Can we exchange before probate and occupy under licence? Anyone heard of this? Probate Delays horror show!

[Toadflaxx]

The property we are buying has been empty for 2.5 yrs since the owner died.

it’s an amazing house for us, and we desperately want it!

Probate was originally granted in May 25, everything left to the NHS. But the NHS Trust’s Chief Exec who was made executor, subsequently retired due to poor health, so they had to reapply for a new probate…

2nd probate was applied for in Nov 25… 8 months ago.

The deceased’s solicitor say they have complained to Probate office about the delay, and that it has been ‘allocated to a specialist registrar’ 6 weeks ago, but they haven’t had another update since?!

In the meantime we asked our MP to contact probate office, which she said she has done, but no response yet.

We desperately want this house, and are living in Airbnbs which is awfully expensive (we’re cash buyers having sold our place, and had expected conveyancing to take a month!!)

So this week we have asked the solicitor/executor if they would consider letting us exchange now, and complete when probate comes through. After exchange we would live in the house ‘on license’.

Has anyone ever heard of this, or have any wisdom around it? I did find a couple of solicitors articles online talking about this kind of scenario - apparently the awful probate delays mean that this request is becoming more common?

Can we push the solicitor to let us do this - we have a feeling they’ll say no as there’s little incentive for them :(

The solicitors lack urgency as I’m sure they’ll be paid well out of the deceased’s estate whatever happens.

We can’t think of anymore levers to pull, it’s so frustrating!

Any thoughts or ideas gratefully received!

🙏

Could you just rent it OP and maybe have a conditional contract to purchase it when probate comes through? Perhaps they could charge you below market rent as a favour.

I doubt they will grant possession without exchange/completion.

You should be able to do a same day exchange and completion once probate is granted though.

Our home was a probate sale, I was very relieved when I had the call to say probate was granted, it didn’t hold up our chain at all, but the family had applied for probate before the property was marketed.

Sounds like you are doing everything possible, hopefully it won’t take much longer, it’s the house you want so it will be worth the wait.

good luck I hope it all happens very soon.

I've heard of it - it was suggested to me as vendor because of a potential delay (which luckily didnt materialise)

It's a nightmare for the owner I would say

It's too risky for them

However, if it's the NHS, they don't care probably

You might find that neither solicitor wants to deal with it

You should've just rented a place, new renters rights mean you just have to give 2 months notice so not a big lockin, and likely cheaper than even a few weeks of airbnb.

A LL would still prefer to rent to a longer term tenant though so the OP would probably find it difficult to find a short term rental in this competitive market

I completely agree, looking back!

We may yet still have to rent, as we don’t have an answer about the licence yet. Initially the executor said yes and we got all excited, but now we haven’t heard for a week. So frustrating.

All our furniture is in storage and the thought of getting it all out and furnishing a 3 bed house and getting properly set up, only to have to move it all again a few weeks/months later, has stopped us so far…

airbnbs are very affordable in winter/spring, so it’s almost cheaper this way then. We found beautiful 2/3 bed places for £2/k a month and that includes all bills and council tax, and a clean, and linen change!

Of course in the summer the same places are more like £4-5k a month so it’s less clever!

This was offered as a temp solution on my purchase of a private house a week ago - I was willing to accept this but luckily the exchange /completion went through

Probate house