Leaving House Empty - Tips?

LongTimeThinker

Hi,

After a long hard road we have finally exchanged contracts and complete on the house we are buying at the end of next week.

We had to get moved out of the area we are in and the only way to do it in the end was to get concent to let on our current home whilst we try and sell it as a seperate process to moving. We have a buyer but have been messed around up until now, it looks promising as they now actulally have a mortgage offer.

There is on chain involved with our buyer and obviously none for us so we will be pushing to get exchanged and completed ASAP on selling our house but its not going to happen before we complete next week on the new one, so we will have 2 houses for a while.

Does anyone have any tips or pointers on leaving a house empty for around a month?

I plan on popping round at least once a week and letting the neighbours know, in addition:

• Timer lights for upstairs downstairs
• Turning off the Gas - reccomended? In this weather the heating doesnt need to be on.
• Turning off the Water - no need for it to be on
• Ensuring all doors\windows are secure (obvious one really)
• What about utility bills? Do I ring them when we leave our house next week or wait till its actually sold?

Anything else? I need to get in touch with the Council to but I am not sure whether to let them know we are moving and will have two houses (will they be funny about the house being empty?). For the easy road\less stress I may just leave things as they are until we sell the house and then sort counsil tax out afterwards.

Thanks!

Werdnal

If the house is empty and unfurnished, you would probably qualify for council tax relief for up to 6 months, so ask them, rather than paying on both properties.

Also, have you spoken to your house insurance and mortgage company about it being empty. Insurance will need to know as there are often clauses about vacant properties, and they will not pay out on any claim. You mortgage may have similar requirements.

Have you given neighbours your contact numbers incase of any concerns? Do you have an active neighbourhood watch in the area? You could contact the local co-ordinator and let them know too.

Do you have a driveway? Could you ask a neighbour to park there to make it look lived in - especially overnight?

I don't think you need tell utilities until the sale goes through, as so long as water and gas is turned off, should be OK.

LongTimeThinker

Werdnal wrote: »

If the house is empty and unfurnished, you would probably qualify for council tax relief for up to 6 months, so ask them, rather than paying on both properties.

Also, have you spoken to your house insurance and mortgage company about it being empty. Insurance will need to know as there are often clauses about vacant properties, and they will not pay out on any claim. You mortgage may have similar requirements.

Have you given neighbours your contact numbers incase of any concerns? Do you have an active neighbourhood watch in the area? You could contact the local co-ordinator and let them know too.

Do you have a driveway? Could you ask a neighbour to park there to make it look lived in - especially overnight?

I don't think you need tell utilities until the sale goes through, as so long as water and gas is turned off, should be OK.

Thanks Werdnal. The mortgage is affectively now a BTL, its a long story but we had to change to BTL in order to get our new mortgage without selling this one. Contents insurance ends tomorrow, and Landlord\Building Insurance starts tomorrow too.

As far as the mortgage company is concerned we are now trying to find a tennant, but in reality we have pretty much sold our house (I know we have a fee to pay on our mortgage once we sell).

We dont have a drive so I guess thats good, no neighbourhood watch that I know of but good idea - I'll check! I'll give the neighbours my contact number too, hadn't thought of that either thanks

westv

I wouldn't suggest turning off the gas. Normally you only turn the gas off in an emergency

Werdnal

Just another suggestion, you could rig up a radio to a plug in timer switch too, as noises in the house are often more convincing than lights going on and off.

G_M

and Landlord\Building Insurance starts tomorrow too.

but have you checked the terms relating to unoccupied property? You do not want it to be invalid.

RAS

Get your mail re-directed.

Plug in a couple of lights and a radio and use timers to switch them on and off over the days. Weekly timers are better as you can set them to different times each day.

pararct

westv wrote: »

I wouldn't suggest turning off the gas. Normally you only turn the gas off in an emergency

Why?

Most people don't as it can sometimes be difficult to relight pilot's on older type boilers but other than that there is no good reason not to.

An empty house will still be racking up a gas bill if the supply is left on. Whilst it is not a hell of a lot (my experience tells me it can be anywhere from £3- £6 a Month) every little helps.;)