House purchase - vendor has just died

[ILoveAnnaQuay]

My DNiece (FTB) is in the process of buying her first home. The man who owns it is in a care home but his daughter has Power of Attorney and is dealing with the sale.

They were hoping to exchange by the end of the week but she has just been told that the owner sadly died at the weekend. Dniece has said her solicitor says this shouldn't affect the sale but surely that can't be right? I m sure it will now have to wait until Probate is granted. Has anyone ever been in this position?

If contracts had been exchanged, then the sale would have been legally binding and would proceed.

As exchange hasn't yet been reached, the property will need to go via probate. Your DNiece can still continue, of course, but the sale will be delayed, and, depending on the findings of probate, the sale price may not be agreed.

I'm sure it will all be fine, though - the POA will no longer be valid and the executors will now need to handle the sale.

As I mentioned the house I was buying along with others was being sold off to pay for care but the owner died. Another couple had already exchanged and have been in legal limbo over a year and a half. They are contractually obliged to buy it and will default if they pull out but also they do not own it. As probate is not able to proceed no one legally owns it and nothing can happen.

Nothing can proceed further until probate is granted.

It is literally ridiculous and theres no real recourse, I just hope that couple sue the fuck out of the incompetent probate solicitor (who legally cannot do it as he isn't licensed in the other country but won't release it to someone else) who is holding everything up. Wish we could sue him for the money we lost but thanks to Englands stupid house buying laws we can't and just have to eat the loss.

We've just gone through this, as loss of a relative who was in care and the house was being sold to fund it. We reached exchange, she died, and it all went through (completed last week), because exchange is when contracts become legally binding (hence the buyers in your situation not being able to pull out). We did not have to declare for probate as the house was legally sold. the cash would need to be declared as an asset of the estate, though.

So I'm not sure why it's going to probate if exchange has happened?

If the estate have said no to completion and gone for probate, then the buyers can sue them for breach of contract, as exchange makes it binding. A house between exchange and completion doesn't need to go through probate - it is considered sold (if exchange is before death of the vendor).

You mention, though, that exchange hasn't happened so there is no binding contract and the purchaser can pull out (assuming that is your niece? Not sure who the other couple are who are stuck?). In this case, the house can (should) be removed from the market until probate is complete (as the valuation may differ). It can then be remarketed at the agreed probate value and the process will start from the beginning..

I didn’t have a probate value in terms of remarketing a property ans executor. Estate was below IHT and wasn’t going to go over it. I, as executor, continued with the buyer but she pulled out a few days before probate was granted. I had kept the EA fully informed about probate which was applied for just 4 weeks after DM died. EA then contacted other potential buyers who had looked at the property and the new buyer paid £15,000 more. Thanks very much. The exchange and completion went ahead and then I authorised payments to the beneficiaries. Communication always helps everyone involved.