When someone dies while house is on the market

[Fluke]

My neighbour put his house on the market a few weeks ago as his health was declining and he was looking to move into assisted living accommodation. In the meantime someone I know had made an appointment with the estate agent to view the property but before they got the opportunity to do so my neighbour died. Because the appointment was already arranged the executor agreed that the viewing could go ahead, this happened today and my friend is now keen to put in an offer to buy the property.

I would have thought that it would be in everybody's best interest to get the house sold, can anybody advise what is the process of getting a house sold once it is in the hand of an executor? My neighbour's sister seems to think that the house now comes off the market until everything (the probate?) is sorted out.

How does all this work?

Thanks.

[scrumpyjack]

I think there is nothing to prevent the executor getting on with negotiating the sale but completion would have to wait until probate was granted as the Land Registry would refuse to transfer title without sight of the grant of probate.

[yorkshirelad1]

My neighbour put his house on the market a few weeks ago as his health was declining and he was looking to move into assisted living accommodation. In the meantime someone I know had made an appointment with the estate agent to view the property but before they got the opportunity to do so my neighbour died. Because the appointment was already arranged the executor agreed that the viewing could go ahead, this happened today and my friend is now keen to put in an offer to buy the property.

I would have thought that it would be in everybody's best interest to get the house sold, can anybody advise what is the process of getting a house sold once it is in the hand of an executor? My neighbour's sister seems to think that the house now comes off the market until everything (the probate?) is sorted out.

How does all this work?

Thanks.

Similar happened to me. Mother's house was on the market (she'd already moved out a month or so previously), Mum was in nursing home, and died while there was an offer on her house. I was sole exor. Solrs were able to obtain a probate "ad coll" for me which was a very specific grant allowing me to sell the house as exor before full probate was granted. Full probate took 6+ months and I wanted to get the house sold and not loose the offer. This was 10 years ago, so it relies on my memory, and IANAL, and I'm sure someone else will be along shortly to add/correct any info.

[Lootman]

I was in the process of selling my mother's house a few years ago, in order to fund her care home bills. I had a buyer but before we could exchange contracts, she died. That effectively paused any further activities with the house sale. And in fact the buyer pulled out, rather than wait for probate.

So yes, my experience was as you fear, i.e. that the executor (which was also me, in this case) could not proceed with a sale until probate is complete. What the executor can do however, and what I did, was market the house whilst probate is going on. But of course let the prospective buyers know the situation. In this way no time is wasted, and contracts can be exchanged as soon as probate is granted.

It turns out that some buyers like that situation. They know the transaction will complete, because the executor is motivated to get the deal done.

I cannot recall any other problems with the process, and completion was able to happen immediately after exchange.

[Fluke]

That's interesting, so if the offer is accepted my friend can get on with the conveyancing knowing there's no hurry, and when all the searches etc are complete everything will be in place to exchange as soon as the probate work is complete. She will have to come to a similar arrangement with the buyer of her house but that's a separate problem.

Only niggle now is why (as my neighbour's sister seems to think) the executor would think it a good idea to take the house off the market while probate is sorted out when the agent could be showing other prospective buyers around now and potentially get a better offer. Also the house sits empty for all that time getting musty, the neat tidy garden getting overgrown etc. Unless someone goes in from time to time to give it an airing and a tidy up. Don't know.

Well we'll see, thanks all.

[didds]

IF its a case of waiting for probate / whatever... a possible fly in the ointment may be that the house value dramatically changes (due to the bizarre vagaries of such things) and one party may now feel that the agreed price X months beforehand is now not "good".

As a buyer id be very wary of making an offer etc and finding months later the value had decreased ... and what of mortgage lenders .,.. in such a scenario would they still be likely to lend the original amount on a property that isnt yet owned but has lost value ?

These are just things that spring to mind - could be in reality they dont exist/arent a concern.

didds

[DrFfybes]

I think there is nothing to prevent the executor getting on with negotiating the sale but completion would have to wait until probate was granted as the Land Registry would refuse to transfer title without sight of the grant of probate.

Exactly this.

Mum's flat was Under Offer when she died.

Completion had to wait until we had Grant of Probate, and obviously the solicitors needed to check the Will and the Executors' ID, although as my Sister and I were Executors and selling the flat under PoA it was pretty painless.

In the current market I think the Executor would be very foolish to withdraw the property when an offer is on the tabl, unless of course the eventual recipient doesn't wish to sell it or the Will states otherwise.

Paul

[Lootman]

I think there is nothing to prevent the executor getting on with negotiating the sale but completion would have to wait until probate was granted as the Land Registry would refuse to transfer title without sight of the grant of probate.

Exactly this.

Mum's flat was Under Offer when she died.

Completion had to wait until we had Grant of Probate, and obviously the solicitors needed to check the Will and the Executors' ID, although as my Sister and I were Executors and selling the flat under PoA it was pretty painless.

In the current market I think the Executor would be very foolish to withdraw the property when an offer is on the table, unless of course the eventual recipient doesn't wish to sell it or the Will states otherwise.

That is interesting because in a similar situation I was told that it was exchange of contracts that could not happen without probate. But that if exchange had happened before death, then completion could proceed. Indeed it must proceed because that is what the contract prescribes.

My problem was that my mother died one day before exchange was due. The buyer pulled out and I had to start over.

[scrumpyjack]

I suppose that it is impossible to give a contractual commitment to complete the purchase without probate as you cannot be certain when you will be able to complete.

[swill453]

I know two family members where the property seller died, and this caused so much delay and hassle they pulled out of the purchases

Scott.

[DrFfybes]

Exactly this.

Mum's flat was Under Offer when she died.

Completion had to wait until we had Grant of Probate, and obviously the solicitors needed to check the Will and the Executors' ID, although as my Sister and I were Executors and selling the flat under PoA it was pretty painless.

That is interesting because in a similar situation I was told that it was exchange of contracts that could not happen without probate. But that if exchange had happened before death, then completion could proceed. Indeed it must proceed because that is what the contract prescribes.

My problem was that my mother died one day before exchange was due. The buyer pulled out and I had to start over.

Thinking back, we probably exchanged and completed on the same day.

I do remember some last minute triviality (the buyer's sol wanted a copy of a guarantee for something that we couldn't find) delaying the sale of MrsF's parent's house which was being done under PoA. Her dad had a fall and went into hospital and amazingly the solicitors exchanged the following morning.

[stewamax]

It is worth noting that if the house were owned as tenants-in-common, the survivor becomes sole legal owner and also holds the deceased’s share as a trustee. On their own the survivor cannot sell the house until probate is granted, but if they appoint an extra trustee to be responsible for the deceased’s share, they can between them sell the property and hold the monetary value of the deceased’s share in trust for the executor to distribute when probate is granted.
In other words, the house can indeed be sold before probate is granted - perhaps a buyer is ready with hand on wallet or the housing market is just peaking and selling would be a sound commercial decision - and the deceased’s share of its value (instead of a share of the house itself) falls to the estate.

Neither does the Land Registry need to see a grant of probate in order to remove the deceased tenant-in-common from the title.

[Lootman]

In other words, the house can indeed be sold before probate is granted - perhaps a buyer is ready with hand on wallet or the housing market is just peaking and selling would be a sound commercial decision - and the deceased’s share of its value (instead of a share of the house itself) falls to the estate.

Yes, I suppose one could argue that an executor can always sell an asset of the deceased, because that power is vested in him or her by virtue of the will. The grant of probate is more a mere documentary and administrative device that is needed by some third parties to release assets.

So if I as the executor already have the keys to the deceased's property, and physical access to it, then I can sell it, at least in a trivially simple situation where you as the buyer have cash. We sign a contract, the cash and the keys trade places, and you move in.

Then the only problem is the land registry, but they are always an after-the-fact third party anyway, and often take ages to amend the register of properties.

Of course for more complex situations, such as where the buyer needs a mortgage, then the lender may demur and things stall.

[Gerry557]

Acting as an executor I sold a house and informed the buyers that it couldn't complete until probate was granted although expected it to happen before the buyers would be ready. Fortunately it was a small chain and a committed buyer.

I do know someone who's husband died on the morning of a house move on purchase. Unfortunately they had to continue even under the poor circumstances.