House Insurance -unoccupied 30 days plus

Archers_fan

My house insurance covers me for a maxium of 30 days if the property is unoccupied. I am going on a way for 40 days.
If I inform the insurance company, are they likely to ask for more money or say my property is not covered?
Should I just get my daughter to come and stay for a night while I am away to solve the problem?

Sally_A

They may just drop the cover to FLEA cover (Fire, Lightning, Explosion, Aircraft).

The best thing you can do is talk to them about what you can do to ensure full cover - easier if you are with a broker than an online company, as you may then have to go past the call centre to someone with underwriting authority.

Their biggest problem at this time of year is frozen pipes (agree to keep the heating about 10C), piling up of post (advise a neighbour will pop in).

If they are happy for your daughter to stay there a few nights to ensure continuity of full cover - get this in writing from them. Also, in the event of a loss your daughter may have to prove she was there, so agree in advance what proof they will accept.

Lifeforms

Basically when I sold mine, or rather moved out prior to marketing, i called Tesco (who did both contents and building) and asked about this. They contacted the Underwriters and we had a deal going on that as it was unoccupied, with minimal stuff inside, and I was willing to drop contents (which i didn't need anyway), they'd cover me for longer than they would normally with stipulations in place.
1) water had to be turned off, and drained.
2) no heating needed between sept to april/may i think it was; provided 1 was done
3) a regular once weekly check had to be made of all entry points, windows, doors, gates etc, and also make sure everything was fully locked.

I was surprised that i didn't need to do heating at all, as long as it was drained system. So moral is, call up and explain why you need that extra 10 days (and also find out if there is stipulations that you need to undertake for under 30 days anyway) as you'll probably find they're ok with it, as long as you let them know, and as always. Get their name/date/time of call, along with an email, or letter of agreement for "just in case" purposes!

Dangermac

Archers_fan wrote: »

My house insurance covers me for a maxium of 30 days if the property is unoccupied. I am going on a way for 40 days.
If I inform the insurance company, are they likely to ask for more money or say my property is not covered?
Should I just get my daughter to come and stay for a night while I am away to solve the problem?

You definately need to speak with the insurers.

I know for certain that your daughter staying for one night isnt necessarily an automatic solution. In fact, some insurers explicitely state this within their policy preamble.

If this is a one-off trip, and if your daughter can visit regularly, the insurer may acommodate, possibly without charge. But they will need to specifically agree this.

Some insurers allow 45/60 days unoccupancy. Might be worth reviewing your insurer, if you are likely to do more trips of this length.

DM

lil.smartie

Direct line have 60 days as std.

Kate

System

Aviva allowed my mother's house to be unoccupied for 6 months pending sale, at no extra charge.

The only stipulation was that the house had to be inspected every week (neighbour, plus family visits) and the garden kept tidy.

JasX

I had this trouble being regularly away for 30-40 days at a time, I ended up going with the post office as they allow you to be away for 45 days at a time, worth hunting around for small print that suits you if you have slightly unusual circumstances

*Scarlett

I don't think that your daughter saying overnight would get around this - I assume she is not normally a permanent resident of the home.

You need to contact your insurer and if they agree to cover there will be certain conditions - checking the inside of the building regularly, they may want heating to come on to avoid frozen pipes if unoccupied during the winter months, and there might be extra exclusions on the cover.

If this is just a one off trip it may be ok but if you intend to do this regularly you need to look at other policies - many offer up to 60 days unoccupancy.

cathpalmer

Hi,
I work for an insurance company.

They all have different allowances for unoccupancy but if you are over by ten days then you need to tell them.
Most companies will charge a small fee (around 5% of premium) and apply an endorsement that states that you will only be covered for theft if someone uses force to enter (i.e. break in), and that you must lock the house up fully!
Also, they will probably ask you to turn off the gas and water supplies for the duration you are away to avoid flood claims etc.

You can get round it by asking someone to come and stay for 2 days (overnight) - the unoccupancy will begin again from the moment they leave and will of course be under the 30 days. Even in this case, tell them what is happening so that you cannot be accused of with holding information.

All companies have different rules so check theirs.

rs65

What do you mean by 'over by ten days'?

cathpalmer

sorry that wasn't clear.

The policy allows for 30 days, but will be unoccupied for 40 days. The 10 days is the difference between the cover.