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Original poster

Buying a probate property / any advice?

36 replies

tigerbear · 22/08/2023 09:00

Hi all, we offered on a probate property several months ago, where probate hadn’t been granted yet, but the agent lead us to believe that grant of probate had all been applied for and was imminent.
They’re now saying they ‘think’ it’ll be by end of August, but no one really knows.

We’ve sold our house, and now staying with family (and since we offered on it, we negotiated a 40k discount from original offer), but very worried that we’ll be stuck waiting for months.

Anyone else sold or bought probate recently in the UK? How long did it take?

OP posts:
Fourmagpies · 22/08/2023 09:12

Not personally, but I have 2 friends that have bought probate sales and both have taken far longer than you'd think. And needed a huge amount of work once in, but both were prepared for that. One of them, the deceased family kept finding more money the woman had stashed away in accounts, it was millions and took a long time to unravel everything!

Original poster
tigerbear · 22/08/2023 09:20

@Fourmagpies when you say a lot longer then they expected, how many months (or years?!) are we talking?

OP posts:
Fourmagpies · 22/08/2023 09:22

It didnt run into years, but definitely 9 to 12 months.

TheInseparables · 22/08/2023 09:23

How long is a piece of string? Depending on their affairs it can be very quick or very slow.

I’d ask your solicitor to speak to theirs and get a genuine steer on timing. Don’t rely on the agent. You might need to put a deadline on it.

BorgQueen · 22/08/2023 09:53

Probate is taking around 6 months at the moment. Expect an absolute minimum of 16 weeks if everything is correct.

GasPanic · 22/08/2023 10:11

Advice : Take anything agents tell you with a healthy does of scepticism.

How long probate takes. Well two issues. One is that at the moment it seems to be taking longer - a lot longer. The other is how complex the estate is.

K10f1 · 22/08/2023 10:43

I bought a probate property at the start of the year. Probate was through within 10 weeks of them applying (although the deceased had passed 5 months before they applied, but they had not marketed the property until they applied so this time didn’t affect our sale). It took longer for the conveyancing than probate. Having said that it took a friend of mine 7 months for the probate to be granted on the property they were buying, but I think the executors struggled with the process and found it more complex than mine did. Basically it really depends on the specific situation.

Applebeard · 22/08/2023 10:52

We had an offer accepted on a probate property, and had a survey done.

After a bit of digging by our solicitor, it turned out that the despite repeated assurances that it had started eight months earlier, the probate process hadn't even commenced, so we pulled out. Two brothers were involved, and it was clear that one of them was telling porkies.

Mind you, the survey revealed that the house was full of asbestos, so we wouldn't have progressed anyway.

Meezer · 22/08/2023 11:26

Took 6 months for our purchase to go through due to probate delays -from offer to completion (not the 4 weeks the agent said). We had cash buyers for our house who threatened to pull out so was very stressful- wouldn't do it again.

Nitgel · 22/08/2023 11:30

i am waiting to put a probate house on the market, so far I am waiting for 15 weeks and nothing. Can only chase after 16 weeks.

It's horrible as we just want to move on and it's delaying things. It's sad to see the house just sitting there :( . Everything takes forever and I really do not understand the system.

justasking111 · 22/08/2023 11:31

Our neighbour died, her son comes up to visit, tidy. He's not marketing it until probate settled.

We walked away from a house bec the executors siblings were arguing so much, it eventually sold two years later.

Coffeesnob11 · 22/08/2023 11:42

Is the house empty? Offer to rent it prior to the sale going through that what I did. I got reduced rent and could start making small changes and the family got some income.

FiveShelties · 22/08/2023 11:46

I applied for Probate in June and got an email last week to say it had been granted, so just over 2 months. I was very surprised, but very grateful, to get it so quickly.

Time from application to approval seems to be completely random.

Nitgel · 22/08/2023 11:54

mine is taking ages, it's so frustrating

Nuca · 22/08/2023 11:57

A family member offered on a probate house in January this year. Probate still hasn't been granted yet so they are still waiting

BlueMongoose · 22/08/2023 12:55

A solicitor we talked to late last year said it was unpredictable, some were taking a few weeks, another she had was still stuck waiting after many months. It seems to depend on the conplexity of the estate to some extent, but also there seems to be an elment of luck as well.
Personally I don't think a property ought to be legally allowed to be marketed until probate has been granted. Until probate is granted, nobody knows who actually legally owns it, so how can anyone legally put it on the market?

Soontobe60 · 22/08/2023 12:58

BlueMongoose · 22/08/2023 12:55

A solicitor we talked to late last year said it was unpredictable, some were taking a few weeks, another she had was still stuck waiting after many months. It seems to depend on the conplexity of the estate to some extent, but also there seems to be an elment of luck as well.
Personally I don't think a property ought to be legally allowed to be marketed until probate has been granted. Until probate is granted, nobody knows who actually legally owns it, so how can anyone legally put it on the market?

Totally agree. I’m selling my mother’s property but didn’t put it on the market until I had the probate certificate in my hand!
The estate agent said he wouldn’t have accepted offers until probate had been granted as it can take many months if not years!

Original poster
tigerbear · 22/08/2023 15:49

Thanks for all the responses.
Oh gosh, so a really mixed bag of outcomes, but erring towards it being a v lengthy process 😬

I have no idea what to do - as we’re staying with family, we can realistically only stay with them (with DD and a puppy!) max of about 8 weeks. Renting will be difficult due to the puppy, and hardly any rentals available.

@Coffeesnob11 this is an option we suggested to the vendors several weeks ago, and they said no, saying their solicited advised against it.
However, the agent now says they’re open to us moving into the property if we exchange subject to probate being granted. That would be great, however I’m not sure of the legalities of such a suggestion.
Like @BlueMongoose said, how can someone market and exchange contracts on a property they don’t technically own yet?

I’m going to check with my solicitor to see if it’s possible or not…

But if not possible, don’t know whether to walk away and try to find something else (but I guess any other purchase will take at least 2-3 months anyway!)
Plus nothing much is coming on the market anyway. 😬😱

OP posts:
rainingsnoring · 22/08/2023 15:53

tigerbear · 22/08/2023 09:00

Hi all, we offered on a probate property several months ago, where probate hadn’t been granted yet, but the agent lead us to believe that grant of probate had all been applied for and was imminent.
They’re now saying they ‘think’ it’ll be by end of August, but no one really knows.

We’ve sold our house, and now staying with family (and since we offered on it, we negotiated a 40k discount from original offer), but very worried that we’ll be stuck waiting for months.

Anyone else sold or bought probate recently in the UK? How long did it take?

It doesn't help you now, unfortunately but I don't think a property should be marketable before probate is granted.

Keep an eye on the market while you wait!

Original poster
tigerbear · 22/08/2023 16:11

Hmmm, someone’s ears are burning!
Just received an update from the agent to say he received a message from the vendors to say they’ve heard from the probate people/HMRC that they’re waiting on one last document, but could be any day now 🤔

OP posts:
Wednesdayonline · 22/08/2023 16:27

I'm buying probate and it took just under 12 weeks from when they acknowledged the application to it being issued. Its lining up for completion next month so that'll be 3 months in total from offer to completion. It's been very smooth and the sellers have been very friendly, we've met them a few times at the house.

Original poster
tigerbear · 22/08/2023 16:58

@Wednesdayonline thats very reassuring! 👍

OP posts:
Roselilly36 · 22/08/2023 17:02

We bought a probate property, thankfully the family had applied for probate before marketing the property, we had our offer accepted, 2 mths later probate was granted, we moved 2 mths after that.

RidingMyBike · 22/08/2023 18:14

We bought a supposed chain-free property last year, it then emerged that the vendor needed to wait for probate to be granted on his onward purchase. It had already been applied for and added another month to the process.

What added more on was the vendor then failing to get his head round needing to pack and move out of the house! Ours took just under five months in the end from offer accepted to completion. About 2.5 months of that was the vendor failing to get his act together.

TrishTrix · 23/08/2023 00:21

We sold a house after a death and didn't market it until we had probate sorted. Seemed unfair to the purchasers otherwise.

Do be mindful that the house may have memories for the sellers. Our buyers too the piss by moving a tonne of stuff into the garden of the house without permission the night before the sale completed.

One of my family members found it when they went round to do a final goodbye to the property.

I got pasted on here at the time for thinking this was CF behaviour as apparently it's OK to move stuff into the garden of a house you are intending to purchase but haven't yet done so. I can assure you that in my world it most definitely isn't normal!