ESTATES
DECEMBER 2025
What actually happens to the house, and when it can be sold
The house cannot be sold until the grant of probate arrives, but it can be cleared, insured and put quietly to an agent before then. Here is the order things happen in, who pays the bills in the meantime, and the one form that catches people out.
The house cannot be sold until the grant of probate is issued, because until then nobody has the legal authority to sign the transfer. It can be marketed, and there is an argument for doing that early, but a buyer who is told completion is four months away will often walk.
It can be insured, and it must be. Most household policies treat a property as unoccupied after thirty days and cover falls away at exactly the point the risk rises. Tell the insurer, in writing, and expect to pay more.
If there is a mortgage it still has to be serviced. If there is no mortgage, the council tax exemption for an empty property left by someone who has died runs until the grant, and then for six months after it.
Where the house is left to more than one person, they inherit it jointly and any of them can insist on a sale. That is the conversation worth having early, at a kitchen table, rather than late through solicitors.