Mother passed away, who insures house

socratez

My mother passed away this week. She leaves a house in her will but looking through paperwork I understand when someone dies their house insurance becomes void.

As the executor how do I get the house insured while probate happens and the house is subsequently sold? 

tacpot12

You can get House insurance as an executor but you may need to shop around as it can be expensive compared to regular home insurance as such policies assume that the property is unoccupied for more than the 30 days allowed by regular policies. 

Speak to an insurance borker if you can't find anything suitable online. 

TonyMMM

Just call her current insurers and inform them of her death.... they will transfer cover to you, as executor, although there may be some conditions attached if the property is left empty.

Flugelhorn

TonyMMM said:

Just call her current insurers and inform them of her death.... they will transfer cover to you, as executor, although there may be some conditions attached if the property is left empty.

I found no problem with this when I contacted mother;s insurers - they requested that the property was checked weekly  ( a neighbour kindly did this)

Jowwie

Sorry for your recent loss.

Is the house now unoccupied? I would call the existing insurer first and discuss the situation. They may quote you if they can offer appropriate insurance. You should still get a grace period if the policy is no longer valid. I recall we got a month.

Unoccupied property insurance is a specialist area and can cost considerably more than a standard policy. There are firms online. I used a broker called Adrian Flux (other brokers are available!) who managed to find a fairly cheap policy for me. That particular policy had restrictions though about power being turned off and having to visit the property every 7 days, both of which I was able to do. However, in the winter if you were not local you would probably want the boiler running on a timer,  and the boiler would need the power on, so that particular policy would not suit everyone.

Vague recollection I had to call Adrian Flux as they did not quote online for this type of policy.

kipsterno1

Sorry for your loss. 

As previously mentioned the first port of call is the current insurers.  They will usually continue the cover until renewal but with conditions such as heating to a certian temperature, draining the heating ,visting weekly and so on. At the end of cover it might be worth shopping around for empty property insurance but the same conditions are likely to be required. 

The cost of insurance should come from the estate and, in my view, is an essential. 

Sarahspangles

socratez said:

My mother passed away this week. She leaves a house in her will but looking through paperwork I understand when someone dies their house insurance becomes void.

As the executor how do I get the house insured while probate happens and the house is subsequently sold? 

We were in the same position, the existing insurance covered the property being unoccupied for 30 days and we then arranged unoccupied property insurance through Swinton.  It was more expensive, but we can get a refund on the premium when the property is sold.

It has conditions about heating the property, turning off the water and leaving the loft hatch open.  Plus checking the property weekly - this is included as part of the estate agent’s service which is handy.