How to Get a House Valuation for Probate

As a valuation is an essential part of your probate application, we recommend seeking the services of a qualified valuation surveyor. A red book valuation or a surveyor's valuation is the most reliable and HMRC-compliant option for probate, ensuring accuracy and acceptance for inheritance tax purposes.

You should ensure they’re a RICS member. This means they must follow the RICS guidelines and have the necessary experience and qualifications. It’s an immediate validation of their knowledge in the industry.

Whilst this results in a cost of £452 for the average UK property worth £292,000, it gives you and HMRC confidence that the valuation is independent and accurate — helping to avoid potential tax disputes.

Since it’s free, you may be considering getting an estate agent’s market appraisal. However, this comes with risks.

A market appraisal for probate is an estimate of a property’s value based on recent sales of similar properties in the local area. They often can serve as a useful guide when preparing for probate valuation.

But inflated valuation could lead to paying more inheritance tax (IHT) than necessary, while an undervaluation could result in HMRC penalties later on.

To determine how much IHT needs to be paid, if applicable, you must carry out a probate valuation of the estate's assets, including the property. Before being given grant of representation, you’ll need to pay IHT. The current IHT threshold is set at £325,000, and you may be liable to pay 40% on any amount above this amount.

Capital Gains Tax (CGT) is different from IHT, in that it does not need to be paid before you apply for grant of representation.

Capital gains tax is calculated based on the difference between the probate value, at the time of inheriting, and the actual selling price of the property.

But, it is still worth bearing in mind that you need to know how much CGT might need to be paid.

Read more on inheriting a house from your parents.

The first thing you’ll need to do is to make a list of all the deceased assets, debts, and gifts to establish the full scope of the deceased person's estate. This can be anything physical such as cars, jewellery and artwork.

Liquid assets and debts will also need to be listed. So this would be any loans, credit cards, or money in the bank or stocks/shares.

As mentioned previously, if the deceased owned property your first step will be to get a probate house valuation, ideally through a RICS Surveyor. This is likely to form a large part of their estate, so is crucial to the estates valuation.

You’ll need to contact the companies responsible for the assets of the deceased to verify the value of all of the person's assets. This gives you an accurate valuation of the estate as a whole.

Some of the institutions that you may need to contact include:

• Bank (incl ISA providers)
• Pension providers
• Life insurance
• Any company that the deceased has shares or investments in

Outside of funeral expenses, you’ll have to work out how much debt the estate has to repay so that you know exactly how much IHT needs to be paid.

There are several institutions that you’ll need to contact to get the amount owed up to the time of death, these include:

• Banks for potential loans, credit cards and overdrafts
• Car Finance
• Utilities (including mobile phone and broadband providers)
• Mortgage providers or landlord
• Any personal debts owed to other companies (including contractors)

Lifetime gifting is the act of giving assets, whether physical or financial to likely assignees within a lifetime. This is instead of leaving them in the will upon death.

This does come with tax implications as it can reduce the amount of IHT owed. Specifically, as it could keep the total estate below the £325,000 threshold.

Here are some of the scenarios:

• Each year you can give away up to £3,000 without it being added to the value of the estate, this can roll over up to £6,000 the following year if not used
• Gifts of up to £250 per year are also exempt from IHT. As long as the same beneficiary hasn’t received anything from another allowance
• Wedding/civil partnership gifts are exempt from IHT as long as they are the following amounts. £5,000 to a child, £2,500 to a great/grandchild or £1,000 to anyone else

For all non-property assets worth over £500 you’ll need to get a professional valuation, according to the UK Government. This accounts for anything such as jewellery, cars, and artwork. For everything that falls below this amount, you’ll be able to go by what it is currently worth in the open market.

Getting a property valued is more straightforward than contents. We tend to value personal possessions more highly due to sentimentality. Auction houses are a good option, as they will give a professional assessment of the item's value and what they would realistically sell for.

Looking at websites such as eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree, and Vinted can help with costs, but is not recommended.

Arranging all these valuations can be complex, so we recommend you use a solicitor.

For the personal representative, this should be straightforward. You will need copies of the death certificate when reaching out to the companies holding debts or assets. This is because you’ll need to prove the person has died. This will be to either release funds or hold off on potential repayments while you go through probate.

An evaluation is an essential as part of your probate application, so you need make sure that you are picking the most qualified surveyor.

You should ensure they’re a RICS member. This means they must follow the RICS guidelines and have the necessary experience and qualifications. It’s an immediate validation of their knowledge in the industry.

You should also look into reviews from their previous customers. Location, efficiency and price are all important factors when searching for the right surveyor.

In some cases, a district valuer may review the property valuation to ensure accuracy and compliance with HMRC requirements.