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If you find yourself acting as an Executor of an estate, you might be faced with the prospect of selling the deceased’s property.  Selling your own home can often be stressful enough, but selling as an Executor brings further complications and issues to consider.  You will need to balance your responsibilities as Executor with the rights of the beneficiaries of the will, all the while trying to ensure the property sale proceeds as smoothly as possible.  Here are just a few of the things you will want to consider when selling as Executor.

As an Executor you have the legal authority to agree a sale with a prospective buyer and instruct your conveyancer to draft the contract paperwork.  Beware, if you do not have the Grant of Probate (the court document that proves the will is valid) you will not be able to exchange contracts and complete the sale.  Obtaining the Grant of Probate can take several months in some circumstances.  This sort of delay can cause frustration with buyers and may lead to them pulling out of the sale.  If you are marketing the property before you have a Grant of Probate make sure that the buyer is fully aware of the situation so that their expectations are realistic.

The deceased’s will directs which beneficiaries will receive the sale proceeds.  There could be several beneficiaries and an Executor must make sure they are always acting in their best interests.  A situation might arise where an offer is made on the property, but not all beneficiaries agree if the offer should be accepted.  Some might feel the offer is too low and the property should stay on the market longer.; others might prefer a quick a sale and prefer to take a lower offer.  As an Executor you will need to balance out these competing views and come to a decision.

Usually the property will still hold some or all of the deceased’s possessions.  These will need to be dealt with.  Remember, the beneficiaries that are due the proceeds of sale might be different to the beneficiaries that are entitled to the contents of the property.  Arrangements will need to be made to have the property cleared before completion.  Will you be relying on the beneficiary receiving the contents to do this?  Will you be instructing a removal firm to take the contents to be auctioned?  Do certain items need to be valued first?  What if beneficiaries are arguing over specific items?  These sorts of issues can further delay a sale whole they are being sorted out.

Most often the title to a property is registered at the land registry and electronic copies can be easily obtained online.  If the property is unregistered you will need to find the original deeds which could be stored with a bank, the deceased’s solicitors (instructed when the property was purchased over 50 years ago!) or stashed away in the property itself.  Finding any original deeds is crucial and you will not be able to sell the property without them.  Checks on the property’s title should be carried out as early as possible to flag up any potential problems so they can be resolved in good time.

Aside from the deeds, there may be other documents the buyer will expect you to produce.  These could range from copy planning documents to guarantees, warranties and reports for works carried out at the property.  The buyers may also raise specific enquiries relating to the property and its history.  As Executor your knowledge of the property will be limited and this will be reflected in the information you can give to the buyer but will also need balancing against your duty to find out as much information as reasonably possible.

Even after the sale of the property is complete there will be issues for the Executor to attend to.  For instance the building insurance will need to be cancelled and any refund of premiums obtained.  Likewise the utility companies will need to be informed, final accounts received and any balances settled or credit payments collected.  The council tax account will also have to be finalised.  It’s possible that third parties, usually beneficiaries or family members, will want reimbursing for costs relating to the sale that they have incurred personally.

The moral of the story is to be prepared.  A lot of these potential problems (and no doubt many others) can be mitigated or avoided completely with some proper planning.  Always take proper legal advice and as soon as possible, even if the prospect of selling the property is a way away.  A solicitor will be able to highlight the issues and help you navigate your way through them.

If you’d like to talk to us about selling a property as an executor you can call us on 01945 898090 or email Kieren Cross on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.