We’re sorry for your loss. If you’re the executor, the first jobs are to secure the house and tell its insurer it is empty, then photograph and list what’s inside. Selling or sharing out the belongings comes later, after probate and after the estate’s debts are dealt with. A storage unit near the house fits in between: it lets you empty and secure the property now, keep everything safe and together, and make the harder decisions about belongings when the time is right, not when the landlord, the buyer or the insurer forces them. Our personal storage page covers storing household belongings like these.
This guide puts the steps in order and links to our shorter answers on each one. It’s general information for England, not legal advice; the estate’s solicitor is the person to ask about your particular estate.
Jump to:
- The first fortnight
- The empty-house insurance trap
- What can and can’t happen before probate
- Photograph, list and value
- Sorting a whole home
- Clearing the house
- Where storage fits
- How long it all takes
The first fortnight
Nobody plans to become an executor, and the weight of it usually comes from feeling that everything has to happen at once. It doesn’t. In the early days, the jobs that protect the estate are:
- Secure the house. Lock it, check windows and outbuildings, and keep keys to a small, known group of people.
- Tell the insurer. Age UK’s executor guide advises that if the person’s property is unoccupied, “it’s best to secure it and tell the insurers as soon as possible”. More on why below.
- Deal with the post. Redirect it, so bills and statements reach you.
- Find the will and the important papers: bank, pension, insurance and property documents. Keep those at home or with the solicitor, not in a storage unit, so you can reach them quickly.
- Agree how decisions will be made. If there is more than one executor, Age UK notes that “all decisions must then be made jointly”. A short conversation now saves a dispute later.
If the home was rented, the clock is different: our answer on how long you have to clear a council or rented home explains how tenancies end after a death. If the person had moved into a care home, our answer on the 12-week property disregard explains what that period is for.
The empty-house insurance trap
This one is easy to miss. A home insurance policy is written for an occupied house. Once a house stands empty, the cover may change or stop, and the estate can be left carrying a house full of belongings with less protection than anyone realised.
Age UK’s guidance sets out what to expect: the estate “may have to replace the person who’s died as the policy holder”, the insurer “may ask you to make regular checks on the condition of the property while it’s unoccupied”, and “you may have to get a new home insurance policy if the current one doesn’t cover an empty property.”
What to do:
- Ring the insurer now, not when you get round to it. Ask whether the policy covers the house while it’s empty, for how long, and on what conditions, such as how often someone must check the house.
- Write the answers down and do what they ask. A condition you didn’t meet can be the reason a claim fails.
- Ask about the contents separately. If cover for the belongings is reduced while the house is empty, moving them out of the house is one way to protect them.
Storage doesn’t replace insuring the house, but it changes what is at risk inside it. Belongings in a storage unit are covered by contents cover for the unit: either our contents protection, or a policy of your own that covers goods in self storage. More on that below.
What can and can’t happen before probate
GOV.UK describes probate as “the legal right to deal with someone’s property, money and possessions”, and its advice is clear: “You should not make any financial plans or put property on the market until you’ve got probate.” If there’s no will, the equivalent is letters of administration.
In practice, the line falls like this:
| Usually fine before the grant | Usually waits for the grant |
|---|---|
| Securing the house and telling the insurer | Selling the house, or putting it on the market |
| Photographing and listing the contents | Selling belongings |
| Moving belongings somewhere safer, such as a storage unit, to protect them | Giving belongings to family or friends |
| Getting a valuation | Paying out to beneficiaries |
Sharing out the estate also waits for its debts. Age UK says that “before you distribute the estate, you must pay any outstanding tax, debts or bills”. It’s natural to want to give a sister the piece she’s always loved straight away; a storage unit lets it wait safely until you can.
Every estate is different, and some are more complicated: a contested will, a beneficiary abroad, a business. If you’re unsure whether a step is safe, ask the solicitor before you take it.
Photograph, list and value
Good records protect you as executor, help with the valuation, and reassure the family that everything was handled fairly.
- Photograph every room before anything moves, then close-ups of anything of value.
- List the contents room by room, date it, and keep copies somewhere other than the storage unit. Add the unit to the list when things move into it.
- Get valuations where they matter. Age UK notes that HMRC recommends having items worth more than £500 valued professionally. Our answer on valuing household items before a clearance explains the options.
Sorting a whole home
Standing in the hallway of a parent’s house, looking at decades of belongings, is one of the hardest moments many people face. A simple method helps more than a complicated one. Work through each room with four piles in mind:
- Keep for the family: the things the will names, and the things people have asked for. These go into storage until they can be handed over.
- Sell or value: furniture, jewellery, collections and anything that might be worth something. These stay safe until probate allows a sale.
- Donate or recycle: usable things nobody needs.
- Let go: what’s broken or worn out.
Nothing in the first two piles has to be decided today. Our answer on what to keep when clearing a parent’s home has a fuller list of what families often wish they’d kept, from photographs to paperwork.
Letting things go can feel like letting the person go. It isn’t. You’re doing the job they trusted you with.
Clearing the house
Once the keepers are safe, the rest of the house can be cleared. Our answers cover each step:
- How a house clearance works, from quotes to the empty house.
- Whether to put things into storage before a clearance, so nothing you want leaves with the van.
- Whether clearance companies pay for what they take.
- Whether a charity will clear a house for free.
- What size skip you need.
- Whether you need to be there on the day.
- Who pays for the clearance: in most cases the estate.
If the house is being sold, our answer on whether a probate house sells better empty or furnished can help you decide how much to leave in place for viewings.
Where storage fits
A storage unit near the family home holds the “keep” and “sell or value” piles while probate runs, so the house can be emptied, secured, handed back or sold without forcing early decisions about belongings.
Renting a unit as executor. You don’t have to wait for probate. You can rent a unit on behalf of the estate straight away, with the agreement in your name as executor. If there’s no will, whoever is going to apply to be administrator can still book a unit now, in their own name, like any customer; until the letters of administration arrive you’re renting as yourself, so agree with the family who pays and keep every invoice.
Who pays. Storage costs you pay while dealing with the estate are generally treated as a legitimate estate expense, so they can be paid from the estate’s money or repaid from it later. Keep every invoice, which we email before each payment. Our answer on who pays for storage while an estate is sorted out explains more, and the solicitor can confirm what counts in your estate.
The terms. The minimum stay is two weeks, and after that the storage carries on until you give notice, which is normally 14 days. You pay every four weeks, and we’re not currently taking deposits. Once you’ve moved out and we’ve checked the unit, we refund any days you’ve paid for but won’t use. You don’t need to know when probate will finish to book.
Sharing access with a co-executor. You can share access to your unit through smart entry, for a set period or with no end date, so a co-executor or a family member helping with the work can collect papers or keepsakes without you. At Chipping Norton, which uses padlocks, access is shared by giving the person the keys and access codes. Our guide to sharing access explains how. Keep a note of what is collected and by whom.
Moving day. You can use a removals or clearance firm to move things in, but someone from your side needs to be at the unit while they load or unload; we can’t receive goods or supervise a move on your behalf.
Contents cover. Everything stored needs cover, either our contents protection or your own policy if it covers goods in self storage. Cover is based on the value you declare, and if that’s lower than the true value a claim is paid in proportion, so use your valuation. Our insurance FAQ explains both routes.
What can’t go in. Food, anything flammable such as paint, fuel and aerosols, and a few other things can’t be stored; our prohibited goods FAQ has the list. Originals such as the will and deeds are safest with the solicitor or in a fireproof box at home.
If the person already had a unit with us, please call us on 0800 2545585 before anyone visits it. We’ll usually need to see the death certificate and the grant before releasing access, and access they had shared with others shouldn’t be used after their death without speaking to us first. Our answer on what happens to a unit when the renter dies explains the steps, and in the meantime you can rent a new unit for the house contents.
Choosing a site. Pick the one nearest the family home, because you’ll go back during probate for papers, keepsakes and the eventual handovers. Our locations page lists our sites, and our room-by-room size guide helps you picture how much space a house’s worth of furniture takes. Or ring us, describe the house, and we’ll help you choose.
How long it all takes
GOV.UK says probate is usually granted within 12 weeks of applying, and the rest of the estate often takes longer, especially if there’s a house to sell. Our answer on how long probate takes and how long to book storage for goes through the stages. You don’t need the end date to book: the storage carries on until you tell us you’re ready to finish.
If the executors don’t agree
Disagreement between executors or family members is common, and a storage unit can help rather than inflame it. Moving the contents into a unit is not a decision about who gets what: nothing is sold, given away or thrown out, so nobody’s position is harmed while you talk it through. Agree the unit and the inventory together before anything moves, and keep the list where you can all see it. If it reaches deadlock, that’s a question for the estate’s solicitor; the unit simply carries on until it’s resolved.
When you’re ready
Get a price online for a unit near the family home, or call us on 0800 2545585 and we’ll take it step by step with you.
Related questions
- Who pays for storage while an estate is being sorted out?
- How long does probate take, and how long should I book storage for?
- What should I keep in storage when clearing a parent’s home?
- What happens to a storage unit when the person renting it dies?
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