There appears to be some confusion amongst contentious probate practitioners about the duties owed by an executor in relation to land. An executor is not under a duty (i.e. any legal compulsion) to sell land, because s.2 of the Trusts Of Land And Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 clearly and unequivocally states:
‘Abolition of doctrine of conversion.  
(1)           Where land is held by trustees subject to a trust for sale, the land is not to be regarded as personal property; and where personal property is subject to a trust for sale in order that the trustees may acquire land, the personal property is not to be regarded as land.
(2)           Subsection (1) does not apply to a trust created by a will if the testator died before the commencement of this Act.
(3)           Subject to that, subsection (1) applies to a trust whether it is created, or arises, before or after that commencement.’ Executors are statutory trustees of land, s.1(i)(a) Trusts Of Land And Appointment of Trustees Act 1996. Where Box 10 of an HM Land Registry form TR.1 declares that executors ‘hold the property on trust’, they hold the property on an ‘express trust of land’, i.e. as trustees. The duties of executors, trustees, and trustees of land are the same in relation to land, see Byrnes v Kendle [2011] HCA 26, (2011) 243 CLR 253, at paragraphs 67 and 119, which was cited in Brudenell-Bruce v. Moore [2014] EWHC 3679 (Ch), by Mr Justice Newey at 88. Trustees must manage trust property for the benefit of the beneficiaries, i.e. ‘they should let or relet trust realty … where that is the appropriate mode of making the property beneficial to the trust’ [Lewin on Trusts, Twentieth Edition (2020), paragraph 34-055], because ‘they are also under a duty to seek a renewal of the lease if a renewal would be beneficial to the trust’ [Lewin, paragraph 34-055], i.e. where property is retained when it is imprudent to sell it. That is because, ‘The overriding obligation of trustees is ordinarily to preserve and safeguard the trust property’ [Lewin, paragraph 34-001]. Trustees may therefore be obliged to generate income from land comprised in the trust, Brudenell-Bruce v. Moore [2014], at 88. ‘Trustees are bound to sell at the best price reasonably obtainable…’ [Snell’s’ Equity, 34th edition (2020), paragraph 28-009]. Trustees must act prudently, because ‘… if they contract under circumstances of haste and improvidence, they may be personally liable for the loss’ [Lewin, paragraph 37-034]. ‘Trustees must be careful not to sell under unnecessarily depreciatory conditions’, [Snell, paragraph 28-10]. In relation to the exercise of their powers of investment, executors are trustees for the purposes of the Trustee Act 2000 (see s.28).