Of course the house is insured...what could go wrong!!

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Jacqueline Emmerson, Senior Partner at Emmersons delivers a timely warning for Executors of a will-and to others with responsibility for someone else's property.

As a solicitor dealing with Probate and Lasting  Powers of Attorney I have noticed that

Increasingly  properties are not insured. This can of  course lead to disastrous consequences.

 In one case recently, a man had died and his son  asked me to deal with the probate in respect of

 the estate. As part of my usual enquiries I wanted  to know with whom the deceased’s house

 was insured. After searching through mountains  of paperwork my client came to the conclusion

 that the property was uninsured.

He decided that as it was in a fairly safe area and that as the contents of the property were

of little value it was pointless paying for expensive insurance. Unfortunately there was

then a leak from the property which caused considerable damage to

 the neighbouring house.

Of course the first thing that the neighbour wanted to know was who

 was insuring the empty property because he  wanted to make a claim.

 In another case, a client was managing a property  on behalf of an elderly relative who was living

 in a care home. The property needed tidying up  before it was placed on the market for sale. We

 did discuss the issue of insurance. However, as  empty property insurance is quite expensive and

 as this property was to be placed on the market  within a month my client decided not to insure

 the same. The day before the property went to  auction vandals started a fire and the roof and

 walls suffered serious damage!

If you are managing a property on behalf of an elderly relative, especially if you are their

Attorney, then you must manage it with all due diligence. In the two cases above consideration

was given to insuring the properties. The clients in question made their decisions having weighed

up all relevant factors. Neither had foreseen the consequences that ensued.

 

"You should deal with house insurance on an urgent basis if you are dealing with a probate or if the owner has had to go into a home."

Many insurance companies will extend existing insurance for a number of months as long as the

property is inspected on a regular basis and all water supplies are switched off. It can be more

difficult to obtain insurance when there has been none. Some companies insist on window locks

being fitted to all downstairs windows and five lever mortice locks on doors. Many well-known

insurers will not deal with empty property insurance. We have managed to find some specialist

brokers who will offer this service though for some reason will not deal with our clients

directly. Instead they ask us to deal with them on behalf of our clients.

 If you have insurance please make sure that you  print off your policy and keep it with your copy

 will. It is often difficult to find out which policies  a deceased person, or someone with a mental

 incapacity has if they bought them online. If you  are helping an elderly relative please make sure

 that their property is insured.

 A related topic is the matter of door keys. If someone has recently died or had to go into a

 home you should consider changing the locks  to their property as a matter of urgency. If you

 are an executor of an estate or an Attorney for  someone then you have a responsibility either to

 the beneficiaries or the owner of the property  to protect their interest.