House insurance ... for deceased. Help!

Crocett

Hi

My mother unfortunately passed away recently. In not leaving a will I am having to go through the probate process which given the maze of paperwork she left behind is going to take a little time to do so I can satisfy HMRC I have covered everything.

A main asset is my mother's house and the insurance company has basically given notice on cover because I am not the house owner and, at a minimum, they would need Letters of Administration to continue cover. I have explained I cannot get this until I've gone through the probate process which will necessarily take time.

This is adding a lot of stress to an already upsetting time! Can anyone advise of an insurance company who will provide house (not necessarily contents) insurance on a Grade II listed building without a) me being the owner and b) not (yet) being able to provide Letters of Administration.

Many thanks.

huckster

Normally the existing Insurers will just continue the cover and if they are not, then it is unusual. The policy continues in the name of the deceased, with premiums paid by family if necessary.

Suggest you speak to them again, as it is not normal to not allow a deceaseds family to maintain current Insurance in the deceaseds name. Obviously they can't change the policy until the legal process for the estate has been gone through.

If they are unhelpful, then try Home Protect brokers, who can normally assist in most cases.

dacouch

The insurer would normally add the legend "The executors if the late Mrs x" as the policyholders name and maintain cover for a reasonable amount of time often with some restrictions in cover and / or requirements such as the property to be checked on a regular basis and the services eg water and electricity drained / switched off

Crocett

Thank you both for your replies.

it is actually HomeProtect who are the current insurers and causing this situation. :-o
If my mother had left a will then it would be simple and I could be the executor immediately. But because she died suddenly without leaving a will then I have to go through the lengthy probate process to gain letters of administration so I can legally be the administrator.

Despite explaining this situation (and after constantly being asked for proof I am the executor which is a legal impossibility because of the situation) it has triggered a "notice for cancellation of insurance".

There also seems a bit of a catch-22 lesson here. I was trying to do the right thing by informing them that my mother had died. They now need to change the policy because of this material change and to do that they need the policyholder to confirm that change. She can't do that because she'd dead. So they then give a time limit for an authorised person to affect the change which is me but something I can only do after I've gone through a lengthy probate process.

I can try calling HomeProtect and explain the the umpteenth time the situation but it is like speaking to robots. That's why I was ideally after an insurer who'd be a little more reasonable!

dauphin

Have you tried approaching them for a fresh policy on the basis that you are in the process of applying for Letters of Administration? As Home Protect claim to specialise in this area it must be a situation they are used to. Indeed, in this link they say "Executors OR FAMILY MEMBERS OF THE DECEASED can buy a policy online, with ease"

https://www.homeprotect.co.uk/prob?bid=1298&ppcid=insurance%20unoccupied%20house%20owner%20deceased-e-107399765717-1t2&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=GoogleUnoccupiedProbateExact&gclid=Cj0KEQiAxeTFBRCGmIq_7rGt_r8BEiQANdPqUoU9-1dh-nPCcaeCi6qNykEv4ybGCWz0mAqLRWSmG1YaAtQH8P8HAQ

It may be that your request to deal with this under the existing policy is causing the problem as you don't strictly have the legal authority to deal with that policy. I wouldn't initially mention the existing policy when asking them to quote.

TBagpuss

Do you have a solicitor assisting with the probate? They will deal with this a lot and will be able to help.

I've a feeling that Hiscox do insurance for unoccupied properties - or these guys may be able to help (I haven't used them, but they look like the sort of thing you need) http://www.quotelinedirect.co.uk/house/unoccupied-property-solicitors.asp

Crocett

Thanks to all who replied.

Dauphin came up trumps and I've managed to secure probate insurance with the same supplier. Just wish they'd mentioned this themselves given they had all the details on this!

dauphin

That's good to hear!

forgotmyname

Sometimes you need to speak to a different person, had to phone insurance up recently about after a family member passed away. The house insurer were good and said she would have to check and came back with the issue solved swapped insurance to spouses name and no charges.

Car insurance not so good, we will have to cancel the policy. Calm and politely i said your having a laugh. Just switch the policy to the named driver who has been on the policy for xx years and is even the main driver.
Got cut off and had to phone back. then eventually got someone that said they could transfer the insurance to the spouse. Long queues on the phone for the car insurer also and cut off several times.