Understanding Your Unoccupied Property Quote

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Saturday, May 8th, 2010 Subscribe To Our Feed

Getting an insurance unoccupied property quote for your property is only going to be meaningful if you understand why it’s needed.

Why might buy to let home insurance be necessary?

If you’re renting out your flat, house or even part of it, then ordinary home buildings and contents insurance typically won’t cover you.

any property that is considered commercial may be at a higher risk from tenants. If you’re renting out any property, including a house, then by definition it is a commercial transaction and you are a landlord!

Tenants may pose many problems, such as damaging the property or even being injured through your actions.

As these risks are different to those faced by an owner–occupier, specialist insurance called buy to let insurance needs taking out to offer you protection.

What’s special about an unoccupied property quote?

If your property stands empty then it is typically at higher risk of things such as burglary and vandalism.

When a property is empty, it is typically might also be at higher risk of damage due to problems going unnoticed and causing cumulative damage – a water leak may be an example of such a risk.

For this reason, insurance companies need to know if a property is likely to stand empty for extended periods so that they can insure it appropriately and provide an unoccupied property quote

A rental property may generally be more likely to stand empty for longer periods than an owner-occupied one. For instance the property may be waiting for tenants or you may be decorating the premises.

Definitions of what constitutes an unoccupied property may vary but generally any property standing empty for more than 30 days may be seen as being unoccupied and in need of special insurance cover.

You may also find that this applies to property that is owner occupied too.

For example, if you’re an owner-occupier that spends extended periods working away from home or on lengthy holidays, then it may be advisable to consult your insurance company and obtain an unoccupied property quote.

How would the insurance company know?

One thing to bear in mind is that usually let insurance in th UK costs more than owner occupier insurance might. This perhaps may generate a slight temptation to not declare the fact that your property is being rented out and to try and use an owner-occupier policy.

However the differences are only small so you may make a very costly mistake should you have to make a claim on your insurance cover.

Insurance companies do, in fact, have a number of methods at their disposal for checking the exact occupancy status of a property at the time a problem arose. If they find you’ve made a claim using a false occupancy status then not only will your claim typically be rejected but you may also have great trouble in obtaining insurance in future.

So getting an unoccupied property quote may usually be a sensible idea as part of your overall buy to let landlord insurance strategy.

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