Utilities after a death – notify now or wait for death certificate/probate?

DandelionBlue

Hi all,

I’m looking for some UK-specific advice on how best to handle utilities after a death.

My grandad has recently passed away. The property will be unoccupied for a while and probate hasn’t started yet. We don’t yet have the death certificate (MCCD issued but waiting for registration).

One view is that we should notify gas/electric/water/council tax now so the accounts can be marked as “deceased / estate” and put on hold. Another concern (based on a bad experience overseas) is that if we notify too early, letters could be sent to the empty property and escalate if not dealt with quickly.

Specific questions:

Is it better in the UK to notify utilities as soon as possible, or wait until the death certificate is issued?

Will utility companies usually place accounts on hold pending probate?

Can reminder letters or arrears cause issues while probate is ongoing?

Is there any risk to executors or family members’ credit files?

We’re trying to do the sensible thing and minimise admin and stress, but getting conflicting advice.

Any real-world experiences or guidance would be very appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Jowwie

Sorry for your recent loss. Focus on the funeral initially. The registrar should also talk you through "tell us once" service when you get the death certificate.

My experience with utilities is there is no rush to notify and they were quite happy if someone was paying the bill. They will want to be contacted by the executor and should redirect post to the executor's address if asked to do so. There will be dedicated bereavement departments if using big firms, who can discuss your options with you.

Our water supplier gave us 6 months of no charges. Council tax may also give exemption. House insurance possibly more important than utilities because any current policy may now be invalid. Empty property insurance is a specialist area which the current insurer may not cover or be prohibitively expensive. There are a few recent threads on here with suggestions of firms.

Be aware when you notify his bank(s) the accounts will be frozen. That will stop any direct debits.

Snot

I’m my experience the utilities didn’t want to see the Death cert. The Gas and Electric cancelled the Direct Debits and said the account could be settled once the house was sold. We are still receiving bills addressed to the executors but no payment is asked for.
The water company asked if we wanted the account transferred to the Executors or the account closed. We opted for the latter, so just had to pay the balance from the last bill to date of death, there will be no further charges.
Council should be covered by the Tell Us Once service when you register the death. If nobody moves into the house you don’t have to pay council tax for 6 months from date of probate, but check with your local council to be sure.

It won’t affect family member credit files. Just call each utility and let them know what is happening.

oldernonethewiser

Make sure there is still sufficient insurance for the empty property as that has the potential to be an issue.

Emmia

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81867676#Comment_81867676

To add, once the deceased's bank accounts are frozen the only payment that can come out is that for the funeral. I had a problem when I did this as the funeral director took a deposit (which went through fine) but the bank stopped the payment of the balance to the same funeral director - it took quite a while on the phone explaining it to get them to pay this bill.

Keep_pedalling

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81867757#Comment_81867757

That depends on the amount held with that banking group, each bank has its own probate limit where they will pay out the full amount held to the executors without the need to obtain probate and that limit can be as high as £50k. When my mother died the money in her Barclays accounts was released to me within 24hrs of me going into my nearest bank with her death certificate, copy of her will and proof off my ID.

Keep_pedalling

I would contact the utility companies ASAP as this will stop them sending letters and chasing payment until you are in a position to pay off any outstanding amounts. I would also contact the LA to inform then that the house is now unoccupied so they won’t be chasing you for council tax as the estate will have exemption until 6 months after you have obtained probate.

The other thing that is urgent is his home insurance.

kermchem

I would add to the views that you should contact utility companies now, through their bereavement departments. My experience was that these were staffed by decent, sensible and pleasant customer service staff who have been trained to be sensitive.

TV licencing will let you keep a TV in the property until the current licence expires.

Emmia

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81867787#Comment_81867787

This is well before probate - you only need the death certificate. Paying out to beneficiaries is entirely separate.

The first thing your estate must pay for is your own funeral, the banks freeze the account to prevent other payments being made.

Brie

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81867841#Comment_81867841

If the TV is not being used (or at least no live TV and no BBC iPlayer even on a different device) there is no need for a TV licence. If it's been paid by DD then it will be 6 months in advance at this point so a refund should be expected.

otb666

TV were the first to refund over payment to us, SKY just cancelled as did mobile provider. British Gas and water changed account name to executor and stopped monthly DD luckily there was a large credits that paid for this winter usage Eon changed name and continued billing monthly which we pay monthly about 20.00. (this is standing charge and nil usage they initially said they would set nil standing charge but then changed their minds) British gas we still have to log onto deceased account via deceased log ins and review and submit reads as they seem incapable of sending bills via post. Insurance Saga just took us up to renewal with weekly visits and temperature set to 15 degrees then after renewal we used Home Protect. Hope this helps when i was ringing customer advisors they were mostly completing online forms which you can do yourself as bereavement departments were busy. The worst was the civil service pension that clawed back last pension payment even though bank account was frozen then took an age to refund underpayment with no supporting letter. We followed government website what to do when some dies and friends on here