Selling Inherited Property, Step by Step

From getting it into your name to working out the tax, the whole process of selling a property you inherited.

First, the good news about tax

Inheriting is not taxed. Nothing is due when the property passes to you.

Tax arises only when you sell. And when you do, you inherit the previous owner's position: their cost becomes your cost, and their purchase date becomes your purchase date.

That last point is worth money. If they bought before April 2001, you can use the 1 April 2001 value as your cost, which usually reduces the tax enormously. Full explanation.

Getting it into your name

You generally cannot sell until the property is legally yours. Depending on the situation this involves a will, a succession certificate or a legal heir certificate, followed by mutation in the municipal and revenue records.

This is your lawyer's work, not ours. But it runs in parallel with the valuation, so there is no reason to wait for one before starting the other.

When several people inherit

Everyone with a share has to agree to the sale, and everyone signs. Where one person wants to keep their share, the others can be bought out, and that needs a number all sides accept.

A valuer appointed jointly is by far the cheapest way to get there. One report, working shown openly, no argument about whose valuer it is. How we handle this.

The papers, and what to do without them

Ideally you would have the original purchase deed of the person who bought it. Very often, for a property acquired in the sixties or seventies, nobody has it any more.

That is workable. Sub registrar records, tax receipts and historic notified rates usually let us establish what we need.

If some heirs live abroad

Common, and manageable. They will likely need to give a power of attorney for the sale itself, and the buyer may have to deduct tax at a higher rate on their share. That can be reduced, and here is how.