Leaving the house empty and keeping costs low?

Bozzy20

Hi, I'm in the process of buying a house (contracts to be exchanged in the next week or so) and I won't be moving in until September or October (travelling abroad).

I am concerned at the fact that I will be leaving the house empty until the day I move in and keeping costs low?

In view of the fact that there are no furniture and the fact that its approximately 6 months I doubt it that I could rent it out.

To save on costs I am planning on cutting off all utilities (no need for any of them) and reconnect in September.

I am also planning on asking a neighbour to keep an eye on the house for me.

Do you have any views or reservations or advice?

Thanks.

SnowyOwl_2

My only reservation would be that your insurance on the property may become invalid due to the fact that the house will be unoccupied for such a long time. That would have major repercussions should a fire, flood or whatever occur and they discover there was nobody living there. I'd advise going through your insurance policy to specifically check for a clause about this, or contact them to have such a clause added in.

I hate to say this, but unoccupied houses attract vandals and potentially squatters. It might be worth your while getting some tenants in and letting the house out unfurnished, even if that means you have to find somewhere temporary for a while after your return from abroad.

HTH

Simple_Sid_2

I have just gone through this in the past couple of weeks. We have moved to a new home and are planning on renting the old one out. It could be empty for a couple of months while we find tennants and sure enough as soon as I notified our insurers (Prudential) they told us they do not cover empty properties and cancelled our insurance with 7 days notice. We have had to take landlords insurance with a different company and even that only covers us for a maximum 90 days unoccupied at a time.

Spendless

Tell the council that the house is empty and unfurnished, so you get 6 months of council tax exemption.

When the tenants left my house, the insurance ran out before i sold it and i also had to get specialist insurance (and it was a pain cos it wasn't being rented so therefore landlords insurance wasn;t suitable). I ended up going thru my BS to get it.

Paul_Varjak

I guess it is difficult getting insurance as the home is going to be empty for so long. Cutting off services may prevent water leaks etc. but could introduce other problems.

You may have to consider how the home will be kept 'background warm' so, when you enquire about insurance, I would ask what conditions the insurance company imposes on the connection of services like gas, water, electric, oil. You may consider fitting a 'froststat'.

If you get a water meter fitted you will certainly save water charges when you are away - and may continue to do so when you return. But even with a water meter I think there are still some standing charges.

Some electric/gas companies charge purely on a usage basis (no standing charge) but effectively collect the equivalent of the 'standing charge' by charging more for the first so many units used. If you don't use any gas/electric this will mean your charges whilst property is empty will be zero but you will not have to reconnect when you return from abroad.

You should be careful though if using gas/electric with no standing charge when you do return as they can be more expensive when using a normal amount of gas/electric. So you may wish to switch back to normal charging when you return.

You can get reductions on Council Tax as well - I think the reduction is up to 100% if house is unfurnished, but it is for a limited time (6 months I think). If you are to live in the house alone when you return I suppose you may as well claim the 25% single person relief on the Council Tax as well!

I would also join a Neighbourhood Watch scheme (if there is one) and fit theft deterrents. These measures may make it easier to get insurance!

Bozzy20

thanks for your comments. Appreciate it. I've found an insurance company that offers a reasonable quote. I explained that the house would be empty for 6 months with all utilities switched off etc. They were fine about that and added a clause to the policy:-

a) theft cover for cash and valuable is excluded;

b) the first £100 of each loss is excluded for claims arising from theft,
malicious damage, escape of water, storm and flood;

c) during the period of 1st October to 1st April there is no cover for
escape of water unless: i) central heating is installed and in operation and ii) the water supply will be turned off and the system drained.

seems ok to me. what do you think?

Paul_Varjak

Bozzy20 wrote:

c) during the period of 1st October to 1st April there is no cover for
escape of water unless: i) central heating is installed and in operation AND ii) the water supply will be turned off and the system drained.

seems ok to me. what do you think?

Does it not say (i) central heating installed and in operation OR
the water supply will be turned off and the system drained?

The emphasis being on OR rather than AND!