This simply means selling a house or other property where the owner/s have died.
Most family homes are jointly owned. If one owner dies, there is no need to obtain any Grant of Probate as the surviving spouse/owner is entitled to sell the property as surviving owner.
However, if the surviving owner should then die, a Grant of Probate or Administration to his estate is needed. The same applies to a property that is owned only by one person. On his/her death, the family or executor must obtain a Grant of Probate.
After death, your assets vest in your executor or (if there is no Will) Administrator and the Grant of Probate is their warrant, as it were, to sell off your property and distribute the net proceeds to the beneficiaries specified in the Will.
The legal position is simple. After death, the family will be aware of a Will nominating one or perhaps two executors and specifying the beneficiaries. A house can make up most of the value of a deceased’s assets, so it is usual to see arrangements being made for its sale not long after the owners death.
An application for probate can take time and be held up with queries. However, the nominated executor can put the premises up for sale by auction or otherwise before the Grant actually issues. The sale itself cannot be closed and the purchase money paid over before the grant itself is issued. The executor is free to advertise the property and can take offers on the property in advance of the Grant issuing. The Solicitor will usually send out contracts subject to the Grant being obtained but is free to exchange contracts, take a deposit and progress the conveyancing while the Grant application is in progress.
Probate sales can be attractive from a purchaser’s point of view as there is no chain of contracts situation with the vendor. An executor’s sale can often realise a price that is less than the expected market value for this reason although usually upgrading work can also be involved.
