Executor house insurance during probate: your obligations for an empty property

Insuring the empty house is your responsibility, and the clock is already running

If you are the executor, keeping the deceased's house insured is your job from the date of death. GOV.UK's guidance on dealing with an estate is blunt about the underlying duty: as a personal representative you are "legally responsible for the money, property and possessions of the person who died". The house is usually the most valuable of those possessions, and it is also the most exposed, because the moment it stands empty the existing insurance starts to weaken.

Here is the gap that catches people out. Standard home insurance policies contain an unoccupancy clause: once the property has been empty for a period set in the policy, commonly 30 or 60 days but it varies by insurer, cover is restricted or suspended. Escape of water, theft and malicious damage are the sections most often cut first, which are precisely the risks an empty house faces. Probate routinely takes months, so an estate relying on the old policy can drift into a period where the house is effectively uninsured without anyone noticing. This page covers the essentials for executors in England and Wales; it is general information to help you get organised, not legal or financial advice.

Step one: tell the insurer, in the first week if you can

Contact the existing home insurer as soon as practical after the death. Two things have changed that the insurer is entitled to know about: the policyholder has died, and the property is (or will soon be) unoccupied. Some insurers will continue cover in the name of the estate for a grace period; others will move the policy onto restricted unoccupied terms straight away, or require a new policy altogether. Whatever they say, get it confirmed in writing and note the exact date on which any cover changes or ends.

What you should not do is stay quiet and keep paying the premiums. An insurer that discovers, at claim stage, that the property had been empty for months without notification can refuse to pay, and the executor is then exposed to the beneficiaries for the uninsured loss. Notifying the insurer is one of the standard tasks in the early administration period, alongside the registrations and valuations covered in our guide to the first 30 days for executors.

Step two: put unoccupied property insurance in place for the probate period

Where the existing policy cannot be extended on acceptable terms, the answer is a specialist unoccupied property policy (sometimes sold as probate house insurance). These are widely available, can usually be bought for 3, 6 or 12 month terms to match the administration timetable, and restore the cover a standard policy strips out once the house is empty.

Expect conditions attached, because the insurer knows nobody is living there. Typical requirements include:

• Regular inspections, at intervals stated in the policy, ideally logged with dates and photos.
• Winter precautions, usually draining the water system or keeping the heating on a low background setting to prevent burst pipes.
• Security, all doors and windows locked, and sometimes minimum lock standards.
• Removing valuables, or accepting that contents cover is limited while the house is empty.
• Keeping the property maintained, so it does not advertise itself as abandoned.

Breaching a condition can invalidate a claim just as surely as having no policy, so read the schedule and build the inspection routine into your regular executor tasks. If the house will be sold, keep the policy running until completion, not just until the grant of probate arrives: exchange to completion is still a period when the estate carries the risk.

Who pays, and the council tax break that runs alongside

The estate pays. Insurance needed to preserve an estate asset is a standard administration expense, so premiums come out of estate funds and go through the estate accounts like any other cost. If there is no accessible cash in the first weeks, an executor who pays personally can reimburse themselves once funds are released, keeping receipts as evidence. For a sense of how insurance sits alongside the other costs of administration, our probate cost calculator lets you build up the full picture for the estate you are handling.

One piece of good news for the estate's cash flow: council tax pauses while the property is empty. Under GOV.UK's rules on empty properties, no council tax is due on a property left empty by someone who has died until probate is granted, and after the grant an exemption of up to 6 further months can apply while the property remains unoccupied and in the deceased's name. Tell the council about the death early so the exemption is applied from the start rather than reclaimed later.

Where this fits in the wider executor role

Insurance is one strand of the broader duty to safeguard everything in the estate, which also covers securing the property, redirecting post, locating valuables and keeping accurate records. Our guide to executor duties and responsibilities sets out the full picture, the probate pillar guide walks through the process end to end, and our executors hub collects everything in one place.

If the estate you are administering includes a property that will stand empty for a long stretch, or one with complications such as tenants, disrepair or a mortgage, it is worth having a probate specialist look over your arrangements before a problem forces the issue. Getting the insurance position confirmed in writing now is far cheaper than arguing about a refused claim later, and we can put you in touch with someone who handles estate properties regularly if you would like a second pair of eyes.