First: do nothing, carefully
An empty house costs money from day one, so buy the thinking time properly. Tell the insurer it's unoccupied as standard cover usually lapses after 30 or 60 days empty, and unoccupied-property cover is a different policy. Check the council tax position: after probate there's an exemption window, but once it closes many East Anglian councils charge an empty-home or second-home premium, which can mean double bills.
The three honest options
Sell. Often the right answer, more than people admit, especially if the house needs serious money, sits in a weak letting area, or the family just wants it settled. On an inherited property the capital gains clock restarts at the probate value, so selling reasonably soon rarely creates a big tax bill.
Let it long-term. Steady, low-effort income and an easy handbrake decision. But it needs to meet rental standards (EICR, Gas Safety, EPC minimum E today, with tighter rules coming), and a tired inherited house often needs a refit before a tenancy anyway.
Run it as a holiday let. The highest income if, and only if, the location and the building suit it. It's also the option that keeps the house available for the family some weeks of the year, which is often the real reason people choose it.
The sums look different when you didn't buy it
No purchase price and usually no mortgage means the usual viability test — will the nights cover the borrowing? — mostly disappears. That flatters everything, so be stricter, not looser: the honest comparison is against selling and banking the proceeds. A house worth £400,000 needs to clear a fair few thousand a year, after cleaning, maintenance and your own time, to beat that. Run our profitability sums with the sale value in place of the purchase price.
One tax note worth knowing: the old furnished-holiday-let regime was abolished in April 2025, so the tax gap between holiday letting and ordinary letting is narrower than older articles suggest. Plus, whichever route you take, the ownership structure question is worth an hour with an accountant before you commit as moving a property between family members or into a company later can be expensive.
The sentiment question
If it was a parent's house, the numbers aren't the whole decision and pretending otherwise doesn't help. What we'd say from experience: a house that's loved but empty deteriorates faster than one that's used, and guests treating a place well is easier to live with than most people expect. Holiday letting is often the option that keeps the house in the family and pays for its own upkeep. But if every changeover is going to hurt, sell — a business you resent is a bad business.
- Probate value and a current sale appraisal
- The council's empty-home and second-home premium policy
- Realistic nightly rate and occupancy for the area
- Cost of the refit each route would need
- Who in the family wants to use it, and when
The worst option is the one most people take: leave it empty and decide later.
We do this appraisal as a single piece of work: the sale figure, the letting figure and the holiday-let figure for your actual house, side by side, with the refit each would need. If you've just picked up a set of keys you weren't looking for, that's the place to start.