Can I reduce my offer because of this?

[Junobug]

We had an offer accepted on a property 6 weeks ago. We knew it was a tricky sale but were assured by EA that the house would be ready to go in July and the vendors wanted a quick sale. Last week we found out that the vendors had only applied for probate 2 weeks after we offered. Today, after weeks of chasing, we have finally been told that the vendor’s solicitor has only just issued the initial paperwork to them. It has just been excuses and lies.
We have buyers who are ready to go. I don’t want to loose them. I would be prepared to break a chain but I don’t think I should financially loose out (we are mortgage free) because the vendor and estate agents haven’t been honest and are dragging out the process. I wouldn’t have offered what we did on the house if we had been told they hadn’t applied for probate. But there is nothing else out there to buy; we are still viewing other properties.
Can I legitimately offer less now? Although it’s them messing us around, I feel cheeky reducing my offer or threatening to walk.

It was the Cardiff probate office - probably government office not council. They told me how long it would take. Sorry to confuse!

@Crouton19 no I don’t have a link. The probate solicitors who dealt with my father’s estate told my sister brother and I about it. We had a buyer, probate was taking ages (was around lockdown) and so the solicitors made the application ex parte and submitted it. We had to sign papers saying we had the buyer, that the sale would fall through if we didn’t exchange. It was a pretty standard application according to our solicitors

Thanks @Theoscargoesto that information could come in handy.

ETA: I've found a useful link, apparently the property needs to have been marketed for sale before the death. Possibly that is a more recent requirement.

https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/topics/private-client/applying-for-probate

Probate took 4 weeks in our experience

My mum's took under a week, about a year ago. From submitting the forms to getting the certificate. I got an email confirmation in about four days and the cert in the post a couple of days later.

You need to get the estate agent to push the vendor, and the vendor needs to push their solicitor. Probate shouldn't take anywhere near as long as 6 months if it is a straightforward estate. Keep on at them. The agent won't want to lose the sale either.

Thank you for your replies everyone. I rang the EA. I made it very clear that I wouldn’t have offered on a property that didn’t have probate and that my solicitor needs to be able to start making progress on the property by this Friday. If not, I will have no option but to pull out, or break the chain which will eat in to our money and we will have to reduce our offer. We will see what Friday brings.

Feel for you op. Our estate agent let our vendors market an unregistered house knowing they didn’t know where the deeds was. Caused us nothing but hassle and we are now breaking the chain and moving into rental. Vendors solicitors have also been terrible!!

I wouldn’t pull out until I’d found another property that I am prepared to offer on. A property with a month delay because of probate, is better than no property at all.

Keep looking and see what else is out there. But I would keep this one in hand until you see something better. Otherwise you’re throwing baby out with the bath water

@Junobug I'm selling as an executor; because the property I'm selling is in need of considerable refurbishment, I thought it would take some time to sell so it was marketed at the same time as I applied to HMRC for a code to start the probate ball rolling. However, I made sure the EA made the situation clear to anyone interested before they even viewed the property. I think what your vendors and their agent have done is, frankly, immoral.

That said, I agree with @Shoth that you should keep your own counsel for the time being while looking for an alternative. Don't throw your toys out of the pram for the moment because if the vendors have genuinely applied for probate they could receive it at any time.

The other aspect to consider is executors, unless they are in a hurry to receive their inheritance for whatever reason, have the "luxury" of being able to just walk away with few consequences (other than having to put the property back on the market) the sale goes sour.

Given their behaviour to date, I seriously doubt they'll own enough guilt to accept a lower offer.

Probate solicitor emailed me today that probate has been granted on a property I am a beneficiary of , so his estimate of 12 weeks from April was about right. I've seen people obtaining it in a few days, couple of weeks, a few months or years! I think generally it has speed up.