Probate House Insurance

If you're researching probate house insurance, you've likely encountered a lot of information and may feel overwhelmed by the options available.

Many insurance providers offer general unoccupied home insurance policies (as do we for properties not in probate), but these policies may not adequately address the unique challenges of insuring an empty property during probate.

At Insuristic, we understand the complexities of this situation.

Our founder, Rob Faulkner, an ACII Chartered Insurance Practitioner, personally experienced the frustrations of navigating probate and developed our specialised Probate House Insurance policy to help others in similar situations.

Our policy is designed to provide comprehensive cover throughout the entire probate process, from:

• the moment the property becomes empty (before a Grant of Probate is applied for); until
• the executors or administrators are no longer responsible for insuring it (even after the Grant of Probate is received), such as when the property is inherited, sold, or occupied.

We offer flexible cover options on a short-term or annual basis to meet your specific needs, making the process as smooth and stress-free as possible.

The policy is designed to protect the property in the estate.

This means that anyone acting as an executor, administrator (if there is no Will), deputy, trustee, or personal representative (such as a solicitor) is legally responsible for insuring the property and can, therefore, request a quote and arrange cover.

The probate house insurance cover can start when the property becomes empty following the owner's death, and cover ends when the property has been distributed or sold by the executors or personal representatives or if it becomes occupied. 

From this point, the house will need to be insured on another policy, which could be:

• On an unoccupied home insurance policy, if the house is still going to be empty. 
• If the beneficiary will occupy the house, they can take out a standard home insurance policy. We can provide a quotation if this is the case. 
• If the house is being let out to tenants, then a Landlord's insurance policy can be purchased.

If you have any questions about when your probate house insurance policy will end, please don't hesitate to contact us.

As the executor, administrator (if there is no Will), or personal representative, you have a legal responsibility to safeguard the property while it or the proceeds of a sale transition to its rightful owners, their chosen beneficiaries, or, in the case of intestacy, their next of kin.

This can be an emotionally challenging time, and the last thing you need is the added stress and financial burden of uninsured or underinsured losses.

If you get it wrong, you will likely need to foot the bill for any uninsured or underinsured losses.

For example:

• an uninsured loss could be if your insurance provider doesn’t cover burst pipe claims.
• An underinsured loss could be the rebuild value you provided is too low. For example, you suggested it would cost £300,000 to rebuild the property, when the actual cost should have been £600,000.  This would mean the maximum an insurer would pay out is £300,000 less the policy excess, leaving you with a significant bill. 

Many uninsured or underinsured losses can be considerable, so this is another reason to ensure you are choosing the right cover and the right insurance partner who specialises in probate, like Insuristic.

You will find that many alternative providers do not offer a specialist probate property insurance policy but instead offer an off-the-shelf insurance policy that could be used for a range of purposes, such as emptying the property while it is being sold or between tenants.

This often means that their policy has:

• Basic cover: such as Fire, Lightning, Earthquake, Explosion and Aircraft cover (sometimes called FLEEA cover), which could leave the executors uninsured for losses like burst pipes, flood, vandalism, theft and malicious damage.
• Inspection conditions that are difficult to comply with: it is not uncommon for these inspections to be every 7 days.
• A requirement for written inspection reports: would you know what to put in these? Could you also prove these reports were not written yesterday and that you actually visited the property on these days?
• No dedicated claims service: it is not uncommon for insurance providers to use the standard insurers claims service, which usually offers limited support or advice to executors. With many using large claims call centres, claims can be time consuming and stressful.

In addition, you might find that your quotation includes additional administrative fees, charges and/or commission for paying in instalments, and cancellation fees if you need to cancel early – which is common practice.

Our insurance policy contains three levels of cover, Bronze, Silver or Gold. 

Executors should consider the level of risk they are prepared to take and choose the most suitable insurance policy.

Most executors choose to buy at least our Silver cover.

Here is an overview of each cover level:

If you want to see at a glance what is or isn't covered, please view the IPID (Insurance Product Information Document) for your preferred cover level.

The Insuristic Probate House Insurance scheme is underwritten by certain underwriters at Lloyd’s and administered by SJL Insurance Services.

Lloyds is the world's leading insurance marketplace, with an insurance premium income in excess of £35 billion.

SJL Insurance Services are a leading UK Insurance broker based in Worcester.

When you get a quote from Insuristic, you can:

• Arrange the insurance in the name of the estate.  For example:
  • If there is a Will, the insured name should be The Executors of the estate of 'Name of the Deceased.'
  • If there isn't a Will, the insured name should be The Administrators of the estate of 'Name of the Deceased.'
• Tailor the cover to suit your requirements. Choose short-term (3, 6, or 9 months) or annual cover. Executors most commonly take out 6-month policies.
• Option to include Contents Insurance: if you decide to insure, please note:
  • There is a £1,000 single article limit.
  • You don’t need to include the cost of fixed carpets, blinds and fixed appliances, as Insuristic treats these as part of the buildings, providing £5,000 of cover for anyone loss.

Getting a quote from Insuristic is a straightforward process.

However, if you ever need assistance, our dedicated team can be contacted via our online chat.

If, for some reason, your property doesn’t fit our online requirements, such as it has a high value, is in poor condition, is in a flood area or has had recent claims, we can find a solution for you offline once you have completed our online quote form.  The same applies if you require advice.

Insuring an empty house in probate isn't the same as insuring a home insurance policy. 

There are policy conditions that you've probably never encountered before, such as frequently inspecting the property, evidencing inspections, draining down water systems and more.

Insuristic is all about transparency and making insurance easy to understand.  So to help you, we have developed the following additional pages:

• Risk Management Tips
• The risk of building underinsurance for executors
• The importance of reviewing property insurance early in Probate
• Executor Insurance Guide

Get a quick quote online

If you are insuring an empty house after the death of the owner, Insuristic will help you do this with ease.  You can arrange cover online in a couple of minutes.

• Choose from 3 levels of cover.

• Easy to understand policy conditions.

• No early cancellation Fees.  You will also receive a pro-rata refund for any unused cover.

• Support in the event of a claim if you need it.