Empty house insurance

tonyb6

Hi, My mother recenlty died and as executor I'm in the process of selling her house however the house insurance is about to expire and I'm looking to get some unocupied house insurance quotes. Does anyone have any recomendations?

The house needs to be insured until I sell it. Theres a number of compnaies but all seem to be for landlords without tenents. I also note that the type of insurance availabe is very limited and really only covers rebuild costs. I tried to calculate these costs using the ABI calculator but it came back with "...The property is smaller than the cost models available: in order to calculate a rebuilding cost a larger property has been assumed." which translates to rebuilding cost of £150,000 but the house is on the market for £155,000 so that was pointless

Also the current insurer is not offering any cover for vandelism, theft, escaping/leaking water etc.

Is this to be expected and can anyone offer me advice on how to work out a better rebuilding value?
Thank

mic200202

The first thing is to ask your current insurer if they will accept the risk because of the circumstances.All unoccupied insurance will limit the type of cover because of the higher risk.

They may also ask for example for water or electricity to be turned off or central heating to be maintained at a min setting to reduce the risk of water damage.

The rebuild figure is down to your own estimates really.The ABI calculator is to provide min rebuild costs,and so is just a guide.You can insure for a higher sum if you wish to play safe.

Towergate are quite good for this type of cover.

The market value is not related to the rebuild cost.By the sound of it,if you use a rebuild cost of £150k you should be ok.

EllenorR

I'm sorry to hear that your mother passed away recently.

I've was in a similar situation a few years back and found a website called justlandlords.co.uk were able to provide suitable cover.
I would suggest calling them after looking at their website to make sure you get exactly the cover you are looking for - they were very helpful when I contacted them

Frozen_up_north

As one of the replies suggested, try your own insurance company for a quote. I am in a similar position, fortunately there is someone living in the house so it's not quite the same as yours and will probably be a bit cheaper to insure.

The sales person at LV (who I insure a car and house with) initially had to do some head scratching and two references to her supervisor, but eventually said "yes" and the price for buildings only cover was a reasonable £90 odd for one year on a 2 bedroom bungalow valued at £115,000

aggypanthus

The term for unoccupied property is 60 days, so maybe if you chance a normal quote, it may sell within 60 days, problem solved.

tonyb6

Thnaks for the repsonces guys.

Regards
Tony