My wife owns a flat which is generally rented out. The tenants have moved out, and it will not be occupied for a few months because it needs some work done. She informed the insurance brokers that it was now unoccupied, and they have written to her and said:-
"Your insurers have contacted us to state that as the property is unoccupied, after a period of 30 days unoccupancy cover is restricted to Fire, Lightning, Aircraft and Explosion only." (The insurers are AXA by the way; the policy is their "Release Residential" policy.)
Is this fairly standard practice among insurers - or might other insurers offer fuller cover for unoccupied property?
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You need a good insurance broker who will find you a policy that is more generous. You may have to seal the letter box, cut off the gas etc.
And indeed clarify the "occupancy" point. Often, visiting it daily/weekly is sufficient.
Last edited by: Mapmaker on Thu 29 Jul 10 at 15:52
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When my Dad died it took me the best part of a year to sell his house, largely due to a stupid woman telling a pack of lies, but I just wrote to the insurers and they basically wrote back and said "yes ok". Royal London, if that helps.
JH
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Similar with the late MIL's house while we were trying to sell it. Aviva gave us 60 days full cover while initially empty and then threatened to reduce the cover to an absolute minimum.
When they were told we'd be going into it weekly they kept the full cover on apart from exclusion of water damage due to bursts/leaks during the winter period.
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If you shop around you should be able to get full cover for the first 90 days of the property not being occupied by tenants and restricted cover after that, with malicious damage, theft and burst water pipes excluded.
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Thanks all for your helpful replies.
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Follow-up question.
We reckon that the broker is useless. However, the insurance policy has six months to run. Is it generally possible to change insurance policies (or brokers) at this stage without losing the premium one has paid for the next six months?
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Better read what the policy says about early exits. The answer is "it depends"...
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Your policy document will probably advise you that you may be entitled to a refund provided no claim has been made during the current insurance period. It's quite likely that you will have to contact your broker / insurer for more information.
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Insurance of unoccupied property - Mapmaker
