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Original poster

Grant of probate when buying a house

12 replies

racmac · 17/08/2009 09:49

We are buying a house and have been told the sellers have to obtain grant of probate. Any ideas how long this can take?

Anyone any experience of this?

OP posts:

MummyDoIt · 17/08/2009 09:51

It depends whether the deceased left a will or not. If they did, it's fairly straightforward. I got DH's through in a matter of weeks. However, I know of a case where there was no will and it took over a year.

HerHonesty · 17/08/2009 17:30

as MDI said, can take forever..

Speckledeggy · 17/08/2009 18:56

If there's no will it just depends how complicated the estate is.

My Dad didn't leave a will but his affairs were fairly straightforward and it took a couple of months for probate to be granted once the forms were sent off.

Also, have they already applied for probate? It could depend on how motivated they are to get it sorted. The forms aren't rocket science but they could be a bit intimidating if you're not used to that sort of thing and trying to sort it out on your own.

LIZS · 17/08/2009 18:59

I didn't think it could be marketed without probate granted?

Speckledeggy · 17/08/2009 20:37

LIZS, just checked you're right they can't market it without a grant of probate.

Didn't apply to my Dad as the house was in Mum's name too.

MummyDragon · 17/08/2009 21:00

They can market it without the grant of probate, but they can't complete the sale until probate has been granted (unless the law has been changed since I sold my mother's house earlier this year!).

I would imagine that the sellers would be very motivated, in the current economic climate, to get everything sorted out, and the house sold, as quickly as possble.

Original poster

racmac · 18/08/2009 06:38

Thanks everyone

They have marketed the house and it appears that they have signed all the paperwork and sent to Court so Im being told it should only be 2 weeks before its signed off - hopefully no delay

OP posts:

Speckledeggy · 18/08/2009 07:42

We sent my Dad's paperwork off then had to wait for an interview date which took at least 4 weeks.

Would they then need to change the names on the deeds? Not sure how that works.

We're looking at a house that's a probate sale so reading this thread with interest!

MummyDragon · 18/08/2009 10:39

Speckledeggy, we didn't have to worry about the deeds - I used the same solicitor for probate and conveyancing and probate sales are fairly common (sadly) ... basically, if you are buying the house from "the executors of xxx" or "the estate of xxx" or similar, you won't need to worry about waiting for deeds to be changed in the interim. Check with your solicitor if unsure though.

Bramshott · 18/08/2009 10:52

We had to wait for the probate to come through when we were buying this house, and it only took a few weeks I think. We were cross at the time that it hadn't been applied for earlier (apparently "best practice" is to get it before you put the house on the market"), but in the end it was fairly quick, although we had to move out of our old house 3 weeks before we could get into this one!

Original poster

racmac · 20/08/2009 16:03

UPDATe

The grant of probate was granted really quickly - now have a copy of it so one more thing less to worry about!

OP posts:

preemee · 03/08/2017 16:41

Hi racmac, i'm in a similar situation where the seller has passed away and the house has gone into probate. Can I please ask how long your whole process took in the end and if the probate caused any issues?

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