Property & Probate

[miasmam]

Hi My two brothers and I inherited my mums property after she died very suddenly last July. We have had to wait for probate to be granted (still ongoing) but in the meantime the mortgage company have advised the solicitor that they seek to repossess the house. We are not bothered by this at all as the balance on the morgage due to them not freezing interest and charging us and early repayment fee is �119,000. We have the house up for sale at �119,500. What we are bothered about is the affect this could have on our credit rating and who the mortgage company would chase for any shortfall when they sell the property. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as even the solicitors think that this is a very grey area.

Thanks

[themas]

You can't sell till you have probate. I assume the 3 of you (or 1 or 2 of you) are the executors. I am not a lawyer but would think that if the house is sold by the executors (in other words, it is never transferred into your own names) then any shortfall would have to be dealt with by the executors. It would have to be met out of any other assets in the estate, but if there were none then it would be the same as any other debt of the deceased which can't be paid from the estate - i.e. the creditor would have to write it off. It follows from this that your personal credit ratings could not be affected.

However, a big word of caution. If your solicitor says it is a grey area then my ideas may well be quite wrong.