Often when someone is left a property by a deceased relative, they will want to sell it quickly. This may be for emotional reasons, but there are also financial concerns to take into account too – maintenance costs can quickly mount up.
Given these difficult circumstances, what do you need to consider when selling a property in probate?
When can I sell?
You cannot sell the property until probate is formally granted. This will generally take around eight weeks, though there’s nothing to stop you putting the property on the market before that date.
Valuations
When the executor applies for the grant of probate, they will need to detail all of the deceased’s assets, with valuations. It’s therefore a good idea to get the property valued by a couple of different estate agents to give you a decent idea of what it is worth. Alternatively you could get it valued by a surveyor.
Title and deeds
If the property has been registered with Land Registry, downloading a copy of the title entries for the property to ensure that it was in the deceased’s name, should be straightforward.
However, if it wasn’t registered then you will need to locate the paper title deeds.
How to sell it
Traditionally, high street estate agents have been the method of choice for selling property. However, recent years have seen the emergence of a number of big online estate agents.
One big plus point with online estate agents are the fees, which are usually smaller than dealing with a high street estate agent. There are downsides to online estate agents though – you may need to do the viewings yourself and sort out photographs to go with your property’s listing on the various property portals.
Remember, the fact that there is no chain involved with the property will be an added selling point too, as it should represent a relatively straightforward purchase.