Chit chatters with experience of selling properties...Please advise

In theory it's not really a major drama of a request if you have had a non refundable deposit but if I were you I'd say no. When they own the property they can do what they like of course but as it is still part of your Mum's estate I would not let them have access to do alterations personally. Let them wait until the property is sold would be my advice as if the sale fell through things would get unnecessarily very complicated in them amending what they have done. The bottom line is that you have absolutely nothing to gain by complying with the buyers wishes for access to the property. It's a resounding no from me.

It would be a no from me, too.

I'd say yes as I did exactly what your buyer is doing and I don't see the problem.  Once he has exchanged a deposit has been paid which he will lose if he doesn't complete.  Mind you I wouldn't have pulled out if they said no.

Ask your solicitor if you are concerned.

Not a cat in hells chance should you agree. It's downright cheeky. He could then leave a half completed job and try to knock £10k off the offer knowing you will be in a pickle.

There is no reason why anybody should make this request.

I would respond by saying you don't agree and any further requests outside of a standard exchange will result in you pulling out and putting the property back on the market.

Once exchange has taken place the deal becomes legally binding so no real need for a deposit. That being said I'd still refuse entry until completion.

perhaps get another solicitors opinion

I hate having agree with Bix, if he is a former estate agent (aka unqualified parasites) but he's right.
Once you have exchanged contracts, you should have a non refundable deposit, typically 10%.
The only risk therefter is that he causes loads of damage and doesn't complete... you can them sue him.
Your solicitor sounds like a complete numpty ... a lot are.

BTW I am applying for probate for my late mother in law's estate - wife is executor and a beneficiary. At initial meeting when we went for will etc, she assumed she would be doing all the administration and probate ... and blithely said that her charge rate was £175 per hour and she charged on a time basis.  I said thanks but thatI would do all the work as it's all pretty straightforward.
Cue lots of stuttering and red face.

Memememe, I also did the probate on my own. Especially after the fee I was quoted was £1k!
Once you get the forms (a lot of pages) they're pretty straight forward as long as you have the required information to hand.

Good luck and thanks for your reply.

Dartsn ... well everybody,

That form PA1 ... WTF ... question B5 - Grandparents who survived the deceased ... number under 18,  number over 18.

FFS somebody's made a will - they haveto be over 18 to make a will in the UK.  Ican't think of any circumstances where any of their grandparents would be under 18.
Isuppose their granny could have married a toyboy.
Same question asked about parents.

Now somebody has originally designed that form, it's been reviewed, it's been tested.

What has been going on inside their heads to think it's a sensible question to be asking?

Surviving parents and number of surviving grandparents I get .... but how many under 18

bix,

I wouldn't go round saying you were an estate agent then.  Best to call yourself a former Chartered Surveyor - many of us have had unhappy experiences of Estate Agents, they have been known to tell lies.

But thanks for the update.

Jack, are you saying you can be ARICS without the exams?

I always thought that you had to pass the exams for that.

I thought that it was ARICS for an Associate Member

FRICS for more a experienced Fellow Member

and PRICS for estate agents ... maybe I'm wrong

"Why are you having to ask this question on a betting forum?"

I am a CeMap qualified mortgage adviser, having passed my exam in 2003 following my full Financial Planning Certificate (FPC 1,2 & 3) in the late 90's. I've been in the industry since 1985 (you didn't need qualifications back then) and I've arranged a few mortgages for forumites along the way.

I have to say that from reading this thread there are quite a few that know their stuff and I feel that the OP was right to ask the question on here, as there are a few of us that do know what we're talking about. Why it was questioned I'll never know.

Punters come from all walks of life and this forum, as I've witnessed many times in the past, is a mine of information for those areas that the rest of us (myself included) know nothing about. I know... I got my oven fixed for as cheap as chips after listening to advice on here.

We are a community; let's be proud of that and continue to ask the questions

group hug

15 years I have been on here and between the lot of us we have been there and done that and help each other out when

answered

P.S. My estate agent has told me nowt since the price was agreed.

A decent estate agent speaks to his client at least once a week even if it's just to say that this week there is no news. It's the agent's job to look after his client until the sale has completed. Finding the buyer is the easy bit. In fact if the property is valued correctly and presented to the market properly it's probably true to say that the buyer finds the property and not the agent finds the buyer.
But once the sale has been agreed that's when the work really begins because the agent should be working to get the sale to completion.
The agent should be speaking to all the other people involved in the sale ie the other estate agents, solicitors, mortgage advisors, surveyors etc. to make sure that all is proceeding ok not just with your sale but with all the sales in the chain and if any problems crop up working with everyone to get things back on track.
This is known as chasing the chain and is done on a weekly basis and a weekly progress report is given to the client.
A good agent will probably be on first name terms with the other professionals in the area who are involved in the chain.
When exchange and completion are near his job is to arrange this with everyone else involved so the whole process moves on to everyone's satisfaction.
This is where the experience and expertise comes in and is the part of the job which the public do not appreciate, which they can't do themselves and is actually what they really pay the agent for.
Under the law of agency an agent has a legal obligation to pass on to his client everything he knows about the issue for which he is acting as agent unless his client has instructed him otherwise.
To have no contact after the sale has been agreed is disgraceful.

Anything to do with a 3 million quid mansion?

Estate Agents are a disease on society. They are not needed - it is a job created to rid people of what is theirs.

You don't have to use them Roger. You could do it yourself.