Insuring a Vacant Property awaiting sale
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NorthernGuy
Posts: 18 Forumite
A relative may soon be moving into care and so have to sell the home she owns. She may have to leave it before it is sold, leaving it vacant meanwhile. The estate agent thinks that from marketing the property to completion could take 6 months. My question is about insurance in such circumstances.
30 years ago I found myself in a similar situation looking after my late father's home. The broker advice back then was that 'Insuring an unoccupied property is the greatest risk an insurer can face' with vacant cover reduced to only remote acts of God, almost worthless. In the end, we managed to get the existing insurer to keep insuring it normally, pending sale, provided we visited at least once a month. The Estate Agent thought we were very lucky to get that cover.
So, what is the situation likely to be if we're stuck with a vacant house to sell for 6 months? The house is half owned by the relative in question, the other half in trust to her late husband's children (i.e. she has a 'Life Interest' to remain there) and the executors/trustees of his Will (the relative, my wife and a child of the late husband) have the normal duties to look after the property etc until she leaves and it is sold. But can we realistically get any meaningful cover beyond remote risks? The current insurer is Saga, I haven't approached them yet.
30 years ago I found myself in a similar situation looking after my late father's home. The broker advice back then was that 'Insuring an unoccupied property is the greatest risk an insurer can face' with vacant cover reduced to only remote acts of God, almost worthless. In the end, we managed to get the existing insurer to keep insuring it normally, pending sale, provided we visited at least once a month. The Estate Agent thought we were very lucky to get that cover.
So, what is the situation likely to be if we're stuck with a vacant house to sell for 6 months? The house is half owned by the relative in question, the other half in trust to her late husband's children (i.e. she has a 'Life Interest' to remain there) and the executors/trustees of his Will (the relative, my wife and a child of the late husband) have the normal duties to look after the property etc until she leaves and it is sold. But can we realistically get any meaningful cover beyond remote risks? The current insurer is Saga, I haven't approached them yet.
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Comments
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Definitely talk to the insurers. When my mother went into a care home and I had to sell her house I notified her insurance company (I think it was Lloyds) and they insured the building but not the contents for 6 months. We did sell within the 6 months.0
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Devongardener said:Definitely talk to the insurers. When my mother went into a care home and I had to sell her house I notified her insurance company (I think it was Lloyds) and they insured the building but not the contents for 6 months. We did sell within the 6 months.0
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We had a similar problem - existing insurer wanted regular weekly visits once the owner moved into care and the house was empty. As no family lived near the house (and all the neighbours were elderly) we asked the company who had been providing visiting carer services to continue to send someone for one short weekly visit to check over a list of items round the house .Insurer was happy with this.The carer agency we used had a web-portal where they logged tasks and info from their visits so we set up a list of checks we wanted them to do - eg check no tiles fallen off roof; check no signs of forced entry; check no water leaks etc.This meant that we had proof of weekly visits which we felt could be useful in the event of any insurance query.Obviously we had to pay for the weekly visit but it was far cheaper than any family member driving all the way to the house every week.NB Insurer also wanted heating left on to keep house at a reasonable temperature to prevent freezing pipes (or we could have drained the heating). We left heating on as Estate Agent was showing people round and we didn't want it to feel cold and uninviting.1
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In a similar situation a couple of years ago and house insured with Saga and they agreed to carry on insuring the property but not for accidential cover. Heating had to be left on low and visit once a week. No increase in premium
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Speak to the existing insurers first, also make sure its clear what a "visit" means... some insurers it can be someone walking in the door and straight out again, for others it requires an overnight stay.
Unoccupied Property insurance is the other option, it covers more than just remote acts of god but you need to be clear on the requirements as the longer its unoccupied the more actions they'll require you to take (eg draining down the water system or blocking the letterbox etc). Some of these are probably going to be detrimental to the sale (having to board windows is never going to add kerb appeal) so you may find you need someone to visit/stay over once every couple of months to avoid the harsher requirements.0 -
ebc said:We had a similar problem - existing insurer wanted regular weekly visits once the owner moved into care and the house was empty. As no family lived near the house (and all the neighbours were elderly) we asked the company who had been providing visiting carer services to continue to send someone for one short weekly visit to check over a list of items round the house .Insurer was happy with this.The carer agency we used had a web-portal where they logged tasks and info from their visits so we set up a list of checks we wanted them to do - eg check no tiles fallen off roof; check no signs of forced entry; check no water leaks etc.This meant that we had proof of weekly visits which we felt could be useful in the event of any insurance query.Obviously we had to pay for the weekly visit but it was far cheaper than any family member driving all the way to the house every week.NB Insurer also wanted heating left on to keep house at a reasonable temperature to prevent freezing pipes (or we could have drained the heating). We left heating on as Estate Agent was showing people round and we didn't want it to feel cold and uninviting.0
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DullGreyGuy said:Speak to the existing insurers first, also make sure its clear what a "visit" means... some insurers it can be someone walking in the door and straight out again, for others it requires an overnight stay.
Unoccupied Property insurance is the other option, it covers more than just remote acts of god but you need to be clear on the requirements as the longer its unoccupied the more actions they'll require you to take (eg draining down the water system or blocking the letterbox etc). Some of these are probably going to be detrimental to the sale (having to board windows is never going to add kerb appeal) so you may find you need someone to visit/stay over once every couple of months to avoid the harsher requirements.0 -
NorthernGuy said:DullGreyGuy said:Speak to the existing insurers first, also make sure its clear what a "visit" means... some insurers it can be someone walking in the door and straight out again, for others it requires an overnight stay.
Unoccupied Property insurance is the other option, it covers more than just remote acts of god but you need to be clear on the requirements as the longer its unoccupied the more actions they'll require you to take (eg draining down the water system or blocking the letterbox etc). Some of these are probably going to be detrimental to the sale (having to board windows is never going to add kerb appeal) so you may find you need someone to visit/stay over once every couple of months to avoid the harsher requirements.1
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