My wife is selling up her father's house after he died.
She informed the insurance company of the change of circumstance and they promptly told her that as the house was unoccupied, cover would be massively limited and only for 30 days.
Clearly she wants sensible insurance for the property until it's sold.
Is there any special sort of policy that should be sought ?
Is it a perfectly standard requirement that any other insurance company can provide ?
Should she approach a specialist insurer?
On one occasion our broker advised us to sleep over at the house one night in every 30 - the house would then not be continuously unoccupied for 30 days.
My insurer has told me I must sleep in my house I am doing up about one night a week to give the impression that it is "lived in" to the locals, else I get more limitations... Quite good really ! I get an enforced night out to do what I want :-))
Nick
Yes, this was the advice I had several years ago when I had the same problem. Unfortunately I couldn't do that, so I enjoyed a few sleepless night and an un-insured house until it was sold... (All of the mains services were off or disconnected). I wouldn't recommend that course, but there was little option for me.
It is a perfectly normal clause in domestic insurance policies. I assume your wife is the executor of her father's will. Strictly speaking the executors need to insure it because the old policy may have lapsed on death.. Any decent broker should be able to arrange appropriate cover. As others have mentioned the one night a month sleep in may, but not definitively, suffice.
Are the neighbours friendly? I had insurance on an empty house (and contents) for a few years at normal rates after the insurance company were satisfied the neighbours visited it every day or so and it included lighting which simulated night occupancy.
When my grandmother died, it took a long time to get to the point of selling her house. We insured it through a rental property insurance specialist, who could cope with indefinate empty periods. Once you had knocked off the cover for items stolen by tenents, loss of rental income, and all the other aspects which were not relevant in this case, I don't think it cost much different from the regular policy.
Hmm,i presume you sleep alone...
Remove antispam and add 670 after bra to email
Similar circs in our family. My partners father died. She informed insurance co,they were happy to keep the property insured until expiry as long as it was visited regularly but said they wouldnt invite renewal. There are specialist insurers check out a company called towergate do a google
Remove antispam and add 670 after bra to email
My mum died 14 months ago and we knew it would take a long time to clear the house and then renovate it with a view to letting it out, and indeed we still aren't ready to let it out yet.
I tried various insurance companies (about 10 or 12 IIRC), but because it was both unoccupied and (would be) unfurnished, no-one would cover it for more than 30 days. And then I thought about ringing our own insurers (CIS) who cover both buildings and contents for our own house (why the hell I never thought of going straight to them I'll never know - must have been having a particularly blonde moment).
Because we had our own insurance with them they were very willing to cover the contents for 60 days with the option to carry on longer if we needed it and the building for the full 12 months, again with the option to renew if necessary, which it was.
My advice therefore, is to go to the same company who cover your own house or try CIS.
HTH,
Mogweed.
"enforced night
Sleep ? little of that !
That sounds similar to when my Grandmother died and also a Great Uncle. The main clauses seemed to be the draining down of all the water in the heating etc to stop damage due to freezing.
Adam
Try Halifax Direct they do unoccupied property. One of very few insurer
that do it
-- freddyuk
| My wife is selling up her father's house after he died. |=20 | She informed the insurance company of the change of circumstance and | they promptly told her that as the house was unoccupied, cover would be | massively limited and only for 30 days. |=20 | Clearly she wants sensible insurance for the property until it's sold.=20 |=20 | Is there any special sort of policy that should be sought ? |=20 | Is it a perfectly standard requirement that any other insurance company | can provide ? |=20 | Should she approach a specialist insurer?
=46ind a *reliable* ?young? person who will house sit? My daughter often house sits. =20
--=20 Dave Fawthrop Sick of Premium SMS scams, SMS marketing, Direct marketing phone calls, Silent phone calls?=20 Register with
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