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Elderly parents
Original poster

Insuring unoccupied property

26 replies

mummybear25 · 31/03/2020 18:44

Hi there, can anyone recommend a good insurer for covering an unoccupied property? Mum has been in a care home for some time now and is unlikely to return home. We haven't approached her current insurer yet, but wanted to start looking at options in case they can't provide cover in this situation. Many thanks

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Rinsefirst · 31/03/2020 23:20

Phone a broker.

Original poster
mummybear25 · 01/04/2020 08:50

Thanks both, phoning a broker was on my to do list. I was hoping for personal recommendations; insurers that people had used and found helpful and hopefuly fairly hassle free. Granted I wasn't that explicit in my original post, sorry.

One thing I did note when I started exploring this subject was that one company asked if the property would be visited weekly to check there were no issues. I'm 100 miles away so that is not an option. Is that request common or are there other alternatives? Before Covid-19 we were visting every month to 6 weeks.

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purpleme12 · 01/04/2020 09:21

It's common to say to visit every 2 weeks.
But it doesn't have to be you.
It is always worth saying can you change that to every month because they could speak to the underwriters to see if they would reconsider

Original poster
mummybear25 · 01/04/2020 09:56

Thanks purpleme; that's really useful. 2 weeks might be manageable between me and my brother (who lives closer) if we alternated.

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Rinsefirst · 01/04/2020 11:13

Yes, we had that,too.
Will you be renting out the house in the future to help pay the care bills? If that’s a plan, your insurance becomes landlord insurance and you may just want a month to month style policy

purpleme12 · 01/04/2020 11:36

This is not necessarily true. You may want a landlords insurance but you can just have a let property insurance. And if you do change your circumstances like you can just call the company to tell them nearer the time and they can just make that change on the current policy

Rinsefirst · 01/04/2020 12:22

Purpleme12 - I bow to your greater knowledge but from memory- five years ago- we had a broker find us insurance for a period of months that needed to be extended a couple of times then we moved over to Landlord’s insurance. Only when DM was actually in the care home did we get the necessary time to refurbish her property to make it suitable for rental. That’s where the broker was handy because she understood we didn’t know if it was going to be lying unattended 60 days or 90 days etc.

LizzieMacQueen · 01/04/2020 12:33

Would travel to your mother's house for an inspection visit count as essential? it's only necessary to keep within your insurance t & c which may be altered under Covid 19 anyway.

SheepSocks · 01/04/2020 12:50

A couple of years ago when I did this, the only broker I could find was Towergate. They are a specialist insurance company. Things might have changed now, but I would try them.

purpleme12 · 01/04/2020 13:08

With regards to terms and conditions about visiting in the pandemic, in the event of a claim the underwriters would take the current circumstances into consideration. With regards to maybe not being able to visit. So don't worry about that

CMOTDibbler · 01/04/2020 20:03

Thanks for starting this @mummybear25 as I am looking for this as well

ChicCroissant · 01/04/2020 20:07

I can't remember the insurance agent now, but the insurer we were using before the property was empty gave us the number of the Insurance Board or a broker to call. It is common to need the property checking every week or so.

I hope you get it sorted easily, OP.

Original poster
mummybear25 · 01/04/2020 21:21

Thanks all. I started filling in details for a quote on the Towergate website when it threw up the regular inspection thing. I hadn't considered that, and I just wondered how common it was. I'll have a word with my brother to see what's manageable.

We wouldn't be renting it out so we just need to sort the unoccupied insurance.

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Original poster
mummybear25 · 01/04/2020 22:25

@purpleme12 do you know if you have to evidence visits? Not trying to get out of them, just trying to get my head around what's needed!

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purpleme12 · 01/04/2020 22:39

Yes you do but it's nothing detailed (unless you want to). Like if you want to keep it simple you can just put on a piece of paper the date you visited and that everything is ok in property.
It's just to make sure you've gone in each room internally so that any problems are noticed if there are any so that they can be fixed rather than getting worse

ivegotthisyeah · 01/04/2020 22:45

I can recommend a good broker Grin
The clause will be it has be be checked on regularly and will only have basic cover.

Bargebill19 · 01/04/2020 22:49

We used co-op two year ago for this. We had to visit once per month - we took a dated photo of us visiting outside the front door as proof. We were also 150 miles away. I would ring and ask the current insurer and see what they say and what they expect under the current covid19 situation. Co-op had always insured the house and the premium didn’t change due to being unoccupied - but all furniture that had to be removed.

Melfish · 01/04/2020 22:50

I was in a similar position and I rang her current insurer (I think it was AA) who cancelled the contents part of the insurance but kept the buildings part on. However as I lived nearby I was able to go round at least weekly to check on the house.

purpleme12 · 01/04/2020 22:54

Just re the comment above, it doesn't have to be just basic cover for an unoccupied property. If you're happy with that that's fine and it will be cheaper and more companies will do it but it will just cover you for for lighting explosion earthquake and collision and that's it. So not a lot
If you look for specialist companies (eg the one I linked above) they can offer basic and the full cover for unoccupied properties

Murinae · 01/04/2020 23:01

We rang the current insurer (can’t remember who it was) and we just had to visit once a month.

Original poster
mummybear25 · 02/04/2020 11:31

Thanks for your last 2 responses @purpleme12. We wouldn't want to empty the house. We have it set up at the moment to look like it's lived in - lights on timers, washing on airer, dishes on draining board etc.

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Original poster
mummybear25 · 03/04/2020 21:54

update - Having spoken to a broker we are seriously considering second home insurance instead of unoccupied. As I mentioned above we visit every 4 - 6 weeks normally (we stay in Mum's house to visit her and to keep an eye on the property) If we do this once every month we will meet the requirements of the second home insurance. If we fail to do that it 'converts' to unoccupied at which point we need to undertake weekly inspections. The broker felt this option gave us robust insurance for a cheaper price than unoccupied.

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ChicCroissant · 04/04/2020 15:08

That's a good update OP, if it gives the same cover then that sounds a much better option for you and cheaper to boot - result!

Original poster
mummybear25 · 04/04/2020 21:50

Well that was a steep learning curve but I think we're now sorted. Thanks all for your words of wisdom.

Hope you get your property sorted soon @CMOTDibbler

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