I am selling a house at the moment and have had a few requests from the estate agent to allow the buyers to view the property again with their architect, builders etc. I haven't had a problem with it and always gave permission. Has the estate agent asked the prospective buyers if they have any objection to you entering the property for these purposes? Surely it is in everyone's interest that the sale goes through so everything should be done to facilitate the buyers when the request is a reasonable one.
Transpired after paying booking deposit that probate wasn't granted and not even applied for. We've no real rush to get in so said this isn't a problem. Now that we've our loan offer sorted and we're about to sign contracts, I asked the estate agent could we view the house again. It'll be a while until we close
Hello,
While I appreciate that buying a house can be a stressful and also an emotional time, with the right house being difficult to find in the current market... there is always going to be another house that you will grow to love just as much as this one.
The situation as you describe it does not sit right with me, I would be seriously considering taking my deposit back and walking away... potential future difficulties with probate, an uncooperative vendor and perhaps also a difficult solicitor acting for the vendor, are all negatives in isolation not to mention when you combine a few of them together !
Either way, I've given a deadline to close by and will stick to it.
I don't think you can impose such a deadline. If you sign contracts, you are committed to going ahead.
If they have not been granted probate,they can't go ahead.
I am not a solicitor,but...
I really do not think you should make the final legal commitment until a Grant of Probate has been issued. Alternatively, the contract would have to contain a condition saying something like "Unless signed contracts are returned before [a specified date] , then the contract is void"
- You could sign contracts today which would leave you obliged to complete the process
- They could not return them to you until probate is granted, so you would end up obliged to complete the process while they could pull out at any time. This could go on for months.
Brendan
Given that the EA lied to you about probate having been granted, there may well be an argument that you could pursue the EA for the costs you have incurred. If you'd known at the beginning that probate wasn't granted, would you have gone any further and incurred the valuation and solicitor costs, or just walked away?
"there may well be an argument that you could pursue the EA for the costs you have incurred."
No. No grounds.
What has happened here is that the Vendors have waited for a Sale Agreed before applying for Probate. This is to "fix" a date of death value for Revenue and avoid a potential CGT liability if there was a gap between Probate valuation and final sale price.
"Since probate isn't granted, signing the contracts doesn't appear to mean anything as they can't legally sell the house, so the contract is pretty much worthless until then."
If the Vendor is selling as Executor of the deceased's will , then they have authority to sign Contracts and legally commit to the sale even before the Grant issues. Their authority derives from the will and so operates from date of death.
It's different if there is no will. The Administrator's authority derives from the Grant.
To be honest, the transaction sounds fairly run of the mill with the bonus of a possibly difficult vendor.
mf
If the Vendor is selling as Executor of the deceased's will , then they have authority to sign Contracts and legally commit to the sale even before the Grant issues. Their authority derives from the will and so operates from date of death.
...
To be honest, the transaction sounds fairly run of the mill with the bonus of a possibly difficult vendor.
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