Probate · 5 min read
You usually cannot sell an inherited home straight away
Before a property can be sold or transferred, the estate normally needs a grant of probate, and the personal representatives then sell on the strength of the grant.
Jamie
Conveyancer
When someone dies owning property in their sole name, the legal title cannot pass to a buyer until the personal representatives have authority to deal with it. That authority comes from a grant of probate, or letters of administration where there is no will.
Executors can exchange before the grant, with completion waiting for it; administrators cannot exchange until the grant issues. Estate agents may market the property before it is issued, but the transaction itself will wait.
Where the property was owned as joint tenants with another person, it passes automatically to the survivor and no grant is needed for that property, although the register still has to be updated with a death certificate.
Inheritance tax must also be considered before the estate is distributed. Where tax is payable on the property, HMRC generally expects payment before the grant is issued, which occasionally requires a short-term arrangement to release funds.
Dealing with a property after a death
Once the executors hold the grant, we act on the sale of the house, or on the assent (AS1) or deceased joint proprietor (DJP) application if it is passing to a beneficiary.