BUILDINGS INSURANCE FOR AN EMPTY HOUSE UP FOR SALE?

MsMoon

Can anyone reccommend a good policy for an empty, unoccupied house with an offer on it? I obvIously need one that will protect the property up to completion. My current insurance firm are useless.

MultiFuelBurner

LMGTFY

I tend to go with something underwritten by a major company like AXA they have been good with our one and only claim before. Read the terms fully

p00hsticks

MsMoon said:

My current insurance firm are useless.

Useless in what way exactly ? 
Too expensive ?
Not providing the cover you need ?

I can't fully recommend these, as I never had to claim and so can't comment on how they'd have handled it, but I've used these in the past 
Unoccupied House Insurance | Empty Homes Cover | Homeprotect 

MsMoon

p00hsticks said:

MsMoon said:

My current insurance firm are useless.

Useless in what way exactly ? 
Too expensive ?
Not providing the cover you need ?

I can't fully recommend these, as I never had to claim and so can't comment on how they'd have handled it, but I've used these in the past 
Unoccupied House Insurance | Empty Homes Cover | Homeprotect 

My present insurance co is useless as I called them - after three or 4 tries finally got answered by someone who understood the lingo, explained I wanted unoccupied - she said my current policy allowed for being there just 2 days in a week - tried again - It is  EMPTY - I CANNOT STAY THERE as ITS IN ANOTHER TOWN & so we went on. I gave up in the end.

MsMoon

MultiFuelBurner said:

LMGTFY

I tend to go with something underwritten by a major company like AXA they have been good with our one and only claim before. Read the terms fully

Thanks - I will try them.

gazfocus

We just insured our empty house with Sainsbury's while it's awaiting completion. The only caveats were the house is only covered for Fire, Earthquake, Explosion and Lightning and you have to have the house checked once every 7 days (our EA offered to do that but we only live 10 minutes away so can check on it ourselves).

DullGreyGuy

MsMoon said:

Can anyone reccommend a good policy for an empty, unoccupied house with an offer on it? I obvIously need one that will protect the property up to completion. My current insurance firm are useless.

Unoccupied Home insurance is a niche product predominately sold via intermediaries or which many you wont have heard of. 

Make sure you understand the requirements of the policy as time goes on as many will require the water to be off and drained down, letterbox blocked and windows boarded depending on how long the property has been unoccupied for... clearly will be much harder to sell a property with no natural light coming into the ground floor because of the windows being blocked.

As others have said, it would be helpful if you said what your issue was with your current insurers and if its actually with them or the company you bought from.

MsMoon

DullGreyGuy said:

MsMoon said:

Can anyone reccommend a good policy for an empty, unoccupied house with an offer on it? I obvIously need one that will protect the property up to completion. My current insurance firm are useless.

Unoccupied Home insurance is a niche product predominately sold via intermediaries or which many you wont have heard of. 

Make sure you understand the requirements of the policy as time goes on as many will require the water to be off and drained down, letterbox blocked and windows boarded depending on how long the property has been unoccupied for... clearly will be much harder to sell a property with no natural light coming into the ground floor because of the windows being blocked.

As others have said, it would be helpful if you said what your issue was with your current insurers and if its actually with them or the company you bought from.

Thanks for the recommendation. I already mentioned why I am not happy with present one above - it is really the company I bought it from.

Harry227

gazfocus said:

We just insured our empty house with Sainsbury's while it's awaiting completion. The only caveats were the house is only covered for Fire, Earthquake, Explosion and Lightning and you have to have the house checked once every 7 days (our EA offered to do that but we only live 10 minutes away so can check on it ourselves).

Hi.  I've just tried to get a quote from them and they insist (well there check-box does) on the my filling the box of how many people live there as at least 1.  But it's on the market, and empty (furnished) waiting for a sale.  How did you get Sainbury's to provide a quote? Thanks

Linton

Harry227 said:

gazfocus said:

We just insured our empty house with Sainsbury's while it's awaiting completion. The only caveats were the house is only covered for Fire, Earthquake, Explosion and Lightning and you have to have the house checked once every 7 days (our EA offered to do that but we only live 10 minutes away so can check on it ourselves).

Hi.  I've just tried to get a quote from them and they insist (well there check-box does) on the my filling the box of how many people live there as at least 1.  But it's on the market, and empty (furnished) waiting for a sale.  How did you get Sainbury's to provide a quote? Thanks

Ratrher that looking for an online quote I suggest you phone them or talk to a broker.  The online systems will only support commonly used options.

Harry227

Linton said:

Harry227 said:

gazfocus said:

We just insured our empty house with Sainsbury's while it's awaiting completion. The only caveats were the house is only covered for Fire, Earthquake, Explosion and Lightning and you have to have the house checked once every 7 days (our EA offered to do that but we only live 10 minutes away so can check on it ourselves).

Hi.  I've just tried to get a quote from them and they insist (well there check-box does) on the my filling the box of how many people live there as at least 1.  But it's on the market, and empty (furnished) waiting for a sale.  How did you get Sainbury's to provide a quote? Thanks

Ratrher that looking for an online quote I suggest you phone them or talk to a broker.  The online systems will only support commonly used options.

Thanks Linton.  Good advice.  My current insurance company is Saga, and a call to them this morning led to a decent quote for unoccupied insurance. T&Cs seem reasonable too.  A neighbour used another company last year and one of the conditions was that the CH thermostat in the empty property had to be set permanently at 22 degrees!!