Anyone with experience?
We are being told the sellers solicitor won't be filling out a PIF as the executors don't know the detail of the property.
My modest searches have revealed some permitted development, I believe without the relevant building regs or planning. I don't know exactly when these were done.
Is it normal to get nothing back like this? Or would you usually expect a form with lots of 'don't knows' - at least that way we know they have looked at the questions....
Also without the PIF we can't be sure what is included in the sale (things like the cooker) but that has been included on the sale memo as verbally agreed with the agent. Does that cover us?
Solicitors is asking the right questions, just wondering if it is usual to get back a response that stuff won't be filled out as we don't know....
PS. I'm aware of indemnity policies for planning. There is no suggestion as of yet the sellers solicitor is offering one...which I'm surprised about
Don't bother would be my advice. Tried it, turned out to be such a monumental faff that I gave up and pulled out after four months.
We put an offer in on one earlier this summer. Declined but EA suggested asking price would clinch it. Having achieved asking price the executors/beneficiaries decided it was worth more so upped the asking price, three weeks before the referendum.
It's still for sale at a now reduced price while the council have decided there's room on the local airfield for another couple of thousand new houses, so probably ten years of building instead of five...
Bullet dodged!
Not unusual to get 'don't knows' and not much in the way of answers to enquiries with probate sales in my experience. It will depend to some extent on whether the executors are close family members, more distant friends or relations or professionals (could be the solicitors themselves in which case they will probably want to say very little I'm afraid)
So what should I do if we get back loads of don't knows? Feels like we are taking on a chunk more risk with no come back if there is some horror lurking. Appreciate some things they won't know but could make reasonable efforts to find out or rectify
Ie get the boiler serviced...
I have been an executor selling a property under probate. We answered the questions as best we could.
As a buyer you have to decide whether thats enough and balance the risks. I can't see commercial insurance being available as why woukd insurance company take such "dont know" risk on any prior development. Are there family members you can ask ?
As for the boiler (serious ?) I don't see why a house seller especially under probate would get that serviced. Just reflect it in the purchase price if you are worried about it.
As a buyer you have to decide whether thats enough and balance the risks.
Precisely!
Find out from the Land Registry who owned the property and if Probate has been granted, buy a copy of the will for a tenner. See who the beneficiaries are. If it's just a close relative, frixample, then fine, but if there are distant family members who've emerged out of the woodwork then forget it; they'll never agree.
If Probate hasn't been granted yet then you could be in for a wait...
Yes the boiler is a serious point, lack of service could indicate it doesn't work or needs replacing which could be a few extra £k. Our buyers asked for the last service date for our heating.
This is a specific example of the sort of info you'd expect to have in the PIF. There is loads more. Windows are recent, but no FENSA, Kitchen is recent, again no guarantees. It could all add up to quite a bit.
If it comes to it, we will renegotiate, however I'm trying to ascertain if refusal to provide any info is common with a probate.
I'm assured by the EA (!) that probate won't be an issue and there is only one family member as executor. It sounds straightforward, other than the complete lack of information / guarantees on the property.
As for walking away, only 3 properties matching our criteria have come on the market since April, so there isn't a great deal of choice when it comes to finding something else.
I have the names of the deceased and their executors.
Are you not paying someone to give you legal advice and presumably the experience of hundreds or thousands or previous transactions, so that you, the novice are correctly guided in an important buying decision?
Are you not paying someone to give you legal advice and presumably the experience of hundreds or thousands or previous transactions, so that you, the novice are correctly guided in an important buying decision?
Pfft!
What do the 'so called' Experts know!
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I'm assured by the EA (!) that probate won't be an issue
How the hell do they know?
and there is only one family member as executor.
That's not unusual, even when there are many beneficiaries. It's worth checking the will for potential family squabbles and bust ups. It is a public document once probate has been obtained. The executor may find themselves under intense family pressure and simply do nothing...
https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate
I do find myself a little confused here - has probate been granted yet? From my own experience, probate can be a long-winded affair, and in any case, if the executor(s) have not been granted probate, they do not have any right to administer the estate. Until a grant of probate is obtained, they don't control the assets of the estate, in which case they really aren't in a position to sell, surely?
Having taken a look at the [url= http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/support-services/documents/TA6-form-specimen/ ]Law Society TA6 specimen PIF[/url] with a view to selling my late parents house in the (hopefully) none-too-distant future, there is plenty on there that I could only answer "Don't know" to. I would consider myself to be pretty close to both my parents, but it's a 16 page form asking an awful lot of questions about an awful lot of stuff.
I do find myself a little confused here - has probate been granted yet? From my own experience, probate can be a long-winded affair, and in any case, if the executor(s) have not been granted probate, they do not have any right to administer the estate. Until a grant of probate is obtained, they don't control the assets of the estate, in which case they really aren't in a position to sell, surely?
The executors can market the house before probate, and do all the searches etc, but contracts cannot be exchanged until probate is granted. Hence the possibility of a long wait.
The EA may think there are no problems with probate but they know sweet FA about the rest of the estate and the problems that may be thrown up.
...The executors can market the house before probate, and do all the searches etc, but contracts cannot be exchanged until probate is granted...
So, not in a position to sell then...?
So, not in a position to sell then...?
Indeed not...
So, not in a position to sell then...?
Indeed not...
It is going through probate. We are told an estimated 6 weeks. We are planning on 2-3 months. Want to be in before Christmas. I'm told probated can be sorted in 4 weeks.
Our offer has been accepted, and we are told we can proceed with everything so on the date of probate contracts can be exchanged. So far I'm limiting my spend just in case it looks like it will take forever. The only outgoings so far are the solicitor, who I am waiting on responding to my questions around probate, he is chasing the other solicitor for information. Once things start looking like they are moving I'll instruct the surveyor.
So anyone know the average length of time for a probate with no issues?
3 months would be a quick one. It all depends on the size of the estate, complexity, and the ability/enthusiasm of the executor(s).
That's not really what I want to hear 🙁
For a straightforward estate where the deceased left a will, the executor(s) are happy to act as such (and if more than one executor, are in agreement about things) and no-one wants to contest anything in the will, then I gather around 6 weeks is fairly typical for application for a grant of probate to issue of a grant of probate if the application has been submitted by a solicitor. There can be quite a lot of groundwork required to get to this stage though.
