How to Sell a House under Probate

Yes, you can start selling a house in probate before the grant arrives. In England and Wales you can value it, put it on the market and agree a sale while you wait. For a sale by the estate, nobody can complete until the grant has been issued, and an administrator can’t exchange before it either.

The person who sells is the executor named in the will, who applies for a grant of probate, or an administrator, who applies for letters of administration, usually because there is no will.

Article updated: October 2026

A sale has four stages:

• Marketing: valuations, viewings and putting the home up for sale.
• Agreeing an offer: a price both sides are happy with, which isn’t binding yet.
• Exchange: the point both sides are legally committed. An administrator can’t exchange before the grant.
• Completion: the money changes hands and the buyer gets the keys. This always waits for the grant.

What is a Property under Probate?

A property under probate is a home that belonged to someone who has died and is waiting to be dealt with as part of their estate. Where they owned it alone, nobody can transfer it to a buyer until the right person has proof that they’re allowed to, and in England and Wales that proof is a grant from the probate service.

There are two main kinds of grant. Where the will names an executor, the executor applies for a grant of probate. HMRC’s guidance on types of grant explains that an executor’s authority actually comes from the will itself, and probate is the proof of it. An administrator is different: their authority comes from the letters of administration, so they have none until the grant is made. Where there is a will but no executor who can or will act, the grant is letters of administration with the will annexed.

A home they owned with someone else works differently. HM Land Registry’s guidance says the legal title passes to the surviving registered owners, whether they held it as joint tenants or as tenants in common, so a sale by a surviving owner follows a different route. The share in the home’s value is another matter. If they owned it as tenants in common, GOV.UK’s joint ownership guide says their share doesn’t automatically go to the other owners. That share forms part of their estate and can be left in their will.

What are the Problems with Selling a Probate Property?

Three things make a probate sale harder than an ordinary one:

• The wait for the grant. Some buyers can wait for a completion date that depends on it. A buyer in a chain, or one with a deadline to move, may not be able to.
• Money going out first. Where Inheritance Tax is owed, it’s due by the end of the sixth month after the death, and GOV.UK says you usually need to pay some of it before you can get the grant. Banks in the Direct Payment Scheme can pay it straight from the deceased’s accounts, and that can start before probate. Executors sometimes cover costs from their own pocket and claim them back later. The Trustee Act 2000 lets them claim back expenses properly incurred in running the estate, but not every bill.
• Looking after an empty home. This can go on for months. GOV.UK’s guide to selling a home mentions keeping it safe, putting the heating on in winter to prevent damp, and insurance.

How Long does Selling a Probate Property Take?

There’s no set time for selling a probate property, and the wait for the grant is only one part of it. GOV.UK says you’ll usually get probate within 12 weeks of applying. The grant can take longer if the probate service needs more information. Finding a buyer, the buyer’s mortgage and survey, and the solicitors’ preparation can all go ahead while the grant application is in.

The latest official figures, published on 24 September 2026 for April to June 2026, show how long each type of grant took:

• grants of probate took about 5 weeks on average from application to issue;
• probate grants that were stopped, for example over a dispute about the will or a request for more information, took 14 weeks, against 2 weeks for probate grants that weren’t stopped;
• letters of administration took about 22 weeks where there was a will and about 10 weeks where there wasn’t.

Those averages cover the grant alone. They leave out the time before you apply: finding the will, valuing everything at the date of death and dealing with Inheritance Tax. If the estate needs a full IHT400 account, HMCTS guidance for solicitors says to wait 20 working days for HMRC’s code, and the application can’t go in without it.

Conveyancing and any chain set their own pace. In my experience, you’re only as fast as the slowest solicitor in the chain.

Anything that holds up the grant can slow the whole process: a missing or disputed will, mistakes in the application, a complicated estate or a large Inheritance Tax bill.

I’ve bought a property that was going through probate. The grant took a while, and at several points the purchase looked as if it could fall through. Part of that was the delays. Part was other buyers trying to go direct to the sellers, cutting out the agents and me. That isn’t common, and it shouldn’t happen, because the agents have agreements to sell. It completed and was worthwhile, and as a buyer I’d now ask early what stage the probate has reached, to get a realistic picture of the timeline.

Can You Sell a House under Probate?

Yes, you can sell a house before probate is granted, up to a point. In England and Wales you can market it and agree a sale before the grant. In a sale by the estate, completion always waits for the grant, and exchange does too where the seller will be an administrator, because an administrator’s authority comes from the letters of administration.

GOV.UK’s main probate guide says not to put property on the market until you’ve got probate. That line is caution about timing, not a legal bar. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s guide to selling a home says you can market the property while you wait for probate to be granted.

Here is how each stage works for an estate sale in England and Wales:

• Marketing. Valuations, photos, viewings and listing the home can all go ahead before the grant.
• Agreeing an offer. You can accept an offer, but an offer isn’t legally binding in England and Wales until contracts are exchanged. Some estates can put off paying Inheritance Tax until after the grant, which HMRC calls grant on credit. Where the house sale will pay the tax, HMRC asks for an accepted offer and an estimated exchange date.
• Exchange. Whether an executor exchanges before the grant is a judgement for the conveyancer, and the risk is a binding contract that can’t complete until the grant arrives. Someone still waiting to be appointed administrator has no authority yet, and HM Land Registry won’t accept a transfer by an administrator dated before the letters of administration.
• Completion. This can only happen once the grant has been issued.

How the Probate Process Works

In England and Wales, the probate process runs in six broad steps, and the sale can be prepared alongside them:

1. Work out who applies. An executor named in the will applies for probate. If there’s no will, the most entitled person applies to be administrator. That’s normally a husband, wife or civil partner first, and any children aged 18 or over come after them.
2. Value the estate. Everything the person owned, including the house, is valued at the date they died, along with any debts.
3. Sort out the Inheritance Tax reporting. GOV.UK says most estates are excepted estates. For deaths since 1 January 2022, HMRC’s guidance says their values go on the probate application itself, so the old IHT205 form isn’t used for them. Larger or more complicated estates send a full IHT400 account to HMRC, even if no tax turns out to be due.
4. Pay any tax due. Tax on a house can be paid in yearly instalments over 10 years, with interest usually added, but whatever is left has to be paid in full once the house is sold.
5. Apply. You can apply online or by post, yourself or through a solicitor or other probate practitioner. You need the original will if there is one, and a copy of the death certificate only in certain cases, such as a death outside England and Wales. The application fee is £526 for an estate worth over £5,000, and there’s no fee at £5,000 or below. Solicitors’ and conveyancers’ fees are on top.
6. Get the grant, complete and settle up. Once the grant arrives, the sale can complete. Debts and any tax come out of the estate before the beneficiaries get their share, so completing the sale isn’t the end of the job.

Scotland and Northern Ireland work differently. In Scotland the executor gets confirmation from the court instead of probate, and selling a home there follows Scotland’s own legal process. Northern Ireland has its own Probate Office, which issues grants of probate and letters of administration. The probate application fees, forms and grant times above don’t apply there. The UK’s Inheritance Tax rules still do.

What do You Need to Check?

There are eight things to check before a probate property goes on the market:

• Who can sell. Where the person who died owned the home alone, the person signing the contract has to be the executor or administrator, and the type of grant decides how early they can commit to a buyer.
• Whether the home was jointly owned. In England and Wales, a surviving joint owner already holds the legal title, but a share held as tenants in common is still part of the estate. The conveyancer checks the title.
• Inheritance Tax. The standard threshold is £325,000, and the tax on the value above it is charged at 40%, before any exemptions and reliefs. Leaving a home to children or grandchildren can add up to £175,000 through the residence nil rate band. The person who died must have lived in the home at some point, so a buy-to-let they never lived in doesn’t qualify, and the band tapers away for estates worth more than £2 million. HMRC’s guidance says the estate can still qualify if the personal representative sells the home and passes the proceeds to the direct descendants.
• Capital Gains Tax. HMRC says there’s no Capital Gains Tax when someone dies, and the estate’s starting value for the house is its market value at the date of death. If it sells for more than that, the gain can be taxed. For 2026 to 2027, personal representatives pay 24% on gains above a £3,000 allowance, and that allowance is only available in the tax year of the death and the next two tax years. Where tax is due on a UK home, personal representatives report it within 60 days of completion. HMRC then sends the bill. It’s due 60 days after completion, or 30 days after the bill if that’s later. Where the person who died wasn’t UK resident, a return can be needed even with no tax to pay.
• Council tax. England and Wales now run different timetables for a home left empty after a death, Scotland has its own rules, and Northern Ireland charges rates instead.
• Insurance. GOV.UK’s selling guide warns that many policies won’t cover a home left empty for more than 30 or 60 days. Each insurer sets its own conditions on visits, heating and security.
• An Energy Performance Certificate. If the home already has a valid certificate, that one can be used, and a free register search shows whether there is one. Where there isn’t, and the building isn’t exempt, GOV.UK says a new one must be ordered before marketing.
• Any mortgage or loan secured on the home. As with any sale, the mortgage and any other debts secured against the property are paid off from the sale money.

In England, GOV.UK’s council tax guidance and the government’s guidance on empty-home premiums cover a qualifying empty home. Put together, the rules give four stages:

The ordinary exemption is called Class F. After the grant it can last 6 months, but only while the home stays empty and still in the name of the person who died. It ends sooner if the home is sold or transferred to the beneficiaries. The protection from the premium is a separate rule, called Class I. It runs for 12 months from the grant, at the same time as Class F, and ends if the home is sold. Once Class I ends, a council can add a premium to a home that has been empty and unfurnished for at least a year. That premium is up to 100% extra, which doubles the bill, rising to 200% extra after 5 years and 300% after 10. After the full 12 months, most homes empty and unfurnished since the death have been so for over a year, so the premium can apply at once. After an earlier sale, it depends on how long the home has actually been empty and unfurnished, which a change of owner doesn’t restart.

Wales has its own rules. The Welsh Government’s guidance says a qualifying empty home is exempt for up to 2 years from the date of death, or until the grant if that comes first. It also says that after the grant, the home can stay exempt for a further 12 months. Under the 2026 regulations, for a death before 1 April 2026, the 2 years run from 1 April 2026, not from the death. It ends sooner if the home is sold or someone moves in. Class I is an English rule and doesn’t apply in Wales.

In Northern Ireland, homes pay rates rather than council tax. Where the person who died was the ratepayer and lived there alone, their personal representative is responsible for the rates. While they have possession of the home, they can apply for exclusion from empty property rates if it’s empty, unfurnished and not used for storage.

How do I Sell a Property under Probate?

There are three ways to sell a probate property: through an estate agent, at auction or directly to a cash buyer. Where the person who died owned the home alone, HM Land Registry won’t accept the estate’s transfer without the grant on any route, and an administrator can’t exchange before it either.

In my experience, the highest price isn’t always what matters most to a seller. Some sellers I’ve dealt with cared more about speed, privacy, simplicity and dealing with someone they trusted. An executor or administrator is selling for the estate, though, and the Ministry of Justice says they must act in beneficiaries’ best interests. A court can ask for a detailed account of how an estate was run.

An auction moves fast once the contract is made. Under the RICS common auction conditions, completion is 20 business days after the contract date unless the special conditions set another date. In a sale by the estate, only an executor can sign an auction contract before the grant. Signing early risks a completion date the estate can’t meet.

A direct sale to a cash buyer takes the buyer’s mortgage out of the picture, but it doesn’t remove the grant, the title checks or the tax. Being told a buyer has cash isn’t proof of funds. Our guide to selling a house quickly compares the faster routes and how much each can take off the price.