What this check looks at
Finds licences whose seats Microsoft shows as expired (in the grace period after a subscription ends) or suspended while people are still assigned them. In the grace period everything still works; once suspended, the people holding them lose those apps and services.
When a Microsoft subscription ends without being renewed, Microsoft does not switch it off at once. Its seats show as expired for a grace period, usually 30 days for most business subscriptions, while everything keeps working; then they are suspended, and the people holding that licence lose the apps and services it gives them.
This check reads each licence’s seat counts and status as Microsoft reports them. It fails when people still hold a licence that has seats expired or suspended, or that Microsoft shows as in warning, suspended or locked out. Licences nobody holds are left out: a lapsed trial nobody uses is not a problem.
The usual causes are a payment card that expired, an unpaid invoice, recurring billing turned off, or a subscription bought by someone who has since left.
Why it matters
When a subscription ends unrenewed, Microsoft keeps it working for a grace period, usually 30 days, and then switches it off: the people on it lose Office apps, mailboxes or Teams on that licence. It usually follows a lapsed card, an unpaid invoice or a renewal nobody owned.
At a 25-person practice, the card on the Microsoft account expired in the spring. Nobody saw the emails, the grace period passed, and on a Monday morning nobody could open Outlook. A licence in its grace period is the last warning before that happens.
Renewing in time costs nothing extra; reactivating after suspension takes longer, and data on a subscription left long enough is deleted.
ISO 27001 A.5.30 (ICT readiness for business continuity) expects services the business relies on to stay available.
How to fix it
Where: Microsoft 365 admin centre → Billing → Your products
Before you start
- Find out why the subscription ended (a lapsed card, an unpaid invoice, a renewal turned off) before renewing it.
Step by step
- Find out why it ended. In the Microsoft 365 admin centre, open Billing > Your products and the listed subscription. Check the payment method and Bills & payments, or ask the reseller who supplies it.
- Renew or reactivate it. Pay the outstanding invoice, update the payment method, or turn recurring billing back on, before the grace period ends. Through a reseller, ask them to renew it.
- Or move people off it first. If the subscription should end, give the people on it another licence before it is suspended, so nobody loses a mailbox or apps.
- Confirm. The finding clears at the next assessment once each listed licence is active again or nobody holds it.
What users will notice
None to renew. If it is left to end, the people holding it lose those apps and services when it is suspended.
How to confirm it worked
Each listed licence shows as active again in Billing → Your products, or nobody holds it any more.
Frameworks and controls
This check maps to controls in 5 frameworks. Passing it is evidence that the setting is in place, not a certification against any of them.
| Framework | Control |
|---|---|
| NCSC CAF | A3.a Asset management |
| ISO 27001:2022 | A.5.30 ICT readiness for business continuity |
| CIS Controls v8.1 | 2.1 Establish and maintain a software inventory (IG1) |
| NIST CSF 2.0 | ID.AM-02: Inventories of software, services, and systems managed by the organization are maintained |
| NCSC 10 Steps | Asset management |
The framework mappings were last checked against the published standards in October 2026.
Microsoft’s documentation
- What happens when a Microsoft 365 subscription expires (Microsoft Learn)