Insuring an unoccupied house

[Saracen]

I'm trying to buy insurance for a house which is on the market. Unoccupied and unfurnished.

Nobody seems willing to insure for what I want covered. They don't want to cover much except just fire! Some also do liability. However, I would like to insure against escape of water and theft/vandalism also.

I realise that the risk is higher and I accept that premiums will be more expensive than for occupied house. But I can't seem to find anything at all.

Have you managed to find decent insurance for an empty house?

Bumping for you

Have you tried an insurance broker?

Adrian Flux

We also have a leak detector fitted on the stop cock, cameras everywhere and the house has to be physically inspected every week by someone with a record of the visit. We record it on Ring. The house has to be kept min 16 degrees in winter, we have Tado and also keep a record. Light random on and off with Hue bulbs and their app. Impossible (or at significant cost) to insure for contents. Make sure that your local council is not going to penalise you for an empty house, they give a few months grace but most don’t like it. We also allow a neighbour to use out driveway. Their son is a doctor and he comes and goes at all hours so there is always activity.

Yes, I had to insure it as a holiday home, get a monitored security system and turn the water off. I’ll try and find the name of the company I used.

I insured my empty property a couple of years ago via this company. I didn't need to make a claim so can't say how good/bad they are, but they offered the necessary cover which can be hard to find.

www.gsi-insurance.com/

we had to use a specialist insurer to insure our in-laws empty house before selling. Unfortunately can’t remember who.

Did you have it insured before it became unoccupied?
We were able to switch our existing buildings&contents to unoccupied (and get a refund!). The conditions were kept above 10C or all wayer drained, and visited weekly. Fortunately we had sold the house before the policy needed renewing. If it's already insured, might be worth speaking to the current insurers.

We used a company called Towergate for this. It’s a pain to find an anyone who can do it. They insisted we seal up the letterbox which was daft as we turned up to a pile of letters and junk mail dumped in a soggy mess on the doorstep.

Yes here

https://www.ajg.com/uk/personal-insurance/home/non-standard-home-insurance/

Thanks so much, everyone! That is really helpful and gives me a good place to start.

Thanks for the idea! I did contact the current insurers, with whom we have a landlord policy. They also didn't want to cover much beyond fire. The existing policy covers me for void periods of up to 60 days, provided I visit frequently, and I'm now nearing the end of that grace period.

Same as us and also wanted fortnightly visits. We used Plum insurance via i4me broker but this year they recommended Aviva. We don't need it any more as a relative is moving in but I think the premium was c.£400

I approached the existing insurers (Aviva) and explained that the owner had died and it would be unoccupied until sale. I had to have a responsible person go in every week and keep the heating on between November and March or drain the system. It was cheaper to insure as house and contents rather than house only and it did cost more than when the house had been occupied but not so much that I ran screaming into the night. The weekly visit was no hardship as I was clearing the house and trying to keep the garden looking respectable.

I went through this when it was unoccupied, building work, and planning to run my small business from home once I'd moved in. Nightmare trying to get that combo insured.

In the end Certis Insurance Brokers did by far the best quote.