A bit of advice about leaving a property vacant

purple_hearts_2

Our house is on the market, The plan was, that when it sold we would be moving away to a new area.

It looks like it may happen very soon.

A week ago my boyfriend got home from work with a letter saying he and another person were up for being made redundant at the end of this month, they did however say that they could put him in line for a transfer for the area we are moving to.

We heard last night that he has an interview with them in a weeks time.

We have managed to sort out somewhere to stay if he does get the job, my mum said we could stay as long as it took for us to start renting our own place, we also have a car already that we will be taking with us.

We spoke to the estate agent about our house, thought about maybe renting it out but she told us (shes not the first to say it) that there is no interest in our area at all, its a tiny village, with one tiny shop, and, well thats it. Nothing to do here at all, nearest small town is 8 miles away, nearest large city would be 15 miles away.

We have decided to leave the house vacant until it sells, already filled in the vacancy form which we have to send back, we have started moving all our stuff out and to boyfriends parents house, and have been looking at changing our house insurance to vacant property insurance.

Our estate agent has a set of keys and said she would be happy to show people around on viewings etc, and all our neightbours are great, couldnt fault them, the guy next door has offered to mow the lawns, take bins out and pick up mail etc.

All this will happen if he gets the job of course, so we are just trying to plan ahead in case he does get it.

Is there anything else we need to do before we go?

Thank you very much for any advice.

ConfusedDep

When I got vacant property insurance they insisted that I inspect the property every seven days. They also had rules on heating and the water. Redirection of post. Electricity/gas is likely to be less so accurate reading should be provided for a while so that you don't overpay.

It's good that you have neighbours keeping an eye on the place I also wrote to the police and gave them details of a key holder. Regardless of the estate agent agreeing to inspect the property you might want to arrange to come back once in a while. Next door to where I am moving to have a house up for sale and the garden is a state I was talking to the solicitor (as the roof had damage and they are going to pay half) and it appears that the estate agents had not said a word.

purple_hearts_2

ConfusedDep wrote: »

When I got vacant property insurance they insisted that I inspect the property every seven days.

Oh thats not good, that would be a problem for us as we are moving so far away, would need to get on a plane to come back..

Thank you very much for the info, a big help.

Catatonia

When I was in a similar situation, I got holiday home insurance which was valid as long as you stayed there (I guess a night would count) every so often. It will vary with the policy, but I think it was only once every few of months.

I think it would be a good idea anyway to get a local friend to pop in every week or so, as you may not have many viewings and I wouldn't trust an EA to look after my house.

Catatonia

These are the people who I went with:

http://www.schofields.ltd.uk/Policy_Details/policy_details.htm

Full policy details can be downloaded from the website.

I didn't end up claiming so no idea what they are like but they were reasonably priced.