A substantial share of property sales here arise out of an estate rather than an open-market decision to move. These are conveyancing and succession at the same time, and treating them as two separate jobs handled by two advisers is precisely how they stall for months.
The Grant Comes First
The authority to sell must be in place before a sale can properly complete, and that usually means a grant of representation has issued — probate where there is a will, or letters of administration where there is not. That is a separate process with its own timeline, and it frequently has to run substantially before conveyancing can move. A property can be marketed and a sale agreed while a grant is pending, and often is, but the contract will need to address it, typically through a special condition making the sale subject to the grant issuing. Buyers should understand that this genuinely introduces uncertainty into the timetable, and sellers should be honest about where the grant actually stands rather than optimistic. Beyond the grant: beneficiaries may need to be consulted or to consent, depending on the terms of the will and the circumstances, and executors have duties to the estate that constrain what they can agree — an executor accepting a materially undervalued offer to achieve a quick sale is not doing their job.
Old Title, and Deaths Nobody Dealt With
The second complication is title, and in Kilkenny it is common. Where the deceased held the property on unregistered title, ownership must be proved by tracing the chain of deeds. Worse and not unusual: an earlier death in the family that was never properly dealt with — a parent who died decades ago whose estate was never administered, leaving the title standing in the name of someone long deceased. Resolving that may mean extracting a grant in the earlier estate before the current one can be dealt with, and that is months rather than weeks. It is nobody’s fault; it is what happens when a family home passes informally through generations in a place where everyone knows who owns what. But it is why an executor should establish the title position immediately rather than after a sale is agreed, and why these transactions run far better where the estate and the conveyancing sit with the same firm rather than with two advisers each waiting on the other. The firm’s probate practice runs through probatesolicitordublin.ie.
If you are an executor: find out this month whether the title is registered and whether every previous death in the chain was dealt with. Those two answers determine your timeline more than anything else you will do.
Selling a property from an estate? 01 5827148.
Richard O’Shea — Solicitor & TEP
Solicitor at Mary Molloy Solicitors, established 1981, with an office at 2 Rose Inn Street in Kilkenny city centre and a second office in Dublin. The firm handles residential and rural conveyancing across Kilkenny and the south-east — buying, selling, sites and farmland, family transfers, remortgages and transfers of equity. Richard is a TEP of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, which matters more in conveyancing than people expect: a great many property transactions in Kilkenny arise out of an estate, a family transfer or a succession plan, and those need both sides handled together. Nothing here is tax advice — stamp duty and any gift or inheritance tax questions belong with your accountant and Revenue. 01 5827148 · richardoshea@marymolloysolicitors.com · LinkedIn
General information, not legal advice. This website contains general information about conveyancing and property law in Ireland. It is not legal advice and does not create a solicitor—client relationship. Every transaction turns on its own facts — the title, the planning position, the lender’s requirements and the contract — and advice on yours requires a consultation.
Nothing here is tax advice. Stamp duty, Local Property Tax, capital gains on a sale, and any gift or inheritance tax arising on a family transfer are matters for your accountant or tax adviser and for Revenue’s own guidance. This firm does not advise on tax and states no rate, threshold, relief or condition anywhere on this site. Where a scheme such as Help to Buy or the First Home Scheme is mentioned, the eligibility rules and limits are set by Revenue and the scheme administrators and change from time to time — confirm the current position directly with them.
No valuation, survey or financial advice. This firm does not value property, does not advise on price, and is not a surveyor, engineer or mortgage adviser. A solicitor’s investigation of title is not a structural survey and is not a substitute for one, and no legal work will tell you whether a property is sound or whether the price is right.
Never both sides of the same transaction. The firm acts for buyers and, in separate transactions, for sellers — but not for both parties to the same sale. Conflicts are checked before any substantive discussion, which is why the first contact should identify the property and every party involved.
No timeline is promised. Nothing on this site states or implies that a transaction will close by any particular date. Closing depends on matters outside any solicitor’s control, including the other side, the lender, the chain, and third parties such as local authorities and Tailte Éireann.
Fees. Fees and outlays are agreed in writing with the client at the outset, in accordance with the Legal Services Regulation Act. In contentious business, a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement.