House unoccupied 8 wks after purchase - insurance Q

catriona79

Hi All,

I have already posted this on the insurance forum, but thought that this relates to a newly purchased property and some of you here may have a better idea. Hope that's ok.

The problem:

I am in the process of buying a house and will need approx 8 weeks to do decorating in the house before I move in.
I will not be able to move in during the first 8 weeks, and will still be renting elsewhere, so the house will be left unoccupied, while there is some wallpaper stripping, plastering, painting etc going on.

Regular incurance quotes are around the £150-180 mark, but when i searched for insurance which included the info about the house being unoccupied, I only had 5 results returned and the lowest is £300.

I wondered if there was anyone on here who had any experience with a similar situation and whether they found a solution to this.

Essentially, after the first 8 weeks I will not leave the house unoccupied and so could have the cheaper insurance.

How to handle this?

Any advice greatly appreciated

Moglet

Kip on an airbed once or twice a month?

martindow

Could you camp out there overnight once a month so it does not exceed the maximum length of time the insurance stipulates?

Edit: Moglet won the race!

catriona79

martindow wrote: »

Could you camp out there overnight once a month so it does not exceed the maximum length of time the insurance stipulates?

Edit: Moglet won the race!

Thanks for your replies

No, can't camp out there at all - as I will exchange contracts this Friday but will not complete till 8 weeks later. The vendor is ok with me using the time to decorate, but not live there. It is in the sales details as well, so if anything happens, it will void the insurance.

Do you think I could get the more expensive insurance for the first 8 weeks, and then cancel it (is there likely to be a penalty?) and get a normal house insurance?

Thanks again

dorsoduro

I would contact an insurance broker - have always found this one helpful (I have no connection with them whatsoever): http://www.alanboswell.com/

G_M

Are you using a solicitor? What does he say about insurance? Does the draft contract lay insurance risk on you, the buyer, or on the seller between Exchange and Completion?

The seller has to hand over the property at Completion in the same state as at Exchange, however if he's agreed to you doing works this may be invalidated....

If you DO need to insure look hard a each insurer's definition of 'unoccupied'. eg Direct Line is 60 days. 8 weeks is only 56 days.

A quick google found this insurer.

And this from the ombudsman.

sonastin

The other option is to call your preferred insurer and discuss it with them. You'll have a fight to get past the call-centre telephone bunnies but make sure you speak to a grown-up with knowledge of their products and authority to agree to things. The situation between exchange and completion is always a bit vague - most insurance companies know that they probably aren't 100% responsible for the risk during this period so they can be more flexible with the cover. Also, some insurers stipulate the "no more than x days unoccupied" but if you are forced to leave it for whatever reason, if you notify them ahead of time, you can continue the cover (sometimes for a small fee). It might be cheaper to arrange a normal policy with an extension to permit it to be unoccupied for the first 8 weeks than for specialist cover.

A broker will be able to help with this...

MegaMiniMouse

If the vendor is allowing you 8 weeks access to the property between exchange and completion, then he/she is taking a considerable risk on his/her own insurance contract

Obviously, you have a co-operative relationship with the vendor, so why don't you talk to the existing insurers and ask them to add your name to the policy (obviously, you would have to make sure that it is not possible for the vendor to cancel the insurance without your knowledge)

Unoccupied Property insurance is a slightly specialised market, but it is readily available - but since you are not the owner of the property, it may not be so simple

MMM

need_help_please_2

I was under the impression that the obligation to insure falls to the purchaser once contracts are exchanged; therefore the risk is the purchases as they are obligated to buy at that point?

In either event, their are insurer's that specialise in unoccupied property insurance and for the sake of £100, i'd take the more expensive policy for the year and then move. Once the property is occupied, it's possible that the expensive insurer will reduce the premium to reflect the lessened risk.

Alternative, you can normally cancel an insurance policy with one months notice (check the terms), but this will normally incur a cancellation fee (varying from £25 to two month's premium).