Probate, tax and timelines for selling an inherited house

Selling a house you have inherited means running a legal process, a tax calculation and an ordinary property sale all at once, usually while you are still grieving. The single most important thing to know is the order of events. You can put the property on the market whenever you like, but you cannot complete the sale until the probate registry has issued a grant, and HM Land Registry will not register a transfer without one.

Tax depends on your personal circumstances, and this article is general information rather than advice. Here is how probate, tax and the sale fit together in 2026, and how long the whole thing realistically takes.

You can market straight away, but you cannot complete without probate

If you are the executor, you need a grant of probate (or letters of administration where there is no will) before you can transfer legal ownership. Applying costs £526 for estates over £5,000, a fee that rose from £300 in July 2026, and there is no fee at all for smaller estates.

The waiting times are better than their reputation. On the latest official figures, covering early 2026, the average wait from submission to grant was around five weeks, and most straightforward digital applications were turned round in about two. Build in more slack than that. Applications that get stopped for queries averaged 14 weeks, and gov.uk itself says to allow up to 12 weeks. Accepting an offer before the grant arrives is fine; just make sure the buyer knows the timeline, because you cannot exchange with a completion date you may not be able to meet.

The inheritance tax thresholds that decide everything

Inheritance tax is normally settled from the estate before or alongside probate. The standard nil-rate band is £325,000, and where a home passes to children or grandchildren the residence nil-rate band can add £175,000, taking a single person's threshold to £500,000. Both figures are frozen until 5 April 2031, and anything above the available thresholds is taxed at 40%. Married couples and civil partners can pass unused allowance to the survivor, which in practice shelters family homes up to £1 million.

Capital gains tax and how the uplift works in your favour

Here is the part sellers most often misunderstand: you do not pay capital gains tax on the whole rise in value since the deceased bought the house. Your base cost is uplifted to the market value at the date of death, so tax only touches growth after that. The current rates on your gain are 18% for basic rate taxpayers and 24% for higher rate, with a £3,000 annual exempt amount, and any tax on a UK residential sale must be reported and paid within 60 days of completion.

As a worked example, the house is valued at £280,000 at probate and sells eight months later for £300,000, with £3,500 of selling costs. The gain is £16,500. Deduct the £3,000 exempt amount and £13,500 is taxable. That means £3,240 for a higher rate taxpayer at 24%, or £2,430 at the 18% basic rate. Sell quickly at close to probate value and there may be no gain at all. That is also why the probate valuation matters so much. It sets both the inheritance tax position and your capital gains base cost, so a defensible professional valuation at the date of death is worth paying for, especially on unusual properties.

Looking after an empty house in the meantime

An inherited house usually stands empty for months, and standard home insurance typically lapses after 30 to 60 days of unoccupancy. Executors should arrange specialist unoccupied property cover early, and expect conditions such as regular inspections. On council tax, most estates get a breathing space, as the bill is usually exempt while probate is pending and for up to six months after the grant, provided the property stays empty. Keep the heating ticking over in winter, and clear post regularly, because insurers notice a house that looks abandoned.

How long does the whole thing take?

Realistic planning beats optimism here, so budget in stages:

• Probate takes two to five weeks for a clean digital application, but allow up to 12 to 14 weeks if anything is queried or the estate is complex.
• The sale itself is a normal four to five months from listing to completion, and inherited homes are often slower because they need clearing, or attract buyers hoping for a renovation discount.

Put together, most inherited house sales take the better part of a year from death to completion, and complex estates take longer. If speed matters more than price, a sale by auction is a genuine option for probate properties, which we compare in our separate article on selling your house at auction.

The bottom line

Get the probate application in early (£526, typically two to five weeks in 2026), insure the empty house from day one, and remember the tax logic. Inheritance tax is the estate's bill against the £325,000 and £175,000 bands, while your capital gains exposure only starts from the date-of-death value, with 60 days to report a residential gain. A conveyancer experienced in probate sales keeps the legal side moving while the registry does its work, so compare conveyancing quotes before you list.