Reply With QuoteTry HomeProtect.
www.homeprotect.co.uk
I have an unoccupied house insured with them, one of their requirements is that the house is visited every week.
We shall soon become the owners of a bungalow, we’re buying it before selling our current house. I expect to own both properties for around 3-6 months during which we’ll be doing renovation work on the bungalow.
Obtaining buildings insurance on the bungalow is proving harder than I thought, my current insurer declined when I told them it would be unoccupied for more than 60 days. Two other enquiries met with the same answer.
I don’t see this as a particularly unusual situation, the fact that it'll be unoccupied is a stumbling block that I didn’t expect. At this stage I don’t need contents insurance, just buildings.
The bungalow is modern traditional build in a built-up residential area, like anything there’s a risk of burglary or fire, but other than the fact that it’s unoccupied I can’t see a problem.
I’m awaiting a response from Adrian Flux and a firm called Gallagher, no idea what they’ll come up with yet.
Any more advice will be appreciated, I’m sure plenty of TZers will have experience of a similar situation.
Try HomeProtect.
www.homeprotect.co.uk
I have an unoccupied house insured with them, one of their requirements is that the house is visited every week.
I had the same experience on an unoccupied bungalow, but having agreed to spend at least one night in the property (whilst renovating it) within each period of 30 days the insurer (Lloyds) agreed to cover it (I think the premium was increased by a small amount on that basis).
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
Perhaps you want to consider site insurance?
https://www.protekselfbuild.co.uk/site-insurance/
https://www.protekselfbuild.co.uk/si...ion-insurance/
(I have no familiarity with this particular company, I found them via a google search).
I have recently had a similar situation after my father died in April.
His property is not occupied and is being sold.
I got a number of quotes as not all insurers will insure an unoccupied property.
I eventually got cover from this firm
https://gsi-insurance.com/
I understand with my policy it's only classified unoccupied if no one has stayed in the property for 90 consecutive nights - because of the length the Covid lockdown I was unable to get back to my home in Dublin so had my nephew spend a night there to keep the policy active. Just hope my drinks cabinet is in once piece when I finally get back.
Thanks for the advice and info, I thought it likely that a few of the TZ good buddies had been in this position. At a pinch I could spend 1 night/month there if I have to, its only half a mile away.
At 62 I`m planning on this being my last housemove, bungalows with reasonable space are at a premium where I live and that's why I`ve taken the risk to secure this one before selling my house. Life will certainly be interesting for a while and I can`t see many watches getting fixed. On the plus side, my new work room will be a better design than my current set-up, I`ve learned a few lessons on that front!
Originally Posted by walkerwek1958
This is what I did when we bought a house whilst living in a rented house (there was a period of about 3 months when various bits of work were being carried out on the house we were moving to).
It sounds like you have exchanged now? I hope the project and eventual sale of your current house goes well. ATB Jon
Adrian Flux insured my late father's house whilst it was unoccupied for a long while prior to sale on the basis it was inspected at least once every 30 days.
There was a similar recent thread elsewhere & several of the posters mentioned they had used Towergate for this type of insurance:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/...=207&t=1868403
https://www.towergateinsurance.co.uk...erty-insurance
We used Towergate - they were OK but when we sold the property they wouldn't give us our unused period as a credit so be aware of that.
B
One risk in an unoccupied dwelling is flooding ... I have experience of same ... most insurance policies for unoccupied dwellings exclude flood damage. Please consider checking the water system if property is left unoccupied e.g. storage tank / header tank ball-cock valves and overflows and any shower units. Best to turn off water supply. A relative's empty property's header tank ball valve failed and water overflowed from the loft and down the stairs and through the ceilings for 3 days ... I had an awful mess to remedy ... plus all the electrics were soaked. Learnt my lesson ... make sure an empty property is inspected regularly. Took weeks to dry out and lost all the carpets and most of the furniture ... and the insurance cover excluded flood damage whilst unoccupied.
dunk
"Well they would say that ... wouldn't they!"
Put up curtains, set a few lights on timers, people are a lot less nosy if they believe it's lived in.
Oh and if possible leave a car on the drive.
Last edited by number2; 5th August 2020 at 19:45.
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
Another problem is squatters!
Some insurers will also not offer cover if there is renovation and building works going on, we had this situation a couple of years ago and had to take specialist insurance.
Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app
I use these.
https://www.ukinsurancenet.com/
Specialists who understand the issues and people you can actually speak with.
Instasure. Went through this a few years back.
None of the stupid stipulations the other policies had.
Sent from my moto g(7) power using Tapatalk
I've bought several of these policies over the last decade. It's generally called FLEA insurance (Fire, Lightning, Explosion and Aircraft impact). It's a very basic level of cover I used for unoccupied empty properties.
I purchased through specialist brokers such as Jelf (now Marsh Commercial) and GSI although Google will reveal loads of other FLEA specialists.
FLEA cover is pretty easy to come by. The specialist insurers offer more comprehensive cover, at a price.
We are selling my wife’s aunts property (unoccupied), the current insurance with RIAS runs out shortly and they have recommended Towergate Insurance.
I’ve got an unoccupied house insured with Home Protect at the moment as well, they’ve been very helpful and friendly when I was asking a million questions!
Update:
Thanks for all the comments. I ended up using a firm called Gallaghers who I approached initially. I've arranged cover initially for 3 months on the basis that the property is unoccupied, hopefully after that time I can revert to normal insurance. This was the path of least resistance and probably won't be the cheapest option.
This has proved far harder than expected. What's frustrating is the level of errors in the quotes, despite answering all questions fully every quote we received had errors. Worst was Adrian Flux, two quotes sent with mistakes in each, when I e-mailed back I got no response and I`m still waiting after 4 days. Phoning them was almost a waste of time, very slow to answer their phones, definitely not someone I`ll deal with again.
We've moved into an era where you basically do everything yourself when arranging insurance online. That's fine if the situation is straightforward but all too often you end up having to phone someone, and that's where the problems start. Too many organisations are trying to operate with too few staff, waiting 15-20 minutes in a queue is typical and it's v. frustrating.
Anyhow, this task is now completed. Every day's a schoolday, I now know that insuring an unoccupied house is costly and it's a ballsache to arrange!
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