House sale hold-up so frustrating

FORMER council registrar Ian Hilton cannot accept an offer on his late motherin-law’s house even though he applied for probate in March.

Mr Hilton, from Lancashire, lodged his application on the new computerised system but it stalled because of a printing glitch.

He has made repeated phone calls but does not know when the grant certificate will be sent through.

He said: ‘I rang again and it was still not working and they didn’t know when it would be. It is astounding that they do not have a backup.’ Mr Hilton, 70, pictured, added: ‘ It’s like most government schemes – it’s ill-thought-out and it will affect thousands. ‘In some cases people are going to be desperately distraught about losing a loved one and then they have got this mess to deal with. It’s annoying and frustrating.’