Empty house

[BlackKnightinYellowWellies]

I am relocating into a rented house for work, whilst my house is on the market.
I am trying to find out what bills will still need to be paid and what can be cancelled.
The council tax, maybe?
What about gas? Does it need to be on for frost protection?
Has anyone been in this situation and can help me?

You can register house as empty assuming no furniture remains but may not get much discount on ct. Other utilities need to stay connected , so standing charge plus any usage. You could submit readings when you move out. Insurer needs to be told it will be unoccupied for 30+ days.

Thank you, that's useful to know.

If it going to be cold your insurer may expect you to turn stopcock off but leave heating running.

Someone posted the other day about buying a very empty house (may have been a probate). All services were cut off which meant that they and their surveyor couldn't check that CH, shower, lighting, etc, etc actually worked.
Be careful that you don't frighten off potential buyers.

Almost all (if not all) councils have scrapped empty property council tax exemptions and some even charge extra under certain circumstances. Most home insurance companies will cover the first 30-60 days empty and then will either cancel the policy or charge an additional premium (ours is +75% after 60 days but saves the hassle of switching). They are also very likely to make stipulations that heating is on 24/7 at x degrees (15 is common) from Oct to Apr and that the house needs inspecting at least every 28 days.

The alternative to heating is turning off water and draining the system.

You can cancel your TV licence if you have one
Re heating you need to contact your insurer to see what their requirements are

Some insurers ask for an empty house to be checked once a week. When I was selling deceased relative's property, the estate agent very kindly did this (they had a key, anyway). All they did was just pop in for 5 minutes and have a quick look round to see that everything was ok.

When my dad's house was empty, the insurance company required it to be heated to about 10 degrees or so, between certain months, might have been October - March or similar. I agreed to check it once a week and think the premium actually went down, but think it's as he'd had extras added that were no longer needed. The water company closed the account, so long as we didnt use excessive water (no filling shark tanks is what they said) but that may have been a compassionate thing due to the situation.

I assume council tax would still need to be paid. His was covered whilst he was in a care home and for 6 months after he died, but again I think this was due to the situation.

OK, looks like I need to talk to the estate agent, I would have to anyway as I am hoping an empty house might be a selling point.
Also insurance, luckily we do have a family member 5 minutes walk away, who could pop in if required.
Council website- looks like no discount. Ah well.

Whoops