Selling a home as an executor: a plain-English walkthrough

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Selling a house on behalf of an estate comes with extra steps and extra people. Here is the process in plain English, and the order things usually need to happen in.

Being an executor is a job most people do once, at the worst possible time, with no training. On top of grief and paperwork you are suddenly responsible for a house that still has rates to pay, a garden that keeps growing and family members with different views about what should happen next.

This is not legal advice — your lawyer will guide the legal side. What follows is the practical shape of it, so that fewer things come as a surprise.

First, confirm you actually have authority

If there is a will, it will name an executor. If there is no will, someone applies to be administrator instead. Either way, before the property can be sold and transferred you will generally need a grant from the High Court — probate where there is a will, or letters of administration where there is not.

You can usually prepare and even market a property before the grant comes through, but settlement normally cannot happen until it does. Your lawyer will tell you where you stand. Ask them early how long they expect it to take, because that timing shapes everything else.

Second, make the house safe and insured

This is the step people forget, and it is the one that can cost real money.

• Tell the insurer the house is unoccupied. Many policies change or reduce cover once a property is empty, and an unnotified vacancy can void a claim.
• Keep the power on, at least enough to run heating occasionally and to light the place for viewings.
• Keep paying rates and any body corporate levies.
• Arrange lawns and basic maintenance so the place does not slide.
• Redirect mail and cancel subscriptions so it does not look obviously empty.

Third, deal with the contents

Nothing should leave the house until you know what the will says and the beneficiaries have been consulted. Chattels are part of the estate.

A workable approach is to photograph rooms as they are, make a simple inventory of anything of value, let beneficiaries nominate items in writing, and only then arrange clearance for what is left. It is slower, but it prevents the arguments that otherwise surface months later.

If the family is spread around the country, video calls while you walk through the house work surprisingly well.

Fourth, understand your duty on price

An executor's obligation is to the estate and its beneficiaries. In practice that means selling for a fair market price and being able to show how you got there.

That is why I usually recommend getting more than one appraisal, and often a registered valuation as well. It is also why a transparent, competitive process helps: auction or tender creates a documented, dated record of what the market was willing to pay on a given day. If a beneficiary later asks whether the house went too cheaply, you want evidence rather than an opinion.

Fifth, decide how to sell — and how much to spend first

Estate properties are often dated. The question is always how much to do before listing.

My general view is: do the cheap things that change the first impression — a full clean, clearing the contents, tidy gardens, replacing dead bulbs, fixing anything obviously broken. Be cautious about renovations. Spending estate money on a new kitchen is a decision with real risk, and unless all beneficiaries are agreed in writing it is rarely worth it.

Buyers of estate properties usually expect to do work. What loses money is not a dated kitchen; it is a house that looks neglected.

Sixth, keep everyone informed

Most executor disputes I have seen were not about money. They were about someone finding out late.

Write to the beneficiaries at each step: when the property is being appraised, what the recommended method and price expectation is, when it goes to market, how the campaign is going, and what the result was. Keep copies. If there are multiple executors, remember that you generally need to act together, so decisions need to be agreed rather than assumed.

A rough sequence

1. Locate the will and instruct a lawyer.
2. Notify the insurer and secure the property.
3. Apply for probate or letters of administration.
4. Inventory and distribute chattels with beneficiaries' input.
5. Get appraisals, and a valuation if useful.
6. Agree method, price expectation and budget with the other executors and beneficiaries.
7. Prepare and market the property.
8. Settle once the grant is through, and account to the estate.

One last thing

You are allowed to take it slowly, and you are allowed to ask for help. Most of what makes an estate sale stressful is uncertainty rather than difficulty. If you want to talk through where a property sits and what a sensible timeline looks like, that conversation costs nothing and there is no obligation attached to it.

This article is general information about the practical side of an estate sale. It is not legal, tax or financial advice. Please take advice from the estate's lawyer, and from an accountant on any tax questions, before acting.