What to do to close and lock up the house?

[Singaporeslings]

My MIL in the UK is going into hospice - we’re just waiting for a space. We live overseas and don’t have any remaining family in UK. My husband is coming back to be with her but can’t stay indefinitely.
So we’re trying to figure out what to do with her house (a semi in outer London) in the short-term and how to secure it. Not to do a full clear out right now but just locking it all up until we can come back and sort her things properly (which may be next summer). We don’t really know her neighbours and there isn’t anyone who can pop by and check the place for us.
Besides the obvious - clear the fridge and lock all windows, what else can we do to secure it, especially through the winter. Do we turn the electrics off? Keep paying council tax? She has an alarm but what if it goes off and annoys the neighbours?
we just don’t know where to start or what to think about!

It's worth mentioning that you'll need to inform the council that it's empty. In my Borough, the 25% single person occupancy discount is lost and 100% of the council tax is payable.

I’m so sorry to hear this… just one thing I thought is that most home insurance policies cover 30 days unoccupied. So you’d need to let the insurance company know as it will increase your premium & they will also provide instruction on what to do.. it might be that you can pay a letting agent to pop in every couple of weeks to check on it even if it’s not being rented out?

I'm sorry you having to go through this. Let the council know as if the house is unoccupied you won't need to pay council tax for x amount of time. Shut the water off from the mains. Id let a neighbour you know we'll have a key and the alarm code or if not give the neighbours your telephone number or someone they can call in cause the alarm goes off. Let the house insurance know the house is occupied.

I would see if there is a management company that can look after it for you. Yes council tax will still be due- the full amount i believe- no discount.

Most hone insurance will not cover an unoccupied house for more than 30 days i am afraid.
Practically speaking, I'd turn off the water and leave the electricity on. You may get a discount on council tax for unoccupied home but that depends in the local council.

However theres a risk of squatters and or burglary and even if not the home will deteriorate if left empty (just build up of dust and of course if anything happens you wont know about it).

Could you offer to a relative or family friend to stay there rent free whilst you sort out arrangements. Or clear the place properly and rent it out formally via an agent. There are also agencies that provide people to stay in under a property guardianship scheme. Would that be an option?

House insurance will need to be continued to be paid too. You will need to inform them it is empty as this will likely affect the premium.

Agree leaving it empty is not ideal. Occupied would be much better. Never heard of property guardianship- sounds like a good solution.

I wonder if there are reputable companies that do checks on houses in this situation?

I would think keeping the heating on (very low) over the winter would be prudent against damp. mould etc.

Does your DH have POA to tale over his DMs finances to pay the bills? Council Tax will still need to be paid, and gas, electric etc. But phone, Internet, TV licence could be cancelled.

Could the house be rented out, via an estate agent?

What has his DMs life been like up till now - any close friends who you can lean on? How has it got to this point without any planning for the future?

Oops - posted in wrong place. Have put this in Elderly Parents instead

Sorry you’re going through this. Contrary to the suggestions above, I’d suggest you need to leave heating on in winter. If it’s as cold as other years, the danger is that the pipes freeze, burst and flood the house.

It maybe worth trying to find an agent to manage it for you. As others have said also to look at insurance as it won’t be insured if left unattended. I’d certainly remove anything perceived as valuable.

Alternatively pay to move everything into storage to sort later and put it on the market, appreciating this is not ideal given the circumstances.

If I were your husband I'd take some emergency unpaid leave (two weeks should do it) go over there and get it sorted fast. I.e. move the stuff you want to keep for now into storage, skip the rest, and get a letting agency to rent it out for you with a management fee so you never have to touch it again. Then you'll make money on it instead of losing money. If you lock it up, you're asking for problems further down the line and you'll be paying for it in the mean time.

Definitely remove any valuable items/keepsakes. Leave heating on but turn water off at mains. Speak to insurance/council. Redirect mail with post office.

Ideally find someone who can pop in weekly. Remove junk mail etc and generally keep an eye. It is really too long to be left safely unattended. Good luck.

Ventilated and heating on. Someone to do the garden.
I'd try and rush in some tenants tbh. You don't want a pipe bursting or a leak over winter and it to be left causing damage for days.

Im so sorry. But it’s a very bad idea to leave a property abandoned. We got our current house as it had been empty a year and all sorts of problems happened. So we could afford it and have fixed it up but I’m sure it was a nightmare for the owners.

My dad left his house empty for 6 months. Was meant to have friends stay but something happened. Pipes froze and there was a lot of damage. Much worse as he didn’t know for a little while.

If she’s definitely not going back I’d just ensure that the house is emptied and sold asap. Or find a friend or cousin or someone to stay in it and help sort everything if it’s really impossible.

As above - sell ASAP and move possessions into storage to be sorted later. Leaving a house empty, particularly an old one, is asking for trouble and potentially serious damage.

It’s beyond frustrating! She refused to ever discuss this and point-blank refused to ever discuss POA or anything about her financial affairs. We kept telling her that it would just leave us with a major problem later - which is exactly where we are now.

You either leave the heating on over the winter or turn off the water and drain the pipes to prevent them freezing.

It depends where you are - in my council when a property is empty because the owner has gone into care, they get a year off paying council tax

This is a mess as how are you going to keep the bills paid? Is she able to sign anything now to give your husband any sort of control?

Please at bare minimum turn the alarm off for the sake of the neighbourhood.

Serious question - how can the op and her husband sell or rent out a house that they don’t own and have no POA over?

sorry op it sounds stressful. Heating on, regular checks by someone you trust and your or your husband to come over periodically.

It’s not. This type of thing happens all the time.

Energy companies etc can and will wait. They may be unreasonable to begin with, but they always wait until the property is sold.

If you don't have POA you don't have the ability to make decisions about her property, esp re letting agents/guardianship etc. Does she still have capacity? If so your dh needs to find out what she wants in this regard. Not an ideal conversation for a hospice.

Once she dies the executor needs to make the decisions (or your dh needs to apply to become administrator if there's an intestacy)

You could try house sitters? There are websites and people have reviews. One called 'trusted house sitters' I think?

Would a property guardian work for you - they live in the house for very reduced rent and keep an eye on it as part of the deal?