Latest property news - Falcon Property

Details: Published: 06 February 2024; Hits: 559

Q. My widowed mother died recently, and as executor I am responsible for selling her property. Is there anything in particular I need to do?

A. If you intend to handle the whole process yourself, rather than employing a solicitor, the first thing you need to do is to apply for probate – the legal authority you must obtain from the court before you can begin administering your late mother’s estate. As a key part of this process, the property needs to be professionally valued. This would be necessary even if you weren’t intending to sell, since the entire estate must be assessed for inheritance tax. What’s more, if some tax is deemed to be due, then it must be paid in full before probate can be granted. This can sometimes make things a bit complicated if you don’t have sufficient funds available to meet the tax liability, but if necessary your bank will normally advance the money, repayable via a charge on the property.

Most estate agents will happily provide a formal written valuation of the kind required for inheritance tax / probate purposes, in return for a small charge – typically around £50 - £150. Some may waive this fee, on the understanding that in due course you will instruct them to sell the property. Others will prefer to charge upfront for the service, and then deduct that amount from their commission, if and when they eventually achieve a sale.

In any case, as executor, you are entitled to be reimbursed out of the estate for any such expenses of this kind that you incur during the course of your duties.

As for the actual contents of the property, these also need to be valued for inheritance tax purposes – although in the case of ordinary household goods and personal possessions, you can easily do this yourself by providing a lump sum figure.

Once you have applied for probate, you can go ahead and put the property on the market in the usual way – although contracts cannot be exchanged until probate is actually granted. You should therefore ensure that your buyer is fully aware of the situation.

We have a highly experienced team of property specialists, who can help with probate valuations, sales and enquiries. For more advice, give us a call.

Details: Published: 23 January 2024; Hits: 565

Q. The estate agent I hope to buy through wants to see proof of my financial position, but I don’t want to disclose that until my offer is accepted. Do I need to give this information in advance?

A. The agent you are dealing with is absolutely right in asking to see proof of your financial position. The relevant section of The Property Ombudsman’s Code of Conduct states that the agent must take all reasonable steps to establish the source and availability of a prospective buyer’s funds - and pass this information to the seller - so if he didn’t, he would actually be in breach of the Code and if the sale subsequently fell through over money matters, his client would have legitimate grounds for complaint.

You are under no obligation to disclose this information if you don’t want to. However, the agent would then have no choice but to tell his client that your financial position couldn’t be confirmed. Ultimately, it is the seller’s decision whether or not to accept any offers, but the agent would be doing less than his duty if he didn’t recommend an appropriate course of action. If the seller wanted to accept your offer, the agent might well suggest for example, that he continues to actively market the property until appropriate reassurance was established.

Of course, your reluctance to reveal such details at such an early stage of negotiations is perfectly understandable. However, the sale is unlikely to go anywhere until you do – except on the kind of conditional basis above.

For more advice on buying a property, give us a call.

Details: Published: 10 January 2024; Hits: 648

We are delighted to hear that once again Falcon Property have been awarded the Gold Award for Sales after winning in 2022, we have done it again in 2023 (PL4) at the British Property Awards.

We are delighted to have won yet, and its credit to our amazing team for their hard work, dedication and continued excellent levels of customer service.

The British Property Awards recognise estate agents by independently assessing 25 different criteria's sometimes overlooked by consumers. The British consumer has never had a wider choice of estate agents, not to mention the relatively recent addition of the online agent and so it can prove a monumental task when deciding which estate or letting agent to work with. Many consumers invite three or more agents out to their property and make their judgement based on the valuation price, the agents fee or whether they bond with one of the agents.

The British Property Awards were established to help consumers trying to make an informed decision on which Estate Agent or Letting Agent to consider working with. The industry as a whole can sometimes be portrayed in a negative light; however, these awards are awarded after numerous mystery shopping has been carried out on the agent. In addition to the mystery shopping, the online presence of each agent is observed, this includes how a property is presented, such as the quality of the photography, the property description, social media promotion, the agent's website and more.

After this information had been fully considered, the judging team creates a shortlist of three agents. The final round of judging involves a more in-depth mystery shop, after which, once a clear winner has been established, the said agent is awarded.

If you are thinking of selling, we would be delighted to help, contact us now on 01752 600444 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Details: Published: 10 May 2023; Hits: 1054

WE ARE HIRING !! FULL TIME SALES CONSULTANT / NEGOTIATOR.

We are looking for a talented person to join our team. If you think this is you then we would love to hear from you, we really would!

You will need previous experience of estate agency, this is important!

To you, an incredible customer experience means going the extra mile and won't think twice about picking up the phone to a nervous client at the end of the day or weekend.

From day one you will have an impact. You will work closely with a vast amount of experience around you from directors and senior sales consultants.

Please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if this could be you or if you know anyone who may fit the bill!