What insurance risks apply to a vacant estate property while it's being sold in Ontario?

A property that sits vacant while an estate is being administered can create a real insurance gap if it isn't addressed. Many standard home insurance policies restrict or reduce coverage once a property has been vacant for a period of time, since insurers treat unoccupied homes as a higher risk for things like fire, water damage, and vandalism going undetected. If a policy lapses into reduced coverage, or if the trustee doesn't notify the insurer that the home is now vacant, a claim after a loss could be denied or significantly limited, right when the estate can least afford an unexpected cost.

Because of this, an estate trustee responsible for a vacant property should notify the insurer as soon as it becomes vacant, ask specifically about vacancy terms and whether a special vacant-property endorsement or separate policy is needed, and arrange for regular checks on the property in the meantime. This is a practical risk-management issue as much as a legal one, but ignoring it can create real financial exposure for the estate and, potentially, questions about whether the trustee acted with reasonable care. Anyone administering an estate with an unoccupied property should deal with insurance promptly rather than assuming the existing policy will simply continue as-is.