Probate Property’s are vital to keep the Property market ticking over…

“What we know is that sales are 50 per cent to 60 per cent down but people are dying at the same rate, about half a million a year, so the number of probate sales is now doubly important,” says Richard Donnell of property analysts Hometrack.

Separating from a family home can be painful, but in this falling market it is financially punishing too.

“It is unbelievably hard,” she says. “It is bad enough losing a parent but when you realise that the valuation takes no notice of what is happening in the market, it is awful because we have to pay inheritance tax on that amount. If we sell quickly it is fine, but if we wait to sell when the market recovers it will be impossible. If we let it, the rent would go on interest due on inheritance tax.”

Executors have been horribly caught by the market drop because it is only once inheritance tax is paid that they can apply for probate, and only then that they can dispose of assets. With property it is possible to spread inheritance tax payments over 10 years but it is still necessary to pay interest on the unpaid tax in the meantime.