Empty Property Insurance

Dal_Whinnie

We have a property which we have let out for a number of years and have always insured buildings and landlord's contents with a Property Landlord's insurance. We decided to sell the property and have had an acceptable offer but the surveys undertaken show that the ground floor floor needs replacing. The purchaser still wishes to proceed but is awaiting confirmation from their lender that they will still lend. The empty period is approaching 90 days which impacts the current insurance. I therefore have following questions:

1. Assuming that current policy conditions effectively negate the insurance what type of insurance would be available going forward
2. What would be the answer assuming that the purchaser is able to continue with the purchase and will undertake the work themselves
3. What would be the position if the purchaser is not able to continue until the work has been carried out so I have to undertake significant work on the property before we are able to proceed with the sale

Sandtree

You need to speak to a decent broker, you can buy vacant property insurance but they vary significantly about what actions they want taken at different points (eg turning off the water, blocking off the letterbox) and what they may consider people visiting the property. They too can help if you end up needing to do structural work yourself which also puts you into specialist insurance space.

joanneharris

There are insurance brokers that specialise in providing insurance for an empty property. I have had to do this before during a sale that took longer than expected on one of my properties.

I got mine through https://www.ashburnham-insurance.co.uk/unoccupied-property-insurance/ and they were very flexible in what they could cover and my circumstances at the time. Regardless of how your sale proceeds, I think these unoccupied policies are geared up to cater for these scenarios.

mgfvvc

Dal_Whinnie said:

We have a property which we have let out for a number of years and have always insured buildings and landlord's contents with a Property Landlord's insurance. We decided to sell the property and have had an acceptable offer but the surveys undertaken show that the ground floor floor needs replacing. The purchaser still wishes to proceed but is awaiting confirmation from their lender that they will still lend. The empty period is approaching 90 days which impacts the current insurance. I therefore have following questions:

1. Assuming that current policy conditions effectively negate the insurance what type of insurance would be available going forward
   

Your first option is to talk to your insurer, explain the situation and ask if they can help. Often they will be able to extend your cover, probably for a fee and with conditions, such as checking the property weekly.