Vacant Property Checklist: What to Do When a House Will Sit Empty

When a house will sit empty for more than a few days, the work is the same whether it is a rental between tenants, a rehab, a listing or an inherited home: tell your insurer, decide what to do with the utilities, make the house look cared for, lock it up and visit on a schedule. This checklist pulls that guidance together from insurers, the Red Cross, the Postal Service and HUD.

Before the house is empty

• Call your insurer. A standard homeowners policy may not cover losses that happen while a house is vacant. Ask how your policy defines vacancy and whether you need a vacancy endorsement or a vacant-home policy. Ways to Secure a Vacant Property’s Door explains how many policies limit coverage once a property has been vacant for a set period.
• Decide on utilities. Insurers that write vacant buildings advise shutting off every utility the building does not need for fire protection, alarms, sump pumps or required heat. If you will keep the heat on through winter, read How to Winterize a Vacant House.
• Forward the mail. USPS standard mail forwarding lasts 12 months and can be set up online or at a Post Office. Pick up anything that still arrives.
• Photograph the condition. Date-stamped photos or video of every room, the roof line, the meters and the doors give you a record if something happens later.
• Tell the people nearby. State Farm suggests letting the police and fire department know the house will be vacant. A trusted neighbor with your phone number is useful too.

Lock it up

• Secure every window, door, gate and garage entrance, and seal any pet door.
• Keep doors and windows in good repair and locked. How to Strengthen an Entry Door covers the strike plate, screws and hinges.
• Close curtains and blinds so no one can see in.
• Don’t leave spare keys outside, and give one person the job of tracking who has keys and lockbox codes. Keys, Lockboxes and Access has a simple system.
• Move combustible materials away from the building where you can.

Make it look lived-in

• Put a few lights on timers and add motion-sensor lights outside.
• Keep up the lawn, leaves, snow and branches, and trim bushes that could hide someone at a door or window.
• Keep flyers, packages and door hangers from piling up.

Visit on a schedule

Insurers that cover vacant buildings recommend frequent visits with a checklist, and varying the time of day. HUD’s 2016 guidance for vacant FHA properties called for an inspection every 25 to 35 days. On each visit:

1. Walk the outside for broken glass, pried doors, graffiti or signs someone has been there.
2. Inside, look at the ceilings for roof leaks and check under sinks and around the water heater.
3. Confirm the heat is holding (in winter) and the sump pump runs, if there is one.
4. Test smoke alarms with the test button. The Red Cross says to test them at least monthly and replace alarms every 10 years.
5. Take a few photos and note the date, so you have a running record.

Monitored alarms can cover the time between visits, and PEMCO Insurance suggests water sensors in case a pipe leaks.

Check your local rules

Some cities require owners to register a vacant building or maintain it to a set standard. Cincinnati, Ohio, for example, requires a vacant building registration for buildings empty 180 days or more, and Louisville, Kentucky, requires owners of vacant property to maintain it. Rules differ from city to city across the country, so check with your local code enforcement office.