Buying House - Delayed Move In

seven-day-weekend

We bought a bungalow and didn't move into it for five months (renovating) - however we were there most days and my husband would occasionally stay overnight to not breach insurance requirements.

AdrianC

There seems to be an assumption that "letting the SiL stay" means "letting her live there", rather than simply "letting her sleep there the odd weekend when she's visiting the area".

Your main issue is likely to be insurance - insurers don't like properties sitting empty for extended periods.

ShellClarky

Many thanks again for your helpful responses.

Just to address a recurring point made...

vic_sf49 wrote: »

- Buy now, stay in quarters, but visit often enough to satisfy insurance requirements.

- I had immediate family stay in my property while I was overseas, agreed to by my mortgage provider, but I wasn't renting to them....they were more like house sitters.

AdrianC wrote: »

Your main issue is likely to be insurance - insurers don't like properties sitting empty for extended periods.

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

We bought a bungalow and didn't move into it for five months (renovating) - however we were there most days and my husband would occasionally stay overnight to not breach insurance requirements.

Would my SiL be able to satisfy this "live in" requirement?

We were looking to have her at the house most of the time whilst we were not around, so the property would not be empty. (She is currently still at home with her parents so this would give her a little more independence) We would visit every month or so for a weekend/week.

Or, would the living requirements need to be made by us personally as we are the owners of the house?

I hope that makes sense, please let me know if I'm being confusing and thanks again for your contributions.

macman

You will be liable for standing charges on water, gas and electricity from day one of ownership. Who is paying that-you or SIL?
Don't assume that a formal agreement is not necessary because 'it's family'. Numerous tales of woe on this board tell a different story.

AdrianC

ShellClarky wrote: »

Would my SiL be able to satisfy this "live in" requirement?

We were looking to have her at the house most of the time whilst we were not around, so the property would not be empty. (She is currently still at home with her parents so this would give her a little more independence)

She would be your tenant, then? Actually living there, rather than just occasionally staying over?

davidmcn

I am guessing this is likely to be a common problem for people in the forces. Is there any sort of in-house advice available to point you towards e.g. insurers who are more comfortable with vacant properties etc?

Doesn't help you with the basic problem of lenders expecting you to be either an owner-occupier or a landlord and to pick an appropriate mortgage product accordingly.

Smodlet

Hello, welcome to the forum and, at the risk of sounding presumptuous, thank you and your OH for your service.

I have yet to come across a standard home insurance policy which does not require the policy holder (you and/or your OH, not your SiL) to have the property as your main/only residence and not to leave it empty for more than 30 or 60 (max) consecutive days. Holiday homes are another case but I imagine the premiums reflect the increased risk.

I have had buildings and contents insurance from numerous companies over the years and they all seem to have the same t's and c's however, I have just taken the liberty of calling my current provider, who state they consider insurance on a case by case basis. They also said their limit for leaving a property unoccupied is 30-40 days. I imagine the area in which you bought would be a factor in whether they would consider taking your SiL's occupancy into account.

I am sure you are already aware that, were someone to lie to an insurance company, they would invalidate their cover and make getting insurance from anyone else difficult.

There is nothing to stop you from looking; after all, buying a house is not usually a quick process. Rightmove/Zoopla et al have new listings every day.

As already mentioned, standing charges and council tax would rack up a considerable outlay for really no benefit to anyone but your SiL. I strongly suggest you and OH wait until you are discharged and have the leisure to view properties to your hearts' content. You could always rent in the meantime, six months being the usual length of an AST (Assured Shorthold Tenancy) HTH.

ShellClarky

davidmcn wrote: »

I am guessing this is likely to be a common problem for people in the forces. Is there any sort of in-house advice available to point you towards e.g. insurers who are more comfortable with vacant properties etc?

I have a feeling you are right davidmcn, it certainly regularly throws in complications to (what I would expect to be) straightforward situations. The majority of guidance we've seen are for the standard Forces Help to Buy, which will be the way we choose to go if we end up just buying in the usual way once we leave.

Smodlet wrote: »

Hello, welcome to the forum and, at the risk of sounding presumptuous, thank you and your OH for your service.

I have had buildings and contents insurance from numerous companies over the years and they all seem to have the same t's and c's however, I have just taken the liberty of calling my current provider, who state they consider insurance on a case by case basis. They also said their limit for leaving a property unoccupied is 30-40 days. I imagine the area in which you bought would be a factor in whether they would consider taking your SiL's occupancy into account.

I strongly suggest you and OH wait until you are discharged and have the leisure to view properties to your hearts' content. You could always rent in the meantime, six months being the usual length of an AST (Assured Shorthold Tenancy) HTH.

Many thanks for your kind introduction Smodlet, I hope you don't mind me picking out the key points from your reply to respond to.

I greatly appreciate you speaking to your current provider, and thank you for passing on their response.

Thank you so much for your time and all your replies, I think the general consensus is the most straightforward. I will see if there is any advice from work for people who have done this before, in the first instance.

Although, it seems best to wait until we are "free" to browse properties at our leisure, surely that's the most fun part anyway!

Thank you all again!

knightstyle

Hi, I think you are right to look to buy sooner rather than later. Have you heard about the Forces help to buy scheme?
Plus for insurance there is Siiap who will help you.