Great reply Peter, thanks very much. Would love to talk to you further one day about developing etc, as this will be my first.
We've decided to pay the $350k they want but my thing now is trying to close this sale asap, I don't know legally what I need to do in order for the property to legally be mine if infact the Wife is still waiting on his death certificate etc. I'll probably call my Conveyancer as I'm hoping they would know but hopefully a standard letter of sale which is signed by all parties including my wife and I, and the wife who is the vendor and brother-inlaw who is the appointed Power of Attorney should hopefully do it perhaps......Anyone have any idea what I'd need to do to tie this one up asap until they sort their paperwork out etc?
Thanks
Hi littletee
The Power of Attorney is for when you are alive, isn't it? The Executor administers the Will - assuming he had one - but if so, and if the house is in his Estate, nothing much can happen until Probate is declared.
But if the property was owned as Joint Tenants with the Wife then the Rights of Survivor pass to her - the property doesn't necessarily form part of his Estate as if they were each 100% joint owners when alive, and she is now 100% Sole Proprietor.
A couple of years ago a customer of mine's Vendor died during the period of the Contract. The Wife simply became the Sole Proprietor and the sale proceeded.
However, your neighbour's Solicitor / Conveyancer should draw up the Contract as usual - the purchaser does not do this in any case - and one would assume that they will have the Vendor correctly named in their Contract
You could enter into a Heads of Agreement - that is, agree to the transaction even if at the moment it is not clear who has the right to sell.
But there is no such thing as a 'standard
letter of sale' so don't assume anything, particularly if the other side are in doubt about any of the details at all. Especially, do NOT pay them any money. Any 'deposit' should only be paid into a Trust Account - any Trust Account, it could be your / their Accountant's, a Conveyancer, a Solicitor, an Estate Agent.
I have come across a number of cases where Auntie Flo dies, the relatives rush to list the property, only to discover that Auntie Flo never owned the property and did not inherit the property herself, merely a Life Interest in the property when Uncle Bert died.
Everything is not always as it seems or as we expect it to be. You can do a Title Search yourself to determine who actually owned / will own (assuming Joint Tenants) the property and therefore who has the right to deal with the property ... before you 'go over' on Thursday night to shake hands on the deal
Good luck, this looks like a great ending to a sad event
Cheers
Kristine
