Refused Insurance for Mum

Retirement_planner

Any advice please. SAGA buildings and contents insurance renewal quote came and doubled to £900 for a two bed house. (Worth about £200K)
However Mum went into residential care today (she has vascular dementia) so I rang them to see if I could get an unoccupied quote and explained that we will be selling the property. CCTV will still be monitored inside and out, valuables would be removed and we would visit the property every other day. Insurance was declined, which shocked me as they must be used to this kind of thing. 
Am I best either insuring in me and my brothers name? (we own Dad’s half according to the will, but solicitor advised us to do it at the same time as conveyancing when we sell the property) Or trying to find an insurance broker.
Thanks in advance for any advice from anyone that has experienced something similar

user1977

Think insurers will tend to put up with it being unoccupied until the end of the year of cover, but view it differently if it's already empty at the start of the policy - you'll probably have to go to a less mainstream option.

DullGreyGuy

Retirement_planner said:

Any advice please. SAGA buildings and contents insurance renewal quote came and doubled to £900 for a two bed house. (Worth about £200K)
However Mum went into residential care today (she has vascular dementia) so I rang them to see if I could get an unoccupied quote and explained that we will be selling the property. CCTV will still be monitored inside and out, valuables would be removed and we would visit the property every other day. Insurance was declined, which shocked me as they must be used to this kind of thing. 
Am I best either insuring in me and my brothers name? (we own Dad’s half according to the will, but solicitor advised us to do it at the same time as conveyancing when we sell the property) Or trying to find an insurance broker.
Thanks in advance for any advice from anyone that has experienced something similar

So you own half the house already or it's still going through probate? Do any of you have PoA over your mother? Were they not of the age that they were joint tenants rather than tenants in common so automatically your mum becomes the owner of the whole property? 

The issue is you need an insurable interest so if you dont own it right now then you dont have an interest to insure so it would need to be in your mothers name or the estate of your father which can be done by someone with PoA or the executor.

"Unoccupied" definition varies significantly between insurers. Some will be happy with every other day brief visits, others will require overnight stays. If you do need unoccupied policy then it's almost certainly a broker or another form of intermediary. It's not something your average direct insurer offers as its too niche. 

Slinky

Try Vasek

https://www.vasek.co.uk/

We used them for unoccupied cover and then landlord cover on a property with historic subsidence.  They werent unreasonably expensive

Annemos

We used Howdens for our Mum's empty home. 


https://www.howdeninsurance.co.uk/

Retirement_planner

DullGreyGuy said:

Retirement_planner said:

Any advice please. SAGA buildings and contents insurance renewal quote came and doubled to £900 for a two bed house. (Worth about £200K)
However Mum went into residential care today (she has vascular dementia) so I rang them to see if I could get an unoccupied quote and explained that we will be selling the property. CCTV will still be monitored inside and out, valuables would be removed and we would visit the property every other day. Insurance was declined, which shocked me as they must be used to this kind of thing. 
Am I best either insuring in me and my brothers name? (we own Dad’s half according to the will, but solicitor advised us to do it at the same time as conveyancing when we sell the property) Or trying to find an insurance broker.
Thanks in advance for any advice from anyone that has experienced something similar

So you own half the house already or it's still going through probate? Do any of you have PoA over your mother? Were they not of the age that they were joint tenants rather than tenants in common so automatically your mum becomes the owner of the whole property? 

The issue is you need an insurable interest so if you dont own it right now then you dont have an interest to insure so it would need to be in your mothers name or the estate of your father which can be done by someone with PoA or the executor.

"Unoccupied" definition varies significantly between insurers. Some will be happy with every other day brief visits, others will require overnight stays. If you do need unoccupied policy then it's almost certainly a broker or another form of intermediary. It's not something your average direct insurer offers as it’s too niche. 

Dad passed in February 2024, both over 90 years. I have grant of probate certificate and both my brother and I have EPA for Finances and property and POA for health a welfare, jointly and severally. Mirror Will stipulated she could live in as long as able but after Dads share was to be split between me and brother. I think it was some kind of rouse from the early part of this century to leave something other than all assets go on care home fees. 
To be clear this is not about getting help with care home fees as she has enough cash for at least the next 5 years, I just want to insure the property until it can be sold.
Thanks