons: the beneficiaries know nothing about the house. They didn't know where all the paper work was. One of the beneficiaries even shredded a bunch of documents about the house. When we moved in, it was disgustingly dirty. The house clearance didn't clear the garage loft and so we had to get rid of it ourselves (after clearing it with the beneficiary).
Pros: we got it for a really good price. We didn't pay for someone elses renovations that we would have had to remove anyway (happy to do a proper renovation ourselves). The beneficiary who was living here was happy to leave anything we wanted including a massive fridge freezer, big wooden unit, cool retro storage thing. Also one of the things that was left in the loft was very cool and retro!
I'd do it again, just be ready for there to be a few more bumps in the road than a normal purchase. Someones gotta buy the probate houses, don't just leave it for the developers!

[quote EverydayCook]@viviennemary can you say more about the complications of joint ownership? We really are new to this whole situation![/quote]
Not viviennemary but in our case, the house belonged to the estate of the deceased until the estate was settled (until the house was sold) not to the beneficiaries.

Only because if siblings are involved in that the house is left to them jointly its difficult if they don't all agree on a price. Or whether to accept an offer or negotiate after a problem survey. I suppose it depends. If the sellers are reasonable prople its ok if not well it could be difficult. Good luck.

@Viviennemary

Only because if siblings are involved in that the house is left to them jointly its difficult if they don't all agree on a price. Or whether to accept an offer or negotiate after a problem survey. I suppose it depends. If the sellers are reasonable prople its ok if not well it could be difficult. Good luck.

Doesn't matter unless they're all joint executors, the executor (if only one) has the final say.

Gosh it's complicated.

Thanks all. We still haven't heard anything about progress today. They were supposed to be having a meeting to move things on over the weekend. I'm not sure what to do now. The EA is trying to get some momentum but it isn't happening. Gah.

Sorry it is so difficult, I am in the process of selling, probate has come through fairly quickly. We pretty much had everything to hand and it is all straight forward (under IHT threshold).

Good luck.

From my own recent experience I would say don't offer on a house until probate has cleared unless you are in no rush and there is no chain rushing below you. Ours was meant to take 8-12 weeks to clear but it took double that :( there's a lot of waiting and not knowing what's going on and if HMRC rejects the probate application it adds significant delays whilst it's resolved and resubmitted to them.

I am completing on my probate house on Friday. The man died in February. House was put up for sale the end of March. Probate came through in June but something was issued incorrectly. 6 weeks later it was corrected.

So 4 months for us to buy would have been 3 if the error had not occurred.

We aren't in a particular rush...mostly as there is so little on the market so we having nothing better to do at the moment than hold out!

To clarify, they haven't officially accepted our offer (or any offer). They are apparently 'very happy' with it, but haven't yet made a decision to accept. Anyone want to hazard a guess as to what this means? From our perspective it's just weird - properties are flying off the shelf here, and for previous purchases we've always had a same day answer on an offer either way. Weeks of consideration is just odd considering they put the house on the market to sell!