Is there a max no. of days you can be away from house to keep insurance valid?

kuepper

someone's told me there's a max no of days pa you can be away from your home without invalidating your home insurance. I can't find anything about it in my LV policy except an assumption that the house is "usually occupied" and to inform them if it's unoccupied for more than 60 days in a row. It's my only residence but I'm away a lot

elsien

It's the number of consecutive days absence that matter - you normally can't be away for more than 30 days in a row, I think.

DocQuincy

Mine is 30 days but it should say in your policy booklet.

I am guessing they do this so that if something happens at your home that will cause further damage over time (e.g. water leak) it isn't left indefinitely.

It's worth checking over the wording. Mine states if you are away for more than five days you have to take measures to prevent pipes bursting (I can't remember the exact words). I rang up for clarification and they said any of the following would do: add lagging to the pipes, get a friend to check in every five days, program the heating on. As it happens we have a cat that needs feeding so the house is never really empty and a boiler that always goes on under 5°C so it's irrelevant.

My point is, if in doubt, ring them and ask and they will tell you what you need to do to meet your obligations. If it's not in your policy booklet and they tell you ask them to put it as a note on your file that they told you this in the even of a claim just in case. You will almost certainly not be able to leave the house empty for more than 30–60 days in which case should this happen you'll technically need to get a friend or family member to check in for you periodically to keep the policy valid — or get a different policy.

I did read a story on here of a burst pipe that occurred while someone was away for more than 30 days and they voided the policy and he had to remortgage to fix the damage — so not worth taking the risk!

Zorillo

Getting a friend to check in wouldn't necessarily be sufficient. LV define Unccupied as:
not attended overnight by you or a member of your family or any member of your domestic staff for 60 days in a row.

DocQuincy

Zorillo wrote: »

Getting a friend to check in wouldn't necessarily be sufficient. LV define Unccupied as:
not attended overnight by you or a member of your family or any member of your domestic staff for 60 days in a row.

That's interesting. I haven't actually checked my insurer's definition of unoccupied since I never go away that long but maybe it's the same.

That's why you need to check the wording and/or call them since it may differ slightly between insurers but the OP will likely need someone who is willing to stay over semi-monthly during long periods.

From a common sense point-of-view I can't see the difference between someone staying over and someone going in and checking every room thoroughly for problems and leaving.

DocQuincy

kuepper wrote: »

someone's told me there's a max no of days pa…

I'm sorry, I missed this bit. I presume you mean per-annum. As has already been stated it's consecutive days, not total days. So if you can't leave it for 60 consecutive days then unless otherwise stated that means you can stay in your home once every 60 days (only a few days per year in total!) and still be okay whereas one absence of 61 days would not be okay.*

For me personally, if I was going away for a long period of time I would get someone to check in regardless of insurance terms.

*An overriding point though: I think they assume if your home is occupied then there will be people covered by the policy in it more often than not so be mindful of that.

Linton

Yes from my experience all insurers have a limited period after which the house is deemed to be unoccupied. An unoccupied house will have reduced protection, possibly with no contents insurance. For most insurers the limit is 30 days though a few, in particular Saga, have a 60 day limit. If a house is unoccupied the insurer will impose extra requirements, eg internal inspection once a week, possibly draining water, turning off gas and electricity etc.

Just coming back for 1 night may not be adequate. One I think specifies something like 3 nights in one week.

If you intend to be away for a long period you should inform your insurer, and they could impose a higher charge.