Do You Need a Will When You Buy a House?

The UK Homeowners Guide for 2026 and beyond.

You’ve done it. You’ve bought a house. After months of viewings, mortgage applications, and solicitor emails, you’re finally holding the keys to your own home.

Chances are, the last thing on your mind right now is making a will.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: if something happened to you tomorrow, do you actually know who’d inherit your house? Would your partner automatically get it? What about your kids? And what happens to that mortgage you’ve just taken on?

For most new homeowners in the UK, the answers aren’t what they expect.

What happens to your house when you die in the UK?

When you own property, it doesn’t just “go to your family” automatically. What actually happens depends on whether you’ve made a will—and if you haven’t, the government’s intestacy rules decide for you.

These rules are rigid, outdated, and often produce results that would horrify the people they’re meant to help.

If you’re married with children

You might assume your spouse inherits everything. They don’t.

Under intestacy rules, your spouse gets the first £322,000 of your estate plus half of anything above that. The rest goes to your children. If your house is worth £400,000, your spouse gets £322,000 plus £39,000 (half of the remaining £78,000). Your children get the other £39,000.

That might sound fine until you realise your children now own part of the house. They have a legal interest in it. If your spouse wants to sell, remortgage, or make changes, it gets complicated. And if your children are under 18, the situation becomes even messier—trustees may need to be appointed.

Most families have no idea this can happen.

If you’re unmarried but living together

This is where things get properly scary.

Unmarried partners—even if you’ve lived together for decades—have no automatic inheritance rights in the UK. None. If you die without a will, your partner doesn’t inherit your share of the house. It goes to your children. If you don’t have children, it goes to your parents. Then your siblings. Then more distant relatives.

Your partner, the person you share your life and home with, could end up with nothing. They might have to go to court just to stay in the house. There’s no such thing as a “common law spouse” in UK inheritance law.

A will fixes this completely. Without one, cohabiting couples are incredibly vulnerable.

If you own the property alone

Die without a will, and your house goes to your closest living relatives according to a strict legal hierarchy. That could be parents you’re estranged from, siblings you haven’t spoken to in years, or cousins you’ve met twice.

You have no control. The law decides.

If you co-own your home

This is the bit that trips people up most—because how you own the property legally changes everything.

Joint tenants vs tenants in common: what’s the difference?

Most couples who buy together own as joint tenants. It’s the default. Under this arrangement, you both own 100% of the property together (not 50% each—there are no “shares”). When one of you dies, the survivor automatically inherits the whole house. Your will can’t override this. It happens by law.

That’s great for simplicity, but it means you can’t leave your share to anyone else—not your children, not anyone.

Tenants in common works differently. Each owner has a defined share of the property (usually 50/50, but it can be anything). Crucially, you can leave your share to whoever you like in your will. This matters hugely for people with children from previous relationships, blended families, or anyone who wants more control over who ultimately inherits.

If you’re not sure which one you have, check your property deeds or ask your solicitor. It’s worth knowing, because the difference completely changes what happens when one of you dies.

For anyone wondering “do I need a will if I’m joint tenants,” the answer is still yes—because your will covers everything else you own, and you might want to change to tenants in common anyway.

Do you still need a will if you have a mortgage?

Absolutely.

A mortgage doesn’t disappear when you die. The debt becomes part of your estate, and whoever inherits the house has to deal with it. They’ll need to either take over the mortgage payments, remortgage in their own name, or sell the property to clear the debt.

Without a will, you have no say in who that person is. The intestacy rules decide—and as we’ve seen, they don’t always pick the person you’d choose.

Many people have life insurance tied to their mortgage, which helps. But that still doesn’t answer the question of who gets the house. That’s what a will is for.

What happens to a mortgaged house when the owner dies in the UK?

When someone dies with an outstanding mortgage, the lender doesn’t take the house back (unless payments stop completely and no one deals with it). Instead, the mortgage debt is paid from the deceased’s estate—either through life insurance, savings, or by selling assets.

If the person inheriting the house wants to keep it, they’ll usually need to prove they can afford the mortgage and get it transferred into their name. If there’s no will specifying who should inherit, it can take months to sort out—during which the mortgage still needs paying.

Why do homeowners need a will?

Because buying a house fundamentally changes your legal situation. Before you owned property, you probably didn’t have much to leave behind. Now you do—and it’s likely your single biggest asset.

A will lets you:

Protect your partner or spouse. Make sure they’re looked after, especially if you’re not married.
Decide who inherits your home. Not the government’s intestacy rules.
Let someone keep living there. You can give a partner or relative the right to stay in the house, even if they don’t own it.
Protect children from previous relationships. Tenants in common wills are essential for blended families.
Prevent your kids forcing a sale. Yes, this can happen under intestacy if they inherit a share.
Avoid family disputes. Arguments over property tear families apart. A clear will prevents that.
Appoint guardians for your children. If you die and your kids are under 18, a will says who looks after them.
Name an executor you trust. Someone who’ll actually handle things properly.

Without a will, none of this is in your control.

When should you make or update your will after buying a house?

Buying a house is one of the biggest reasons people finally make a will. And rightly so.

But it’s not the only time you should think about it. You should review or update your will whenever something major changes:

You get married (this actually revokes any previous will unless it was made “in contemplation of marriage”)
You get divorced or separate
You have children
You buy another property
Someone named in your will dies
Your financial situation changes significantly
You want to change your executor or beneficiaries

Most solicitors recommend reviewing your will every three to five years, or after any major life event.

What should a homeowner include in their will?

A good will for someone who’s just bought a house usually covers:

Who inherits the property (or your share of it, if you’re tenants in common)
Whether anyone has the right to live there after you die, even if they don’t own it
What happens if you and your partner both die (especially important if you have young children)
Who becomes guardian of any children under 18
Who handles your estate (your executor)
How mortgage debt should be dealt with
Any specific wishes about keeping or selling the property
Provisions for children from previous relationships, if relevant

The more valuable your home, the more important it is to get this right. You don’t want a generic template—you want a properly drafted will that reflects your actual situation.

Do cohabiting couples need wills?

Yes. Urgently.

If you’re living with someone but not married or in a civil partnership, you have almost no automatic inheritance rights in UK law. Doesn’t matter if you’ve been together 20 years. Doesn’t matter if you have children together.

If your partner dies without a will, you don’t inherit their share of the house. It goes to their relatives.

You’d have to make a claim under the Inheritance Act, prove financial dependency, possibly go to court—and even then, there’s no guarantee. Meanwhile, you’re grieving and potentially facing the loss of your home.

A will for unmarried couples isn’t optional. It’s essential.

Can my children force a house sale after I die?

Yes, they can—if they inherit a share of your property.

This happens more often than you’d think, especially under intestacy rules where children automatically inherit part of the estate. If your children (or their trustees, if they’re minors) own part of the house, they can apply to the court for an “order for sale” to realise their inheritance.

Even if your surviving spouse is still living there.

The easiest way to prevent this is with a properly structured will that gives your spouse or partner either full ownership or a “life interest” (the right to live there for as long as they need, with the property passing to your children only after they die or move out).

Does buying a house mean I need a will?

Not legally. You won’t be arrested for not having one.

But practically? Yes. If you own property, you need a will.

Your house is probably worth more than everything else you own combined. If you care about who gets it—and who doesn’t—you need to put that in writing.

How to get a will as a new homeowner

You’ve got three options:

DIY will kits. Cheap, but risky. Property inheritance is complicated, and a mistake can invalidate the whole thing.
Online will services. Better than DIY. Companies like Farewill or Co-op Legal Services offer decent, affordable wills with some legal oversight.
Solicitor. Most expensive, but the safest option—especially if your situation is complicated (children from previous relationships, tenants in common ownership, valuable estate, business assets, etc.).

For most new homeowners, a solicitor-drafted will costs between £150 and £500, depending on complexity. It’s not cheap, but neither is dying without one.

Final thoughts: your house is sorted—now sort your will

You’ve done the hard part. You’ve bought a house. You’ve taken on a massive financial commitment, fought through the stress of the buying process, and come out the other side with keys in hand.

Don’t let the easy bit—making a will—be the thing that undoes all of it.

Protecting your home and the people you love doesn’t require another solicitor marathon. It just requires an afternoon, some honest conversations, and a properly drafted will.

If you’ve recently become a homeowner, or if you bought a house years ago and never got round to it, now’s the time. Your house is probably your biggest asset. Make sure it goes to the right people.

Ready to create or update your will? We can help make the process straightforward and stress-free.