First rule: Stay calm, look at all your options and responsibilities and talk to a few experts before making decisions.

Questions to ask that will help you make decisions:

Is there debt?

• Are there any outstanding payments or unpaid accounts or even a bond on the house.

Arrange for a valuation of the property

• Get a professionally written valuation that also gives you a comparable market analysis.

Arrange for an inspection of the property

This will help you identify the extent of repairs and maintenance if any.

Based on all of the above, you can then decide:

• Do I move in and stay in the house?
• Do I rent the house out?
• Or do I sell the house?

Talking to your estate agent will help to understand the positives and negatives resulting from each of the above decisions.

Costs, Rates and Taxes

• This is where you sit down with the executor of the estate and discuss in details all the costs which you will be responsible for.

Final good advice: do not lend your ears out to anybody but the experts.