Insuring empty house

ericonabike

We bought a house for our son to rent around three years ago. He has now bought his own place and the property is empty. The landlord insurance expires next month [still valid till then as it will have been unoccupied less than 40 days]. We are putting it up for sale and have been looking at insurance to cover fire and vandalism. Called TowerGate after a web search, who following an interminable 'interview' came back with a quote for £550 for 12 months - no shorter term available. Given we were paying just £130 a year on landlord insurance, for a 2 bed terrace, this seemed extortionate. Would appreciate any advice or guidance as to its reasonableness, and suggestions for other insurers to try. Much obliged.

benjus

I used http://www.insuremyproperty.co.uk/ until I sold the house I used to rent out. However, I doubt it will be significantly cheaper - empty houses are a much higher risk than occupied houses.

Make sure you check their requirements in respect of frequency of inspections, draining the heating system, etc

With InsureMyProperty I took out an annual policy with monthly payments, then cancelled when I sold the property. They simply stopped my monthly payments.

mufi

If you're over (I think) 50, try Saga - they insured a relative's empty house for a reasonable price, and their terms and conditions were not onerous (some insurers wanted to charge the earth AND demanded that the water be drained, electrics off etc).


By definition, they specialise in this area - their clients are older and often need insurance for empty properties once they've moved into residential care or similar.

Unicornucopia

My mother had a property which I insured with Aviva. When she died I advised Aviva and, apart from some precautions and some additional exclusions, I had no increase in fee or cancellation forced upon me. Unfortunately I have just noticed it expires in early August so will be in a similar boat to you soon!

m_13

Interestingly I was just wondering about this. We are buying a vacant property that has not been lived in since late last year. We need to cover it on building insurance between exchange and completion but it is empty and will remain so until we move in. We were thinking of asking our insurer to move our buildings cover from our home to the new house but whereas we have window locks and kitemarked final exit doors, the new house does not. However, the property will be empty until we move in two weeks. There is no heating system to drain and there is nothing inside the property at all.

Anybody got any suggestions please?

silvercar

Allan boswell is good for let properties and covers empty properties between tenants, so they may well have a product for properties empty for some time.

T0mmyh

Hi,

Just a thought have you asked your landlord insurer. I've recently done the same and for a modest fee £53 (on top of the normal insurance) they let me insure it vacant for roughly 4 months while my sale goes through.

DaftyDuck

I've used NFU for insuring empty properties. They've been very helpful, and come in at a good price. I've never had to make a claim, but they have a good reputation. The policies are pretty comprehensive.

Thrugelmir

ericonabike wrote: »

came back with a quote for £550 for 12 months - no shorter term available. Given we were paying just £130 a year on landlord insurance, for a 2 bed terrace, this seemed extortionate.

Reflects the higher rate of claims on empty properties. Which could be as simple as an act of vandalism for which £550 wouldn't cover much.

mufi

silvercar wrote: »

Allan boswell is good for let properties and covers empty properties between tenants, so they may well have a product for properties empty for some time.

Agree with this - they are a broker, and I've used them in the past for unusual insurance circumstances.


In our case, their quote was not as good as Saga's but, as we all know, every insurance quote is individual.