Complete Guide to Selling an Inherited House
From probate to sale
- Fastest sale 7 days
- Sales support & guidance
- Average offer is 81.77% of value
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Content Written By: Kirsty Rowett - Last Updated: 20/08/2025
Please note: This page is general guidance, not legal advice. Please seek professional support.
For some, property inheritance can come with a lot of emotional baggage which can be quite tiring to overcome. While, for others, it can be less emotional, as executors, they will need to work out how they can pay Inheritance Tax on the property.
Inheriting a property can be seen as a welcome gift, but there’s a lot that goes with it. It’s no surprise that the majority of people who inherit a property choose to sell it, and although there is no official statistics on this, it’s common due to the large cost of inheritance tax.
If you’re currently thinking about selling an inherited property, or just need some general guidance, you’re in the right place. Here at The Property Buying Company, we buy millions of pounds worth of probate and inherited property every year, and have built our system around the conveyancing process, to the point where on the day that probate is granted, we can line up the exchange of contracts to be on the same day.
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We’re honoured to have been featured in the media by several leading outlets and major publications
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How property inheritance works
Property inheritance is such a complex process that it can take multiple people, doing multiple roles in order to get it right. So, as a beneficiary or an executor, you’re not expected to know everything there is.
But, we do think it’s important for you to at least understand the process, and how you can best alleviate house selling methods to your advantage. Which brings us to our next point; knowing the lingo! There are quite a few different terms that get thrown around which we hope will help you:
The probate process
As you can see, there are two main roles within the probate process; beneficiary and executor. Both of which are equally important, but have varying levels of involvement in the actual sale of assets.
For example, an executor will wait for probate to be granted before distributing it to the beneficiary. But, Inheritance Tax or other outstanding debts need to be paid before the estate can be settled, the property within the estate may need to be sold – which the executor will handle. Whereas, the beneficiary can only sell the property once it has been released to them.
Please keep in mind that this will also differ if you are inheriting property with siblings.
Here is a brief overview of how a probate property will most likely pass through the probate process:
1. If someone lives in the property
If another owner or tenant is living in the inherited property, you must determine whether they will stay and under what terms or if the property will be sold. Their right to remain may be specified in the will. For properties with tenants, you inherit the responsibilities of a landlord, including respecting their legal rights if you intend to sell.
2. Registering ownership
While not mandatory unless the property is sold or mortgaged, registering the property in your name with the Land Registry provides proof of ownership and simplifies future transactions.
3. Mortgage payments
If the property has an outstanding mortgage, you become responsible for the payments, even if you do not reside there. Failure to meet payments could lead to repossession.
4. Renting out the property
If you decide to rent out the property, you must pay taxes on rental income and comply with legal safety and maintenance standards.
5. Inheriting through a trust
When property is inherited via a trust, you are the “beneficiary,” but the “trustee” legally owns and manages the property according to the terms set out in the deceased’s will.
The whole process can be boiled down to three main steps.
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The first step is to obtain probate. You can apply for probate through the government website, and you should receive the reply within 12 weeks.
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After which, you will have to "deal with the estate" which means paying any debts or taxes due on the property.
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Now it's time you decide what to do with the property, you can sell it, rent it out or even transfer it.
There is a lot of nuisances and tax laws involved with inheriting, we recommend contacting a tax professional to help guide you through the process. This will help you navigate inheritance in the most tax-efficient way possible.
How easy is probate?
Probate isn’t an easy process. Although solicitors and conveyancers do deal with it on a daily basis, most executors of an estate are ‘civilians’, and will never have been through the process before. And, that’s without taking into account all the issues that can occur during the process – including waiting for probate to be granted.
According to Gov UK, in 2022, there were 234,711 applications for probate grants, with 12,891 of these applications not being approved. By late 2023, the average wait time for a probate grant had risen to 14 weeks – an increase of 6 weeks from the previous quarter.
If you take the Government at its word, there has been some improvement since then. In February they posted "Probate waiting times halved thanks to Government push", which they say has been cut to just over 4 weeks.
Probate work generally becomes immediately complex if the deceased had no valid Will when they died – they are said to have died ‘intestate’.
An estate is often complex if there is a challenge to the Will. Where there is a challenge to the Will, this is known as a contentious Probate case, which often results in court action.
Other factors can make a Probate case complex...
Source: Wisteria
Probate is one thing, another is receiving the inheritance, which, according to unbiased:
"Once probate is granted, it takes between six and 12 months to receive any inheritance"
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Paying tax when you inherit
When you inherit a property, the asset will have already been through the probate process, so any Inheritance Tax should have already been paid by the executor(s). In some cases, HMRC will allow a house to be sold before Inheritance Tax is paid - but this is rare.
This tax is usually paid on an estate worth over £325,000. Only 6% of cases need to pay Inheritance Tax because most estates fall beneath the threshold. But, in 2022/23, this equated to over 41,000 people - which was the highest number in over two decades.
This is mainly down to two reasons; rising house prices & a frozen Inheritance Tax threshold which did not keep in pace with the rising house values.
Inheritance Tax is sadly not the only thing you need to worry about:
Capital Gains Tax (CGT):
If you later sell the inherited property for more than its value at the time of inheritance, you might need to pay Capital Gains Tax on the profit. This doesn’t apply if you keep the property or it’s your main home.
Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT):
Normally, there’s no Stamp Duty when you inherit property, but you may need to pay it if you later purchase the remaining share of an inherited property or buy out other inheritors.
Your sales process & options
Back in the day, selling an inherited property meant you would need to list it with an estate agent or sell through a house auction. However, in the past decade, there has been a massive increase in people choosing to sell their inherited homes via cash buyers – in fact, over 12% of the £186 million worth of property we’ve bought over the past five years, has been probate & inherited property.
From the homeowners that chose to sell with us, we discovered that their main reason for selling was the need to just move on. By the time an executor or beneficiary gets to the point of needing to sell, their house may have been in the probate process for up to 12 months, although as per the previous statistic we quoted the average would be more around the 10 month mark.
This, paired with the fact that selling on the market currently takes 38 days according to Zoopla, combined with the 8-12 weeks it takes from SSTC to sold, you're looking at an average 416 days!
We aren’t going to lie, selling to The Property Buying Company will mean you take a slight hit on the overall selling price, but you will get the cash funds released to your bank within 48 hours of completion, in a fraction of the time it takes to sell on the ‘open’ market.
Comparing your sales options
We've put together this quick table to compare sales options:
| Head1 | Cash Buyers | Estate Agent | Auction | Part Exchange |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Probate Process | 304 Days | 304 Days | 304 Days | 304 Days |
| Complete Sale Time | 7 Days | 112 Days | 56 Days | 28 Days |
| Fees | No Fees | 1-3% Commission | 2-2.5% (Plus VAT) + Legal Pack Cost (£200) | No Fees |
| Market Value Achieved | 80% | 95% | 80-90% | 75-80% |
| Certainty of Sale | Almost Guaranteed | Not guaranteed (30% of sales fall through) | Depending on interest - but high success rate when sold | Almost Guaranteed |
| Total Time Taken: | 311 Days | 416 Days | 360 Days | 332 Days |
We're experienced when it comes to dealing with inherited properties.
If you choose the route of going with a cash sale, please give us a call, and we'll be happy to help. We have a great track record of dealing with customers in the process of probate.
At the very least we'll help provide you with advice on your sale options and the timeline, and you don't just have to take our word for it, check out our previous customers experiences:
Very helpful
Very Helpful We had a property to dispose of as part of probate and wanted to explore all options. I made an online enquiry and had a prompt call from Yash. He was able to explain all the options and timelines and left me feeling well informed.
Date of experience: May 22, 2025
Just wanted to thank these guys for…
Just wanted to thank these guys for helping me through an incredibly tough time selling my late Dad's house. There are so many companies out there that profess to buying properties directly but in reality they are just like online estate agencies. I wanted to personally thank Amy who I first spoke to. We laughed about spelling our names the same way and I was made to feel comfortable straight away! But truly, everyone was amazing and they really did exactly what they promised from helping me with probate documents and the legal paperwork. Thank you very much The Property Buying Company
Date of experience: July 1, 2024
My conversation with Grant Bishop…
My conversation with Grant Bishop regarding selling a probate property to pay IHT was very helpful. I found him to be much more understanding and informative than other companies I have spoken to. Although I haven't yet decided whether to use the Property Buying Company Services to sell my property, my experience so far has been excellent
Date of experience: July 19, 2023
Edit Log
20/08/2025 - Content rewritten by Kirsty Rowett, input by Raphael Kaye on sales times.
20/08/2025 - Content updated in line with Editorial Guidelines (Reviewed by Mathew McCorry)
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