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Farra is a death administration assistant for UK families. Get step-by-step guidance for registering a death, applying for probate, notifying banks, and managing bereavement admin. From essential documents to practical checklists, Farra simplifies estate paperwork and funeral-related tasks so you can focus on what matters.
Most standard home insurance stops working properly once a house has been empty for 30 to 60 days, which is exactly the position a house often ends up in while probate goes through. As executor, keeping the property insured is your responsibility, and it is one of the first practical jobs to sort out. The fix is straightforward: tell the existing insurer about the death now, and arrange specialist unoccupied property cover before the standard policy stops protecting the house.
When someone dies and their house stands empty, the insurance quietly becomes one of the most important pieces of admin on your list. It is not obvious, nobody sends you a reminder, and the consequences of getting it wrong land on the estate. This guide explains what changes, what you need to do, and in what order.
Before anything else, contact the deceased person's home insurer and tell them about the death. Do this promptly, ideally in the first week or two, for two reasons:
When you call, have to hand:
The insurer will usually do one of three things:
Whatever they say, ask for it in writing. A verbal reassurance is no help if you ever need to claim.
Even if you suspect the existing policy is not worth much for an empty house, do not cancel it until replacement cover is in place. A gap of even a few days leaves the estate completely unprotected. Arrange the new policy first, then cancel the old one.
Almost every standard home insurance policy contains an unoccupancy clause. In plain terms, this says that if the property is left empty for a continuous period, parts of the cover are suspended or the policy stops paying out altogether. The period varies by insurer, typically 30 to 60 days, with 30 to 45 days the most common. The exact number is in the policy wording, so check it or ask the insurer directly rather than assuming.
The types of cover that usually go first on an empty house are exactly the risks an empty house faces most:
Escape of water is often the costliest. A pipe that bursts in an empty house in January can run for days before anyone notices, and the damage can reach tens of thousands of pounds. If the unoccupancy period has passed and no specialist cover is in place, the estate carries that loss in full.
If you are the executor (or the administrator, which is the equivalent role when there is no will), you have a duty to look after the assets of the estate for the beneficiaries. For a house, that means keeping it insured for the whole time it is in the estate's hands.
A common worry is whether you can even insure a house you do not own. You can. As executor you have what insurers call an insurable interestin the property, meaning you would suffer a loss (on the estate's behalf) if something happened to it. Specialist unoccupied property policies are routinely issued in the executor's name for exactly this situation.
This is worth sorting early, in the first few weeks of the probate process, not once the standard policy has already stopped covering the risks that matter.
Specialist cover for empty homes, often sold as unoccupied property insurance or probate house insurance, is widely available and designed for this exact situation. The useful things to know:
Compare at least two or three quotes, from specialist brokers or the unoccupied-property arms of mainstream insurers, and read the conditions carefully. With unoccupied cover, the conditions matter as much as the price.
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Unoccupied property policies almost always come with conditions. Breaching them can void a claim entirely, so treat this list as part of the job, not small print. Common conditions include:
If you live far from the property, a trusted neighbour, family member or local agent can do the inspection visits, as long as they are logged.
Contents cover is usually restricted on the same timescale as buildings cover, so anything valuable is safer out of the house:
Photograph each room and make a simple inventory before moving anything. It protects you as executor and helps with the estate valuation. Our guide to clearing the house after a death covers this in detail, including why the contents should be valued before anything is cleared.
The premium for unoccupied cover depends on the rebuild value, location, how long you need the cover for, and how wide the cover is. The important practical points:
Putting the house on the market does not change anything about the insurance: it must stay covered as an unoccupied property until it legally changes hands. In a sale, that means until completion, the day ownership actually transfers, not the earlier exchange of contracts. If a fire or flood happened after cover was cancelled but before completion, the loss would fall on the estate.
For the wider process, from valuation to completion, see our guide to selling an inherited house.
Typically 30 to 60 days, depending on the insurer, with 30 to 45 days the most common. After that, standard policies restrict or remove cover, usually starting with theft, escape of water, vandalism and fire. The exact period is in the policy wording, so check it rather than assuming.
Yes. As executor or administrator you have an insurable interest in the property, because you are responsible for protecting it as an estate asset. Specialist unoccupied property policies are routinely issued in the executor's name, and the premiums can be paid from the estate.
Not necessarily. Some policies lapse when the policyholder dies, others run on until the renewal date, and all of them require you to disclose that the house is now unoccupied. Tell the insurer about the death promptly, get their position in writing, and do not cancel anything until replacement cover is in place.
The insurer can refuse to pay a claim. If the policy requires fortnightly logged inspections, or the heating kept on in winter, and that was not done, a claim for a burst pipe or break-in may be rejected. Keep a simple dated log of visits, with photos, so you can show the conditions were met.
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Where they normally lived, even if they died somewhere else.
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