selling house, moving to rented - insurance after exchange?

aliby21

I am selling my house and moving into rented accommodation. It is looking like exchange will be next week, and completion around three weeks later. My house insurance runs out in two weeks time i.e. a week after exchange and a couple of weeks before completion. As long as my buyers have buildings insurance from exchange will the house be covered if I let my policy lapse? Alternatively, is there a way of insuring for a couple of weeks to completion? I don’t want to renew the policy just for that time, but I am reluctant to risk being uninsured. I own the house, no mortgage company interest involved if that makes a difference. I’ll have to ring my existing insurer (LV) to stop auto renew and will talk to them, but would like to get an idea of what the options may be.

And I know I’ll have to do something about contents insurance but if it is going to be very complicated I may just take the risk and get a policy from when I move into the new rented place, rather than set up a new policy then have to pay an admin fee to change address after two weeks.

Any advice would be very welcome!

AnotherJoe

You could talk to your existing insurer and see if they will extend your policy by a couple of weeks.

jonesMUFCforever

I agree with Another Joe - don't let a few quid in premiums cost you thousands if anything goes wrong.

HappyMJ

aliby21 wrote: »

I am selling my house and moving into rented accommodation. It is looking like exchange will be next week, and completion around three weeks later. My house insurance runs out in two weeks time i.e. a week after exchange and a couple of weeks before completion. As long as my buyers have buildings insurance from exchange will the house be covered if I let my policy lapse? Alternatively, is there a way of insuring for a couple of weeks to completion? I don’t want to renew the policy just for that time, but I am reluctant to risk being uninsured. I own the house, no mortgage company interest involved if that makes a difference. I’ll have to ring my existing insurer (LV) to stop auto renew and will talk to them, but would like to get an idea of what the options may be.

And I know I’ll have to do something about contents insurance but if it is going to be very complicated I may just take the risk and get a policy from when I move into the new rented place, rather than set up a new policy then have to pay an admin fee to change address after two weeks.

Any advice would be very welcome!

Even though the risk is the buyers once you've exchanged buildings insurance in your name will also pay out to you if the buyer pulls out after exchange if the house is destroyed. You get alternative accommodation for the period of time between exchange and completion along with a host of other payments. You'll need legal assistance as the buyer will try and pull out or at the very least delay before completing.

antrobus

aliby21 wrote: »

I am selling my house and moving into rented accommodation. It is looking like exchange will be next week, and completion around three weeks later. My house insurance runs out in two weeks time i.e. a week after exchange and a couple of weeks before completion. As long as my buyers have buildings insurance from exchange will the house be covered if I let my policy lapse? ....

The standard conditions of sale now specify that the risk passes to the buyer on exchange, but you'd need to confirm with your solicitor that is the case.

And you have to anticipate the possibility that exchange might be delayed.

rs65

aliby21 wrote: »

And I know I’ll have to do something about contents insurance but if it is going to be very complicated I may just take the risk and get a policy from when I move into the new rented place, rather than set up a new policy then have to pay an admin fee to change address after two weeks.

It doesn't have to be complicated. Just renew as is and then delete buildings and change address when need be. Don't go uninsured for the sake of an admin fee.

aliby21

thank you all, this has given me some useful perspective on the situation

rs65 wrote: »

It doesn't have to be complicated.

think the trouble is that everything seems complicated at the moment!