Leaving house partially unoccupied for 6 months

[Yumyummyyum]

Hi
We are looking at the possibility of moving in with parents temporarily next autumn/winter before selling up and buying in Spring 24. This is because our child is due to start school (prep) and we don’t want to change school after a year but also not ready to sell this year due to a planned job change over the next 6 months or so.

Anyway my question is what things do we need to bear in mind as house will be empty during the weekdays. Plan would be to return home over weekends as we will only be 40 mins away. Is this likely to be less off an issue than when people leave a house completely unoccupied for months or are there things we need to consider around heating, appliances etc

The other alternative would be to try to sell in 2023 and then buy in 2024 but with the uncertainty around the property market this makes me a bit nervous

Not an issue. Just have some timer lamps on. Don't tell your neighbours etc

I don’t see it as an issue. We spend 50% of our time in a different house location. Timed switches are a good idea, put them in rooms rather than just the hall. You can get ones that can be remotely controlled through Alexa or other apps.
Insurance shouldn’t be a problem at all, ours is visit at least once every 60 days. Even through lockdown when we couldn’t travel for months everything was ok.

Tell your insurers it is your second home but you stay every weekend. Set the heating to 24 hour on with a temp of 12c

If you have pipes in the loft I recommend turning off the supply and draining them until winter is over when it unoccupied. Leave the hot water turned on.

I recommend a burglar alarm that will phone you or a trusted keyholder neighbour in an activation.

Get multiple timeswitches and set downstairs and upstairs and landing lights and radios to go on and off multiple different times.

Offer to let a trusted neighbour park in your drive or leave a spare car there and move it often.