When a house sits empty
There is a clock running, and almost nobody knows about it.
If a parent has died or moved into care and the house is now empty, one thing needs doing this week, before the sorting, before the lawyer, before anything is listed.
Read this one twice
Most Ontario policies stop covering an empty house after about 30 days
Home insurance policies commonly contain a vacancy clause. If the home sits empty for roughly a month without the insurer being told, coverage can be suspended or voided entirely.
The policy is still in force on paper. The claim gets denied. That is the part that catches people, because nothing looks wrong until the moment something goes wrong.
Insurers also draw a line between a home that is unoccupied, meaning someone intends to return and the place is still furnished and heated, and one that is vacant, meaning nobody is coming back and it is heading for sale. An estate home usually starts as the first and quietly becomes the second, often without anyone telling the insurer.
What to do in the first week
None of this is difficult. It is only ever missed because nobody mentions it while everything else is going on.
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Phone the insurer before you clear anything out
Tell them the owner has died, or has moved into care, and that the house is now empty. Ask what they need from you. Doing this first costs nothing. Doing it late can cost the whole claim.
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Ask which product you actually need
A vacancy permit and a separate vacant property policy are different things at different prices. Ask which one applies. Vacant coverage often costs noticeably more and commonly excludes the very things you are worried about, including water damage, vandalism and glass breakage.
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Get the answer in writing
An email from the broker is enough. Verbal reassurance from whoever answered the phone is not something you want to be relying on eight months later.
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Decide about the water, and commit to it
Either keep the heat and the water on with somebody checking the house, or have the water shut off and the lines drained by a plumber. Do not do half of one and half of the other. A burst pipe in an empty house in February turns a repair into a gut job.
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Take the mail in, and make the house look lived in
A pile of flyers on the porch tells the whole street the house is empty. Redirect the mail, arrange snow clearing and lawn cutting, and put a lamp on a timer.
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Change the locks and photograph every room
Take the spare key out of the fake rock. Photograph each room before anything is moved, not because you distrust your family, but because six months from now somebody will ask where something went and a dated photograph is a kinder answer than a memory.
Being straight with you: we do not check empty houses
Your insurer may want somebody physically walking through the property on a schedule, and some require documented visits every three to seven days. That is not a service we provide, and we would not want you relying on us for it. Getting it wrong is how a claim is refused.
People who do it properly, and who carry the insurance for it:
- A home watch or property check company, which is a real trade with its own liability cover and will document each visit in a way an insurer accepts
- A neighbour or family member, if your insurer will accept that. Ask them, in writing, before assuming it
- Your insurance broker, who will usually know who does this locally
What we genuinely do, once a home is being prepared for sale, is meet every contractor, let in every crew, walk the property while work is going on, and send photo and video updates. For an executor out of province that is usually enough that they never need to travel for the preparation stage. It is not the same thing as a scheduled insurance inspection, and we will not pretend it is.
If the house is empty right now
Call your insurer today, before anything else. Then, when you are ready to think about the property itself, we can walk it with you, document its condition, and give you a written value as it stands. There is no cost and no obligation.
General information for Ontario, not legal, insurance or financial advice. Vacancy clauses, notice periods and what a policy excludes differ between insurers and between policies, and the roughly 30 day figure is a common rule rather than a universal one. Only your own insurer or broker can tell you what your policy requires, and only they can confirm it in writing. Not intended to solicit buyers or sellers currently under contract with a brokerage.