Hi newbie in need of help

[shannon]

hi im new here and basically have only joined coz i need some advice that i have been told by my b/f you great people on here will be able to help me with and he hasnt had time to post for me.

okay so the situation is that my great aunt died some weeks ago and in her will she left the solicitor as executor of the will which was fine in itself coz u know how money can bring out the best in people. well anyway it has come to selling my aunts bungalow, we know that it is worth at least 160-170 because we had it independantly valued maybe this was wrong but we just wanted an idea. okay so the solicitor has there Estate agents who they have a contract with to sell it and without consulting us it is going on the market for 147,000. and not being greedy but we know its worth more than this. The EA they use are notorious for undervaluing because they like quick sales. when we bought this up with the solicitor we were told its none of our business she can do what she wants. a nice response seeing as we are technicallt paying her.

so now what i would like to know it where we stand legally with being able to have some say and is she legally obliged to get as much for the estate as she can. also she has told us if there are any offers on the house she can accept or decline them without consulting us.

Is there anybody who can help me with this as i would appreciate it very much before we pay for a second opinion.

Thank you

[Big Al.]

Hi Shannon and welcome to PH, I'll move this over to the business forum there are more legal eagles over there.

[jamesuk28]

1. The Solicitor is legally obliged to maximise the assets value, ie get the best possible price for the Bungalow.

2. Under selling or undervaluing to any great extent is illegal

3. If the solicitor will not co-operate with you I suggest you contact the law society and speak with them.

4. Some estate agents deliberatly under value property and sell them to developers in return for a cash bung (trust me it happens)

5 Do you have a spare set of keys for the bungalow? I would get 3 estate agents around there pronto, get their valuations and if they are a lot higher than £140ish confront the solicitor and say you want to place the bungalow multi agency. If they refuse to listen to you say that you are going to the law society (if she - solicitor - is up to no good she will brick it) Technically your gran was the solicitors client and only clients can report their solicitors to the Law society. However if you explain that this is a probate and you are the beneficiars of the will and paying the solicitors fees this should be ok.

[billsnemesis]

Good advice but do it quick

I would be surprised if the solicitor is actually doing anything dodgy but it is perfectly possible that this is not getting the attention it deserves and some low valuations may have been accepted without doing enough research - laziness rather than corruption. Either way you to need to leap on this.

The danger is that a developer buying at an undervalue in return for a bung will probably have funds for a deposit and be able to exchange on the stop. They then agree a long completion time, say about three months, and use that to line up the mortgage.

Make the calls today.

[Piglet]

Is there only one executor? Often it is a solicitor and a member of the family who act together although it is possible for one executor to give their consent for one to act alone. I haven't done probabate for a while but I seem to recall that there has to be two executors in which case you need to express your concerns to the other one as well.

If you have a concern and have spoken to the solicitor then talk to the senior partner of the firm and raise your concerns ASAP. I would also send a copy of the valuation you have received from the EA to the solicitor and ask for confirmation of the difference in value.

Do you genuinely believe that the higher figure is achievable in a short space of time? Probate sales are often priced to dispose of property quickly to avoid the house sitting around empty, esp. at this time of year, it should not be a giveaway price but there are often other considerations to take into account.

Good luck

[UpTheIron]

Piglet said:

Do you genuinely believe that the higher figure is achievable in a short space of time? Probate sales are often priced to dispose of property quickly to avoid the house sitting around empty, esp. at this time of year, it should not be a giveaway price but there are often other considerations to take into account.

This bit is perhaps key isn't it...£147k for a 'forced sale' price of a £170k 'open market' property is probably about right.

Is there any reason why it needs to be sold quickly? From your (the beneficiaries) or a legal point of view? Or is the main winner from a quick sale the solicitor, who gets paid earlier?

If the solicitor is really telling you it is 'none of your business' ask her to write to you and tell you that.

Move quickly, get it valued independently by 3 agents, put your concerns in writing to the solicitor, and if necessary a senior partner, and include the valuations.

A friend of mine (well, his living Grandmother) was recently shafted in a similar way when she moved into a care home...she accepted the first (low) valuation and it sold *before it was advertised*

[nightmare]

UpTheIron said:

Piglet said:

Do you genuinely believe that the higher figure is achievable in a short space of time? Probate sales are often priced to dispose of property quickly to avoid the house sitting around empty, esp. at this time of year, it should not be a giveaway price but there are often other considerations to take into account.

This bit is perhaps key isn't it...£147k for a 'forced sale' price of a £170k 'open market' property is probably about right.

hmm.....would have said that the gap there was seriously taking the wee....yes low price for quick sale, but that would normally be 10K off open market price in the 150 - 250K price bracket. this is 23k (nice nearly new elise). Of course, it could well be that a single independant has valued at the 170ish mentioned, and are overvalusing so yeah, this could be fair...but my tenner says it's going to their pet developer

[deva link]

See what similar properties in the area have sold for: www.houseprices.co.uk

My FIL just sold his one-of-a-kind bungalow, he wanted a quick, no hassle sale, and had 3 valuations at £330K (they suggested knocking it down and getting planning permission for a big house - that fits well with 'no-hassle'!), £375K and £440K.

It actually sold for £360K. So I would suggest £147K vs £160-170K isn't a million miles out.

Does the property need a lot of updating, and did you take that into account?


Having said all that, it would surely be good practice for the Solicitor to get at least 2 valuations, even if only to protect herself from mis-conduct allegations?

Edited by deva link on Monday 2nd October 15:19

[davidd]

We have just bought a house from an estate (dead persons estate not a housing estate). We dealt directly with the excecutors of the will (family and solicitors) and cut out estate agents. We looked at prices that similar houses had sold for in the last year (a few on the same street had sold recently) then got three estate agents round to give valuations. We then offered slightly below the lowest valuation and got the house.
Pros for us, we got the house for slightly less than it is worth (I hope).
Pros for the estate, they got a quick sale with no estate agent fees so they made the same, sold it within a week and had little or no hassle.

D

[shannon]

thank you for all the replies some great advice given, we have decided to get 2 more valuations therefore giving us three and then go to the solicitor and see if she will consider changing the EA and the price. if she refuses then we will seek advice from the law society.

I am though still in the dark regarding any offers on the house. Can she just accept or refuse them even if we disagree with her. I would greatly appreciate anyone who could maybe shed some light on this for me.

[Piglet]

Shannon, that depends on whether there is a sole executor or more than one. I've checked and one executor is allowed but its recommended that there is more than one. This will depend on the will. Have you checked whether the solicitor is sole executor or whether the role is shared?

I would flag your concerns with her immediately and suggest that she holds off accepting ANY offer until you/she has been able to get further valuations. As someone said above it is vital that you communicate with her now.

Don't go straight for the Law Society, talk to the senior partner of the firm first, you are much more likely to get swift resolution in this way.

[shannon]

another update we have had 3 valuations today and they all came back at 175K compared to the soicitors 147K. we are now adressing the issue in writing to the solicitor and hoping she will reply. Unfortunately i cannot seem to get across the urgency with which we need to do this to the other beneficaries. also the solicitor has only just had my aunts mail redirected i thought that would be one of the first things they did not 8 weeks after my aunt died. does anyone else think she might be slow and lazy?

[WWESTY]

Is there only one executor...??? As has been said, this is unusual.

[shannon]

yes only one executor and that is the solicitor my aunt thought she was doing the best thing doing it this way as she thought there would be no fights within the family.