The grant is in. The property is the slow part.
Most of an estate can be administered from a desk. The house cannot. It has to be insured while empty, cleared, marketed, surveyed, and sold to a buyer whose lender may then refuse it because nobody has spent anything on it since 2004. We buy that property for cash, as it stands, and we are used to working at the pace and standard an estate requires.
Where we fit
Your duty is efficient administration and a defensible outcome, not the last five thousand pounds. That is precisely the trade a cash sale makes: a lower headline than a perfect open-market sale, in exchange for certainty, speed, no clearance, no viewings, and no risk of a sale collapsing at survey four months in. For many estates it is the better outcome once carrying costs, agent fees and the fall-through rate are honestly counted, and we set that maths out in writing so the executor can see it.
We are also the buyer for the estate property that will not sell the ordinary way at all: the house left for twenty years with the contents still in it, the flat with 58 years on the lease, the non-standard construction bungalow, the property with a title complication that stops every buyer's solicitor.
What you and your client get
- A written offer with the reasoning, suitable for the file and for sharing with beneficiaries.
- Patience. We wait for the grant, we do not withdraw if the registry is slow, and our offer holds.
- No clearance required. We buy with contents in situ.
- A principal buyer with own funds. Proof of funds on request, no chain, no lender.
- Consent before contact. We speak to your client only once they have agreed to it, and the referral form records that answer before anything else happens.
- An honest no. If a normal sale would clearly serve the estate better, we say so.
Enfranchisement and short leases
A particular client walks into an enfranchisement practice every week: they came to extend the lease, and they leave having been quoted a premium they cannot fund. At that point the firm has no product to offer them. We do. We buy flats with the lease exactly as it stands and deal with the extension after completion. Where waiting for reform or funding the extension is the better route, we will say so; where it is not, a clean sale on a firm date is often the answer the client was hoping existed.
Probate genealogists and heir hunters
If you trace beneficiaries of unclaimed estates, you already know the property is usually the awkward asset: neglected, distant, and inherited by someone with no attachment to it who would take clean cash tomorrow. We are a natural fit for that disposal, and we are happy to talk about a standing arrangement.
Questions solicitors ask
- Can you make an offer before the grant is issued?
- Yes. We research the property, make a written offer and instruct solicitors in parallel with the probate application. We cannot complete until the grant or letters of administration are issued, and we do not pressure anyone to chase the registry. When the grant arrives, exchange typically follows within days.
- Does the property need to be cleared?
- No. We buy with contents in situ. The family takes what they want to keep and we deal with the rest after completion. For an estate where the beneficiaries are far away, that is often the single most useful thing we do.
- Is there a referral fee, and do I have to take one?
- There can be, and no. Many firms prefer no fee arrangement for conduct reasons, and the referral works identically without one. Where a fee is appropriate under your rules it is fixed, agreed in writing before completion, paid only on completion, and disclosed to the client. There is never a fee to the seller or the estate.
- What does the executor get on file?
- A written offer with the reasoning set out: what the property would be worth in good order, what we have allowed for the work, and where the figure lands. It is written so an executor can share it with beneficiaries and a solicitor can defend it as a considered disposal, not a distress sale.
- My client has been quoted a lease extension premium they cannot fund. Can you help?
- Often, yes. We buy flats with the lease exactly as it stands, at any length, and take on the extension ourselves after completion. For a client who came to you wanting to extend and has just discovered what it costs, a clean sale is sometimes the better answer, and we will say honestly when it is not.
- What about a client who lacks capacity, or a deputyship sale?
- We are comfortable working with attorneys and Court of Protection deputies. What those sales need is a defensible process and a firm completion date more than the last few thousand pounds, and our written offer and reasoning are built to stand up to that scrutiny.
RPJ Property Group Ltd, Companies House 14164927. Call 020 7088 8300 to speak to Reuben before you refer.