Selling a block you’ve inherited.
Usually there’s more than one of you, nobody lives nearby, and none of you asked to be a landlord.
You can talk to a buyer before probate.
A sale can’t complete until the grant of probate is issued, but you can find a buyer and agree a price while you wait.
The grant can take months. Having a sale agreed means the building isn’t sitting there costing money once it arrives. I’m happy to agree terms and wait.
The tenants come with it.
If the flats are let, the tenancies carry on and the estate is the landlord in the meantime. That brings the duties with it: gas safety checks, repairs, deposits and insurance.
Tell the insurer straight away. Cover often changes when an owner dies, and it changes again if any flats are empty.
Whole building or flat by flat?
Some families look at selling the flats off one at a time. It can raise more on paper, but it means creating a lease for every flat, several separate sales and often a year or two of work, with the building still to run in the meantime.
Selling the building as it stands is one sale to one buyer, with the tenants staying put. When there are several of you to agree, one decision is easier than six.
When there are several owners.
Everyone named has to agree to the sale and sign. It helps to pick one person to deal with the buyer and one solicitor to act for all of you.
I’m happy to put the figure and how I got to it in writing for all of you, so nobody is relying on someone else’s account of it.
Tax.
The building will have been valued at the date of death for the estate. If it sells for more than that, there may be capital gains tax on the difference. Get advice on this before you fix a price or a date, because timing can matter.
What I’d need to start.
- The address and how many flats
- Which are let, and roughly what for
- Where things are up to with probate
That’s enough for a first conversation. If the paperwork is in a box in someone’s loft, that’s fine.
This is a plain-English guide written in October 2026 for owners in England. It isn’t legal or tax advice, and the rules change, so check your own position with a solicitor or accountant before you decide anything.
The other two guides.
Selling a block with the tenants still in it
What happens to the tenancies, the deposits and the rent when the building changes hands.
EPC C by 2030, on a whole block
What the rule says, what it’s likely to cost across several flats, and what your choices are.
Tell me about your block.
Where it is and roughly how many flats is enough to start. I’ll come back to you within one working day.