Conveyancing before probate?

[OneDayIWillLearn]

We saw a house last week which is not on the open market yet. Probate has not yet been granted and the seller is not planning to market it until it is. However we have the chance to offer now as they are keen to avoid having to market it and we are happy to buy it ‘sold as seen’ (and we really like it).

From what I understand, probate could still take months to come through though. But if we do agree a sale, is it possible to start conveyancing before probate is granted, with the aim of having everything ready for a quick exchange/ completion once probate has been granted?

There won’t be a mortgage involved and we would do this transaction separately from selling our current house so it would be chain free.

If you can’t do that, and we have to wait for probate before starting the legal stuff, how quickly can conveyancing on a simple sale with no chain or mortgage go through, in anyone’s experience?

When I sold my parents house (not through an EA), everything up to exchange could be done during probate. If I were you, I wouldn't spend any money on the process until the vendor has submitted probate though as they have to get on and do it. Once submitted, unless it is problematic, you are in the system and it might take 4-6 months, but it chugs on. Wheras actually submitting is all down to people being proactive and organised so as long as a piece of string

@CMOTDibbler thanks this is very helpful to know. And yes good point about waiting for probate to be applied for before starting. Hoping this works out!!!

i wouldn't, it's a risk you'll lose all the money on conveyancing if there's probate delays or issues.

Personally I don't think doing the conveyancing before probate had been granted is any riskier than a sale without probate. Sales can, and do, fall through all the time, and you will lose money if this happens to you.

As long as your aware of this and willing to take the risk then go for it !

You can do all of the purchase, except exchange contracts. That has to wait until after probate has been granted.

It could work out well if they have already started the probate application. Otherwise get them to start the process before you agree on the sale

I agree with pps to wait until the grant has been submitted. It took nearly 5 months after submission for probate to be granted for my father’s property and that was fairly simple (no IHT implications).
We did not market the property before the grant came through but would have been delighted if we had been approached by a buyer like you!
It’s no more risky than any other property purchase really in terms of potentially losing costs of conveyancing and survey etc. and possibly less so as there’s no upward chain involved.

We got probate within 6 weeks a couple of years ago.

Starting some conveyancing would show commitment, in case the vendors get tempted to look for other buyers to push the price up. And are all the beneficiaries / executors on side with the plan? If it has been left with 3 co-executor siblings, for example?

You could appoint a solicitor, get all your money laundering forms done, commission a survey, and get the searches started (quite a bit of outlay).

They could do the Fixtures and Fittings form and the other questionnaire, so that your solicitor could start enquiries. If you are getting ahead with conveyancing it would be good for them to do the same.

We did this on a private sale where probate was just applied for and the vendor replied to a leaflet we had dropped to our favourite streets on an estate. After meeting the vendor (son of the deceased) and asking lots of probing questions to ascertain they were extremely keen to sell quickly and they were sole beneficiary (so less likely to be family wrangling and disagreements that may complicate things) we decided to proceed.

Our solicitor confirmed with their solicitor that they had applied and we started conveyancing and legal work at our own risk and potential wasted expense as we wanted to move out of temporary accommodation as quickly as possible. Our solicitor warned against it but there is no legal reason.otjer than you can't exchange before probate is through. We were happy to go ahead knowing the risk of a long delay or issues arising that might mean the sale couldn't go ahead.

As fate would have it we ended up dropping out after a few weeks when a more suitable house came on the market but the vendor then marketed it and everything must have gone through quickly as the new owners moved in 12 weeks after it went under offer so presumably they also started conveyancing during probate going through.

I am marketing my dm’s property. Application for grant has been submitted but Still waiting. I have an offer on the property, but potential purchaser has not sold yet so waiting is not a problem for either of us at the moment.

It would not be acceptable to the executors to not try and get the best possible price for the house as that is their duty. At any point until exchange they would have to consider any further higher offers.
Is there more than 1 beneficiary?