Hi all,
Long time contributor of this sub, but now find myself asking a question of my own.
We’ve been in the process of buying a house for some time. The seller is acting on behalf of his father using a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA). We have been told that his father’s health is in decline, and slightly morbidly we don’t know if he’s going to live long enough to get to exchange/completion. I understand at the point of his death, the LPA immediately ceases and the whole transaction will then be waiting on probate.
Unfortunately we’re not in a position to move quickly. We’ve been waiting on the seller providing the Title Deeds for some time (the land is unregistered), so as a result my solicitor hasn’t even been able to order searches yet as the seller’s solicitor hasn’t provided the contract pack. His father is the sole owner of the house, his mother died a few years ago.
My question is, worst case scenario this becomes a probate sale and we won’t have exchanged. How long a delay are we realistically talking about? Would there be any grounds to expedite because the sale is substantially in progress? For context, solicitors were instructed in late February. We are at least six weeks away at best from exchange, if the Title Deeds appear tomorrow then searches and reporting will realistically take that long. And that’s all assuming nothing untoward comes up.
I hear horror stories about probate taking extreme lengths of time. It’s the perfect property for us so really do want to hold out for it and are happy to wait, but there are logistical reasons why we can’t wait beyond early October (mortgage porting stuff and we’d lose a low rate of 2.44% with five years left, like gold dust in today’s market). If that happened we could continue but would be looking to substantially reduce our offer to account for that material loss.
Thanks in advance, any experiences appreciated.
Location: Wales