Exchange and Insurance

Worry_Wart

I got mine with Liverpool and Victoria, and they had no problem with the long time lag between exchange and completion as the property was occupied until completion. If it is unoccupied for more than sixty days they would have had issue with it.

pinkteapot

I'm sure most insurers are fine. I was surprised at Direct Line as the property was occupied throughout.

Just worth calling them and clarifying. If nothing else, if something happens and you need to claim and you hadn't told them that you weren't living there yet, they'd probably use it as an excuse not to pay out.

Beans27

Makes sense, will do that - I am a big fan of calling and clarifying, I'm sure the EA and Solicitor are pretty bored of me by now :-D

Hoping it all goes through quickly, living out of boxes and not knowing where anything is has the potntial to get annoying very soon!!

mavisangelica

When we signed our contracts last week, our solicitor wasn't sure when exchange would be taking place although the chain were all working towards completion of 18th March. I rang our existing insurers this morning and explained this. They suggested that we insure from today as it was such short notice to completion. We have got 30 days crossover period where both properties are insured.

I got an email this afternoon saying that we had exchanged so good job I phoned. Incidentally in the email it said that we should insure our new property - so we did not have to have insurance in place before exchange although we haven't got a mortgage.

Also, reading our insurance documents again, our insurance has cover for our existing property for our buyers between exchange and completion and also our contents covers for removals and up to 7 days in storage (although not valuables).

franklee

pinkteapot wrote: »

I'm sure most insurers are fine. I was surprised at Direct Line as the property was occupied throughout.

Yes but you have to be careful how they define occupied. The policy I've just been reading defines occupied as being lived in by your family, so strictly speaking it is unoccupied while the vendor is still living there. Also this 60 days unoccupied was oddly written and open to interpretation and not consistent over all the small print in the policy. The call centre people spoken to seem relaxed about it but they aren't the ones relying on the insurance. I''m just hoping the calls are recorded.

franklee

e.g. just about everything in the policy I just read has the following exclusion:

Loss or damage while the home in which you live has not been lived in by your family for more than 60 consecutive days.

or this one

Loss or damage when the home in which you live has not been lived in by your family for more than 60 consecutive days.

If anyone can shed any light on what that means in practice.

Do I have to have exchanged, completed, moved in and lived there for 60 days before I'm covered.

Or am I covered from exchange so long as I move in within 60 days of starting the insurance.

Or something else I'm not thought of?

McBozo

looks like the first but it's out of context so hard to say. I'd phone them up and get a specific response via email or letter on it.