Buildings insurance for new home while selling old house.

sharrym

We’re in the position where we need to insure (buildings) our next home which is 400miles away & is due to complete in a few weeks. The problem we have is our current home is still for sale & we will be living in it most of the week & going up to the new place every other week for 4-5 days. 

We’re hoping to get an offer soon but it’ll be several months before we can fully move to our next house & call it our main home. 

Our current insurers won’t cover the two houses as we don’t have a sale completion date on our current home. When I tried to get cover as a holiday home I was told they wouldn’t insure us as the intention is for it to become our main home. I don’t want to risk not being insured or risking them finding out our long term intentions, then refusing any claim should we need to make one.

Looking at 2nd home insurance quotes they’re in the region of £2300! That’s 10x what we pay for our current home. 

I’ve trued getting straight insurance quotes but when you double check with the insurer, I keep getting told they won’t insure another home until a completion date is set on the current one. 

We’re not claiming any no claims bonus or anything. 

Surely we can’t be the only people who have done this? Anyone have any previous knowledge or advice or suggest a company who can help?
TIA.

DullGreyGuy

Many people just buy a standard Home policy for their new home without consideration of if thats the right way to do things or not. 

sharrym

DullGreyGuy said:

Many people just buy a standard Home policy for their new home without consideration of if thats the right way to do things or not. 

It seems it wouldn't be if you check with the insurance company. Tried 3 insurers and BIBA with same results. It seems crazy as it can’t be such an unusual situation.

nnnnigel

You are possibly not going to get the cover you need from a mainstream insurer. I had a different, but similar situation. Family member was in a care home for end of life care, house some distance away from me, I needed to insure the house until it was sold after probate. I used a company called Unoccupied Direct (Vasek). Reasonable premium, only covered buildings (not contents). I didn't need to visit the property regularly - from memory the only stipulation was that I had to leave the heating on low permanently (it was winter) or I think there was an option to drain the water system completely. I paid for a year's cover upfront, but it was resolved quicker than that and I received a partial premium refund.
Obviously you will need to do your own research to find a policy suitable for your circumstances and needs, but it might be worth contacting vasek.co.uk/unoccupied-property-insurance as a starting point, or just Google 'unoccupied property insurance' to see other potential providers.
Hope that helps and good luck.

sharrym

nnnnigel said:

You are possibly not going to get the cover you need from a mainstream insurer. I had a different, but similar situation. Family member was in a care home for end of life care, house some distance away from me, I needed to insure the house until it was sold after probate. I used a company called Unoccupied Direct (Vasek). Reasonable premium, only covered buildings (not contents). I didn't need to visit the property regularly - from memory the only stipulation was that I had to leave the heating on low permanently (it was winter) or I think there was an option to drain the water system completely. I paid for a year's cover upfront, but it was resolved quicker than that and I received a partial premium refund.
Obviously you will need to do your own research to find a policy suitable for your circumstances and needs, but it might be worth contacting vasek.co.uk/unoccupied-property-insurance as a starting point, or just Google 'unoccupied property insurance' to see other potential providers.
Hope that helps and good luck.

I’ll give them a try, thanks for the advice.