An empty house before sale: insurance, inspections and upkeep

Make a care plan before the last resident leaves

An empty house still needs someone to notice when something changes. A leaking pipe, a heating fault or damage to a basement window may otherwise remain undiscovered until the next viewing. By then, a manageable repair can have become a larger problem that affects both the budget and the sale. Start the care arrangements before moving out, with one named person responsible for coordinating visits and responding to reports.

Walk through the property together and record its starting condition. Take dated photographs of rooms, existing marks, meters, access routes and outbuildings. Write down known damp patches, intermittent faults and recent repairs. This is a practical baseline, not a survey or a guarantee that the building has no defects. Its purpose is to make changes easier to recognise and describe accurately when a contractor needs to investigate.

Put the insurance documents, maintenance records, equipment instructions and a key register in an organised property file. Identify important shut-off points and specify which systems must remain operational. Keep original documents and access credentials secure. Anyone carrying out visits should receive the information needed for that role, rather than unrestricted access to personal paperwork. Where several people own the property, agree who can approve work and commit money.

This guide concerns property in Germany, especially North Rhine-Westphalia. The arrangements should continue until responsibility has actually passed under the agreed sale process. An accepted offer does not itself end the period of vacancy. Our guide to how long a house sale takes helps you connect marketing and completion when planning the care period. Make sure the arrangement can be extended if handover moves to a later date.

Check the insurance policy against the actual vacancy

Tell the building insurer when the house will become unoccupied, how long you currently expect that to last, what contents remain and how it will be supervised. Ask whether consent, amended terms or additional precautions are required. Section 23 of Germany’s Insurance Contract Act, VVG, distinguishes consent and prompt notification for relevant increases in risk. Do not rely on a supposedly universal grace period.

Get the response and agreed measures recorded clearly. Ask which risks remain covered, which excess applies, what must happen to the water system, and whether an extension of the vacancy needs another notification. An acknowledgement that your message was received is not an answer to those questions. Where wording is unclear, obtain clarification from the insurer or an appropriate insurance specialist before treating an assumption as an agreed arrangement.

The GDV model building insurance conditions, VGB 2022, June 2026 version, address non-use separately from winter precautions. They are non-binding examples, not your policy. Keeping heating running does not automatically replace any contractual requirement to isolate and drain installations.

Also check cover for remaining contents and liability connected with the unoccupied property. Ask specifically about risks that matter to the house, such as vandalism, flooding or damage to an outbuilding. The name of a policy is not evidence that every type of loss is included. Selling the building is not, by itself, a sensible reason to cancel existing protection.

A failure to meet a requirement does not automatically remove every entitlement in every case. Section 26 VVG provides differentiated consequences and exceptions. A dispute about fault, causation or payment belongs with an insurance-law adviser, rather than being resolved through the property sale process.

Give inspections a clear scope and a backup person

“Someone will pop in” is not a workable inspection arrangement. Agree who attends, which parts of the property they inspect, how often they attend and who covers absence or illness. The appropriate interval depends on the insurance terms and the risks present. A fixed weekly visit cannot be presented as sufficient for every house, especially where equipment is unreliable or severe weather develops.

Use a repeatable route. Start with the grounds and entrances, then check accessible windows, the basement, plant areas and the other floors. Look for changes: water on the floor, new staining, unfamiliar smells, equipment fault messages, damaged locks or visible storm damage. Observations from ground level are useful, but do not turn a neighbour into a roofing inspector. Unsafe ladders and unprotected roof access should never become part of an informal visit.

Record the date, visitor, areas checked, observations and any action started. “Basement dry, no heating fault displayed, windows secured” is more informative than “all fine”. Include photographs where a change needs investigation, and say when a room could not be accessed. A log does not automatically prove that precautions were adequate; it makes the work that actually happened easier to reconstruct and follow up.

Decide in advance who may instruct a contractor and how urgent decisions will be handled while the owner is away. A report needs an owner until the problem is resolved, not simply until a message has been sent. Temperature or leak sensors can support this arrangement, but only if an alert reaches someone able to act. Their power supply, connectivity and batteries therefore belong in the plan. Property viewings may reveal issues, but their timing is too uncertain to substitute for agreed inspections.

Treat water and frost protection as a coordinated system

Whether to leave the heating on is only one part of the decision. Pipes can run through cold basement corners, roof spaces or a garage even when the main rooms feel warm. The German Insurance Association’s frost guidance warns that a radiator’s frost setting does not reliably protect distant pipes. A thermostat symbol is therefore not a whole-house protection plan.

Ask a qualified plumbing and heating contractor to assess the installed systems. The resulting instructions should explain which areas remain heated, which pipework is isolated and drained, and what needs checking. Drinking-water services, the heating circuit, a hot-water cylinder and outdoor taps perform different functions. Closing the main water valve does not establish that all vulnerable parts are protected or that the heating can safely continue operating in the intended way.

Draining is a technical operation. Water may remain in low points, equipment or sections that do not empty as expected. Have the contractor also explain how the system is to be brought back into service. Turning water on casually for a viewing and then switching it off again can undermine an agreed shutdown procedure. Every person with access should receive the same operating instructions and know which actions require a professional.

Where heating continues, retain the services it needs. Cancelling the electricity contract too early may disable heating controls, monitoring or other essential equipment. Discuss fuel availability, fault indications and the response to an outage. Any temperature instructions should suit the particular building and pipe layout; a number found online cannot account for its insulation or exposed sections. Frozen pipes should be assessed professionally, with no improvised attempts to thaw them using an open flame.

Check damp and security during the same visit

A property can develop damp even when nobody lives there. Pay attention to basement walls, areas beneath windows, roof slopes and previously affected surfaces. A humidity meter may reveal a trend, but it cannot diagnose the cause. Persistent changes deserve investigation rather than repeated airing or fragrance used to disguise a smell. Opening windows will not repair a leaking roof or explain water appearing after rainfall.

Ventilation needs to suit the season and the room. Warm outdoor air can release moisture onto cold basement surfaces, as explained by Germany’s Federal Environment Agency. A permanently tilted basement window is therefore not a general drying strategy. Arrange appropriate ventilation during supervised visits and check that windows have been secured before the visitor leaves.

German police prevention guidance recommends locking doors, closing windows and never hiding keys outside. Use a named key register with recorded issue and return. Reassess security if a key is lost. Leaving one accessible key for a changing group of service providers makes it difficult to know who has entered and whether the building was properly secured afterwards.

Arrange for post to be collected and the entrance kept tidy. Besides supporting presentation, this makes fresh damage or dumped items easier to spot. Public sale information does not need to disclose inspection schedules, alarm details or concealed access points. That is compatible with telling the insurer and prospective buyers the truth about occupancy and condition. Security should not become a reason to give misleading information.

Include safe access routes, loose external fittings and basic grounds maintenance in the plan. Clarify applicable local winter-service duties and who will carry them out. A photograph of a hazard is not the end of the task: restrict unsafe access where necessary, inform the responsible person and arrange a remedy. Specific structural and legal uncertainties need the relevant specialist.

Build a budget from your bills and actual arrangements

Vacancy may reduce consumption, but ownership and supervision still cost money. Gather current tax and municipal notices, energy payments, premiums and service quotations. Ask the supplier or municipality which charges continue despite non-use and whether any adjustment is available. Do not include a saving in the budget before it has been checked against your contract or assessment notice.

Consider a purely invented example for a house in NRW. Monthly amounts of €90 for insurance, €80 for property tax and basic municipal charges, €150 for energy and utilities, and €120 for supervision total €440. Six months therefore require €2,640. Adding €900 for initial preparation and a €1,500 repair reserve produces a planned cash requirement of €5,040. The reserve is money set aside, not an expense already incurred.

These figures are neither local averages nor a quotation. Replace them with your own evidence. Loan payments, major repairs and individual tax consequences are outside this example. If a loan remains outstanding, distinguish interest from principal repayment: both require cash, but principal repayment also reduces the debt. To assess how long you can comfortably support the sale period, calculate the full cash outflow as well as the underlying running costs.

An extra three months adds €1,320 of routine expenditure in the example, before unusual losses. This does not mean that accepting any reduction in the price is automatically sensible. Compare a real offer with a realistic selling period, additional costs and uncertainty. A supported property valuation provides a better starting point than assuming that a longer period on the market will inevitably produce a higher net return.

Prioritise preservation and keep a clear damage record

Separate work into urgent protection, necessary upkeep and cosmetic preparation. Stopping further damage serves a different purpose from repainting a room for photographs. This distinction helps protect the budget: a defective rainwater outlet deserves a different priority from replacing a sound but dated surface. Major improvements require their own cost and market assessment and should not begin simply because an empty house feels unfinished.

For foreseeable work, obtain quotations that describe the investigation and the work to be done. Keep a record of what the contractor found and actually repaired. “Damp patch treated” does not explain why the patch appeared or establish that the underlying problem was solved. Photographs, invoices and findings help future buyers understand the condition. An isolated repair should not be described as comprehensive refurbishment without evidence to support that description.

If new damage occurs, safe mitigation takes precedence over the normal viewing routine. Section 82 VVG requires reasonable efforts to avert or reduce an insured loss. Inform the insurer, record what happened and coordinate the next steps. Do not enter a flooded space where electrical danger may exist, and leave technical interventions to competent professionals.

Tell whoever is managing the sale about new findings so that descriptions and viewings reflect the current condition. Known material defects must not disappear behind fresh paint, furniture or reassuring language. Under section 444 of the German Civil Code, a seller cannot rely on a liability exclusion for a defect fraudulently concealed. A significant incident shortly before signing should be discussed with the notary and, where appropriate, a legal adviser to clarify its effect on the intended transaction.

Connect the care arrangements with marketing and handover

Throughout the sale, it should be clear who organises access, knows the current condition and circulates new information. Bring together the building documents, vacancy arrangements, maintenance evidence and unresolved questions. The house sale checklist complements this file with the wider sale documents. A well-managed empty house does not have to look newly renovated; its condition should be presented honestly and be understandable to someone seeing it for the first time.

To discuss pricing and timing, use our seller enquiry form to describe the location, type of house, start of vacancy and current supervision. Mention known damage and your intended handover period. This provides a useful basis for planning the sale around your situation. Insurance decisions remain with the insurer, technical protection with the qualified contractor, and contractual questions with the notary or legal adviser.

Do not stop inspections merely because the notarial deed has been signed. Key handover, the contractual transfer of possession, benefits and burdens, and registered ownership can occur at different times. Section 95 VVG ties the buyer’s entry into the insurance relationship to ownership. Section 97 VVG governs notification of the sale. Coordinate the practical sequence so that responsibilities do not fall between those dates.

At handover, record meter readings, keys, known issues and how the systems are currently operated. Supply the agreed maintenance and repair evidence and explain any installations that remain shut down. End the previous care arrangement only once the takeover of those tasks is clear. That keeps the final stage of the sale as organised as its beginning.