By the Beacon Living Group team · 21 July 2026 · 8 min read + decision tree
Summary: if you have inherited a house in Manchester, you usually have four options once probate is settled: sell it, let it on a standard tenancy, have it managed on a guaranteed-rent basis, or move into it yourself. Beacon Living Group works with landlords in exactly this position. There is no rush and no single right answer. This guide walks through each route calmly and the tax and legal points to check with your professionals before you decide anything.
First, we are sorry. If you are reading this, you have most likely lost someone and a house has landed in your life at a moment when you have very little appetite for paperwork or decisions. Take your time. A property does not need an answer this week, or even this month. Good decisions about a home rarely come out of a rushed few weeks and nothing here is urgent.
This is a plain-English guide to what happens next. It will not tell you what to do, because only you and your professional advisers can decide that. What it will do is lay out the choices clearly, explain the words that get thrown around in probate and tax conversations and help you think it through properly when you feel ready to.
Almost nothing can happen with the property until probate is dealt with. It is the legal process that confirms who has the authority to manage the estate and pass on what was left. Until probate is granted, you generally cannot sell the house or formally let it out. It is also not something to handle from a blog post.
Every estate is different. Some are straightforward, some are not and the timescales vary a great deal. If a solicitor is already handling the estate, ask them where things stand. If one is not yet involved, that is usually the first sensible call to make. We are a serviced-accommodation operator, not legal advisers. On probate we will always point you to a solicitor rather than guess.
Tax is where people worry most. It is also where the wrong assumption is easiest to make. None of this is advice. It is a map of who to ask. Treat every figure you read online, including on tax-calculator sites, as a prompt for a professional conversation rather than an answer. Three words are worth understanding, so you know which professional to ask about each.
Once probate is settled and you know the tax and mortgage position, the choices come down to four. There is no prize for keeping a property you do not want. There is no shame in selling one you do.
Answer a few gentle questions and this tree will point you towards the route that tends to suit people in your position. It is a starting point for a conversation, not advice. Take the outcome to your solicitor and accountant.
People who inherit a property often want two things that pull against each other. They want to keep the home, for reasons that are as much emotional as they are financial. They also do not want the work, the worry, or the steep learning curve of becoming a landlord while they are still grieving. Guaranteed rent is built for exactly that gap between the two.
Beacon Living Group typically takes a property on a written corporate lease, pays a fixed monthly rent and manages every stay in-house. You are not chasing tenants, arranging repairs or fielding calls about a boiler. The word "guaranteed" describes the contractual rent obligation set out in that lease and nothing more than that. It is not a promise of profit or returns.
Our honest guide to whether guaranteed rent is safe walks through how the model works and how to check any operator offering it. When you are ready and only when you are ready, you can request a free rent offer to see what a guaranteed-rent arrangement on the property might look like. There is no obligation and no pressure to move before probate and your advisers are squared away.
You generally have four routes: sell it, let it on a standard tenancy, have it managed on a guaranteed-rent basis, or move into it yourself. There is no single right answer. The best choice depends on whether there is a mortgage, whether you want to keep the home and how much involvement you want. This is general information, not legal or tax advice, so speak to a solicitor and an accountant before you decide.
In most cases, yes. Probate is the legal process that confirms who has authority to deal with the estate and you usually cannot sell or formally let a property until it is granted. Probate can take time and every estate is different, so ask the solicitor handling the estate where things stand before you make plans.
Possibly and it depends on your circumstances. Inheritance tax may apply to the estate, capital gains tax can become relevant if the property later grows in value between the date of death and the date you sell and there may be income tax on any rent you receive. These are questions for a qualified accountant and the solicitor handling the estate. This article is general information, not tax advice.
Neither is universally better. Selling gives you a clean, one-off outcome and releases the money. Letting keeps the asset and can produce an income, but it also brings responsibilities and day-to-day management. If you want to keep the property but not the workload, a managed or guaranteed-rent arrangement sits in between. Weigh it against your own plans and take professional advice first.
Guaranteed rent is an arrangement where a company leases the property from you and pays a fixed monthly rent, whether or not it is occupied, while managing everything itself. For someone who has inherited a house and does not want the hands-on side of being a landlord, it can turn the property into predictable monthly income without the day-to-day involvement. The word "guaranteed" refers to the contractual rent obligation in the lease, not to any promise of profit. Always read the lease with your own solicitor.
Often you can, but the mortgage does not simply disappear. It usually needs to be repaid, transferred, or refinanced and the lender and the solicitor handling the estate will guide what is possible. This affects whether keeping and letting the property is realistic, so sort out the mortgage position early. It is a legal and financial question for your professionals.
About Beacon Living Group. Beacon Living Group is a Manchester guaranteed rent and serviced accommodation operator. It leases properties from landlords across Manchester on 3- to 5-year corporate leases, pays a fixed monthly rent with no fees and is built to manage every stay in-house. Beacon Living Group Ltd is registered in England and Wales, company no. 17076795.
When you are ready, request a free rent offer to see what a guaranteed-rent arrangement on the property could look like. Sort out probate and your advisers first. We will be here whenever the time is right.
