It can prove a stressful and distressing time when you are responsible for arranging the deceased estate of a loved one.  It is important for us to provide you with a realistic market price (upon which any inheritance tax liability will be calculated) and this probate valuation will be carried out with a sympathetic and caring approach.

If selling through private treaty you must wait for probate to be granted. Once granted, we will be able to place your property onto the market for sale.  If the property is to be sold by auction we can actually sell before the grant of probate, another reason why we sell so many deceased estates sell in this way. If probate is still not granted by the 28 day completion period, there is a clause in the contract stating that completion will happen 7 days after the grant of probate.

So we feel that selling by Auction is perfect for deceased estate sales for the following reasons:

• Demand is very high for properties requiring refurbishment or renovations.  Often a deceased sale property has been lived in by an elderly relative and may not have been updated to modern standards.
• Low priced properties often achieve much higher figures than they would on the open sales market, due to the excitement of the bidding process and the expertise of the auctioneer.
• Auction sales exchange on the day and complete within 28 days.  On top of the stress of losing a loved one, there is no worry about sales falling through, chains collapsing or surveys being under-valued.

Dawsons are the only Swansea agent with an in-house Auction Team and we run auctions at the Swansea Marriott Hotel every 2nd month.  In 2019 we have run 4 auctions with 60 lots sold totalling £1,274,000. At our August Auction 21/21 properties sold, a number of which were deceased estate sales.

Examples of 2 Recent Deceased Estate Sales

Glantawe Street, Morriston

• Went to Auction without viewings
• Reserve £10,000
• Sold £39,000

Gelli Glas, Morriston

• Went to Auction had severe cracking throughout but was priced accordingly
• Reserve £63,000
• Sold £94,500

Timeline:

1. Grant of probate (2-3 months)

Required to enable executors to sell or transfer the property. The grant is a form of certificate issued by the court that confirms the validity of the will and gives the executors authority to deal with the deceased’s estate.

2. Probate valuations (2 weeks)

The executors should obtain two or three estate agents’ valuations and take the average as the value of the property, or obtain a surveyor’s valuation.

3. Title and deeds (1 hour to weeks if not registered)

The executors should also check the title to the property. If the property is registered with the Land Registry, this is a straightforward matter of downloading a copy of the title entries and plan from the Land Registry website, checking that the property is in the deceased’s name and that the plan shows the full extent of the property.

If the property is not registered, the executors will need to locate the paper title deeds, which hopefully are held safely by the deceased’s solicitor or their bank.

Preparing the Legal Documents (4 weeks*) Once the title and deeds are located, the executors should ask a solicitor to check them for any restrictions affecting the property, or defects in the title, which will need to be dealt with before the property can be sold. If the property is going to the Auction House, a legal pack will need to be prepared prior to listing the property.  One issue which often arises is when the property was not transferred to the deceased on the death of a spouse so this will add time to the process.

*Timescale depends on the solicitor, so we always  recommend people who know and understand the process

4. Marketing for Auction (Dawsons 6-8 weeks )

5. Marketing for Sale on the Open Market (National average 6-8 weeks)

Other Considerations:

Property Clearance

The deceased’s property will need to be cleared of all its contents before the property is sold and this is often a sticking point for the executors or family.

Capital Gains Tax

For the year of death and the following two years, the executors have a CGT allowance of £12,000 (for 2019-20).  Executors should take legal advice on the title to the property and the taxation aspects of selling before placing the property on the market.

If you would like to speak to one of our deceased estate sale experts, we’d be delighted to hear from you ☎︎ 01792 478903 or 04.

See our upcoming auction properties here.