Owner of house at top of chain just died…

[Leafsontheline]

Firstly, I am very sorry for the family and their loss.

We are about a month in to the conveyancing process. We have done the survey on the house we are buying and have our mortgage offer, as have our buyers, who are first time buyers so bottom of the chain.

The owner of the house our sellers are buying from has just died. He was in a nursing home and had been ill for so,e time apparently, but his death was sooner than expected. The estate agent rang and said the family had mentioned that they may be open to our sellers renting the house whilst it goes through probate.

Is this a thing? If both parties agree can it be sorted out quickly?

I appreciate I am being insensitive as someone has died, but our circumstances are such that we really need the move to happen soon.

Anyone have any experience of what might happen now?

Hopefully there will be a respectful period of nothing happening.

OP has said she's sorry about it @cestunestilo - and if the family's already raised it, it's up to them. Don't actually know, OP. I mean, presumably yes, it's doable.

A lot will surely depend on whether your sellers are willing to put themselves in that vulnerable position - most solicitors will advise against it I expect.

I have heard of this happening before and it did unfortunately cause a big delay. I’d be considering your options

Probate takes forever. My granny died last year & had a very simple estate. It took the best part of 11 months to sell her house. It was baffling!

I am fully respectful of the family. I am not expecting a resolution for weeks.

I am also respected of my position, my buyers position and that of my sellers, all of whom have made substantial financial commitments on this move.

I guess it’s up to my sellers and how much they want to risk things,

Exactly this happened when we were selling a family member's house. They had moved into residential care and the sale was ongoing but then, shortly before exchange, the family member died. Took another three months to get probate (we did this ourselves and were fast as we could possibly be as we didn't want to lose the buyer; probably quicker than a solicitor would have been!).

They got their house in the end and we got our money, just had to be a bit patient. I don't know what happened with the rest of the chain, if there was one. It would be annoying for anyone who was due out of a rental or needing to move for work or school admissions.

It’s up to your sellers, entirely. Their solicitors; and the solicitors selling the house at the top of the chain, are likely to advise against renting… but it is possible if they want to risk it.

I’m sorry this has happened and for the family of the man who had died of course!

Happened whie I was selling FIL's house so he could move in with us. There is a way to continue with the process if contracts have been exchanged. The solicitors can complete the sale in the normal timeframe and the new buyer can move in as per the contract, owning the house. However, the money from the deceased's house is held by the deceased seller's solicitor until probate comes through, and only then can it be passed on to his relatives as per the will.

This doesn't seem to be well known amongst solicitors, who seem to always want to wait for probate first - FIL's buyers had gone through the exact same with one of their relatives so suggested it to us, which was lucky as their house had been compulsory purchased and they would have been homeless unless the sae had keot to schedule!

Thanks for the advice, I will discuss with my solicitor when we know what the deceased family wants to do. Obviously I will not push for an answer straight away.
Im desperate for the chain to hold together as there’s so little on the market, particularly in the small town we are buying in.

This is not the same scenario at all but we allowed our buyers to rent the empty house we were selling as we had just gone into lockdown and nothing was moving. The woman was heavily pregnant and wanted to be moved and settled before the baby arrived. It all worked out absolutely fine and the moment things could proceed again the sale was finalised.

If the family of the deceased home owner agree to the house being rented while probate happens this may be a good solution but I guess you will need to wait a few weeks before you find out.

If the family of the owner are open to a short licence agreement to rent it to the buyer, your vendor, it is entirely do-able. If there is no mortgage on it.

Not quite the same situation but here's our experience. My mum died in the April, we put the property up for sale immediately as there were hefty monthly service charges. I received grant of probate in early July and the sale completed days later.

The administration of her estate took me the same length of time as a normal house sale. Guess it all depends on the complexity of the estate at to how long probate will take, and I'm not sure what impact covid is having on timescales.