Letters of administration is the document that gives someone the legal authority to deal with the estate of a person who has died without leaving a valid will. It does the same job as a grant of probate: the only real difference is that probate is granted to the executors named in a will, whereas letters of administration are granted when there is no will (or no valid one) and therefore no named executor.
Together, the two are known as grants of representation. For almost any sale of inherited UK property, one or the other is needed before the sale can legally complete.
When they are needed
You will usually need letters of administration when someone dies intestate, meaning without a valid will, and the estate includes property or significant assets. If the only assets are small cash balances, some banks will release funds without a grant, but a property sale almost always requires one.
Who can apply
Intestacy rules set a strict order of priority for who may apply to become the administrator: the surviving spouse or civil partner first, then children, then parents, then siblings, and so on. Whoever is entitled applies to the Probate Registry, and only once appointed do they have authority to sell.
How long it takes
Timings are broadly similar to probate: roughly 6 to 16 weeks for a straightforward online application in 2026, and longer where inheritance tax is due or the estate is complex. Intestate estates can run longer still, because establishing who is entitled, and tracing them, adds time before an application can even be made.
Selling a property before the grant
As with probate, you can market the property, receive offers, and accept one “subject to letters of administration”, and your solicitor can begin preparing the paperwork. You cannot exchange contracts or complete until the grant is issued. A cash buyer able to run its due diligence in parallel means exchange can follow within days of the grant arriving, rather than starting the clock from scratch.
Selling with RPJ
We buy intestate and probate properties regularly. We are comfortable waiting for the grant without applying pressure, we can run our checks alongside the application, and we can often buy with the contents still in place, which spares the family clearing a home before a sale. We are buyers, not legal advisers, so the estate should always have its own solicitor.
Related
- Grant of probate: the equivalent where there is a valid will.
- Probate value: how the estate’s property is valued.
- Conveyancing: the legal process that runs alongside the application.