Transfer of house deeds upon death

[macky17]

To any solicitors on here who may know:

My mother died recently. She didn’t leave a will so her estate passes to my brother and I, including her house (no mortgage).

So far, straight-forward. However: upon checking the house deeds (which were in her possession) I have discovered that they are still in my grandmothers name. I have a copy of my grandmothers will (she died in 2004) which clearly states that my mother should inherit the property but it seems my mother never informed land registry of the change of ownership. How much of a problem is this going to be when my brother and I try to sell the house later this year?

Thanks in anticipation.
Niall


Note: If probate was never enacted on grans will (now I’m thinking it wasn’t) there’s another issue. The estate would have been well below the IHT threshold at the time at least. The nationwide calculator suggests the house was worth £136000 when gran died and she didn’t have huge savings, The IHT threshold at the time was £263000 so not even close.

Edited by macky17 on Sunday 7th April 18:36

[bladebloke]

macky17 said:

To any solicitors on here who may know:

My mother died recently. She didn’t leave a will so her estate passes to my brother and I, including her house (no mortgage).

So far, straight-forward. However: upon checking the house deeds (which were in her possession) I have discovered that they are still in my grandmothers name. I have a copy of my grandmothers will (she died in 2004) which clearly states that my mother should inherit the property but it seems my mother never informed land registry of the change of ownership. How much of a problem is this going to be when my brother and I try to sell the house later this year?

Thanks in anticipation.
Niall


Note: If probate was never enacted on grans will (now I’m thinking it wasn’t) there’s another issue. The estate would have been well below the IHT threshold at the time at least. The nationwide calculator suggests the house was worth £136000 when gran died and she didn’t have huge savings, The IHT threshold at the time was £263000 so not even close.

Edited by macky17 on Sunday 7th April 18:36

Sorry for your loss.

Not my area of work, but since nobody more knowledgeable on such subjects has replied yet, in short, it will be a big problem - I believe you'll need at least the grant of probate for your grandmother and possibly letters of administration for your mother too. They may also be other matters that need attending to on account of how long the house has stayed in your grandmother's name after her death.

I'd definitely recommend going to a solicitor to get assistance with sorting this out.

[mr rusty]

I strongly suggest you sort this now, and not when you try and sell. It may take a while.

[Pro Bono]

macky17 said:

My mother died recently. She didn’t leave a will so her estate passes to my brother and I, including her house (no mortgage).

So far, straight-forward. However: upon checking the house deeds (which were in her possession) I have discovered that they are still in my grandmothers name. I have a copy of my grandmothers will (she died in 2004) which clearly states that my mother should inherit the property but it seems my mother never informed land registry of the change of ownership. How much of a problem is this going to be when my brother and I try to sell the house later this year?

As things stand you couldn't sell the house, as you couldn't prove title to it.

The first thing you neeed to do is to check whether or not the title is registered at the Land Registry - https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-lan... The title to most properties nowadays is registered, and once the title is registered the old title deeds are obsolete. Title to property is now held electronically, so title deeds as such don't exist any more. It may therefore be that probate of your grandmother's Will was actually obtained and that the title was transferred to your mother, but that there is simply no printout of the up to date title.

If you discover that the title is registered in your mother's name then all you need is the grant of probate to your mother's estate to sell the house.

If the title isn't registered then you firstly need to check whether your grandmother's Will was actually admitted to probate. You can do so here - https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate

If it was admitted to probate then you can obtain a copy of the grant, which will name the executors. They will have to join in with the executors of your mother's Will to apply for first registration of the title to the house at the Land Registry in the names of you and your brother.

If your grandmother's Will was never admitted to probate then it will have to be dealt with now, i.e. the executors named in the Will must file an Inland Revenue Account of her estate and apply to the court for a grant of probate.

It's all a bit of a PITA, but it's doable. If the title isn't registered I'd estimate around 4 - 5 months to sort it out.