For years house prices and rents have only ever gone up as a housing crisis looms – but at the same time hundreds of thousands of homes are left empty. This is why There more than 610,000 homes standing empty in England, with more than 50,000 in London alone, according to the charity Empty Homes .

MD Daniel Curran, founder of Finders International and regular guest on BBC’s Heir Hunters, provides valuable insight into what you should do if there’s a problem with a property being passed on.

These are his top 5 tips:

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• Contact a reputable company who can arrange for empty home insurance. This can be a probate property services company.
• Notify the neighbours as to what you’re doing so they can keep on an eye on things and not worry about their neighbouring property becoming derelict or long term empty
• Notify the council that the house is empty. There may be a rebate on council tax.
• Place a notice on the letter box, window or front door to direct all enquiries to the probate property services company you’ve appointed.
• Have the property cleared of rubbish and any valuables listed in a photographic inventory. This way you can keep track. Try and strike the best deal with a probate property service company as they may clear the property of rubbish, manage the insurance and resale for a better package deal.

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YouSpotProperty.com are also offering a probate helpline ( 020 7100 4082) if you run into trouble, or you can email them on [email protected]
 
This article was first featured in the Mirror