Problems getting buildings and contents insurance when not moving in straight away due to renovation?

[mrswee]

Hi, has anyone had problems getting buildings and contents insurance when you don't intent to move in straight after purchase due to a bit of work needing done?

we are getting the keys for our new place on 12th of july. we will be spending two months riping out bad 70's decor and putting new kitchen, floor coverings and decorating. Not planning to move in while doing the bulk of this as we have a toddler and I am pregnant. I phone for my first insurance quote and was told hey couldn't cover us due to property being empty and the level of work we are doing.

anyone else had this and how did you get around it?

[Everyonehasaprice]

I did. I went to an insurance broker and it was sorted that day

[mrswee]

Oh thats good news. I also have my finacial adviser looking into quotes, but wanted to get some of my own to compare.
Did you end up paying a higher premium?

[MyAngels]

Hi
We had just this issue as we were having building work done for 2 months after getting the keys. Our new house was 200 years old, which also proved a bit of an issue for some of the mass insurers, but we went with Marks and Spencer in the end. They would cover the house itself whilst empty, but nothing to do with the building work (we were knocking down one wall and putting a wall up in another). I found as long as we were honest with them about how long it would be empty and what we were doing, they were fine.

Price wise, a 4 bed, 200 year old detached house cost £500 for buildings and contents insurance, including accidental damage cover on both, and no charge for monthly payments.

Hope it goes well
xx

[FishfingersAreOK]

I used an insurance broker - (H&R Insurance in Aberdeen if it helps) - but we only needed insurance for the renovation itself and got specialist cover. Our contents are mostly in storage so they are covered by the storage insurance. Our renovation insurance covers the property, the cost of the renovations, tools/new stuff built to be fitted, Employer Liability and the static we are living in plus 5K contents in here. If we were storing our contents here too we probably would have had to get a separate policy.
Hope this helps.

[mrswee]

Marks quote sounds v reasonable.

Also interested in the renovations insurance. Could swap to normal
Insurance after.
If you don't mind me asking, how much roughly did the renovations insurance cost?

[onesandwichshort]

We've just done this as well, and have exactly as you suggested, a renovations insurance which will change to normal when we move in (4-5months). Ours was £800 or so for the year.

If it is just for a few months you can also get short term cover, but this does work out more expensive.

There are specialists in this kind of thing - I got one recommendation from our solicitor (as they have this problem all the time with probate etc) but a google search of something along the lines of unoccupied property insurance turned up a load more.

Am happy to recommend the broker we went with too, green insurance. But do look carefully at terms and conditions, not all the policies we were offered included damage from theft and break in and some require you to visit more often than others.

[sereneswan]

Direct Line (existing insurer) covered us for for the first 6months or year of our renovation (can't remember which, sorry, although think it was a year) then they said they'd have to stop and NatWest were happy to continue.

Refusing even a couple of months seems unusual.

[mrswee]

Thanks everyone! my financal adviser is getting me quote through a specialist broker, she's doing everything else and is brilliant at finding best deals so I am
happy I don't have to spend time on the phone myself. Having had advice from all of you really helped as now I understand the process!