Why buy unoccupied property insurance?

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Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 Subscribe To Our Feed

Why might you need to purchase unoccupied property insurance? Well there may be numerous reasons why a property in your possession is unoccupied:

it might be you are a landlord looking for new tenants or going through a refurbishment;

maybe the current owner has been hospitalised and you have been asked to make sure it is safe in their absence;

or maybe you are looking to sell the property after the death of a close relative or due to a change in your personal circumstances.

Whatever the reason, there is little doubt how important it will be for you to have adequate protection for the property in place. And this is where unoccupied property insurance comes in.

As with all insurance policies, features and benefits of the cover may typically vary from provider to provider. However the typical empty property insurance policy generally offers protection including damage cause due to fire, subsidence, theft, lightning and air craft damage.

Public liability insurance is usually included too, which may be particularly useful if you have workmen in the property, who may claim against you for loss or injury that happened while on your premises.

When you take out property insurance for an empty property, the insurance typically provides the policy owner with peace of mind against financial distress.

Your obligations

Typically an unoccupied property or one that is undergoing renovations may be potentially more at risk than an occupied property and an insurer will usually ask that you fulfil certain obligations in order to benefit from unoccupied property insurance.

Of course any requirements that may be asked of you may vary between lenders but they might typically include systems draining down and being turned off; you seal up letterboxes and make general checks regularly on the property.

Bear in mind the term ‘unoccupied property’ tends to be used by insurers to describe a property that has been empty for 30 or more consecutive days. So, even if you are planning an extended holiday for more than 30 days in a row, or you have to work away from home for a long period of time, it is important that you tell your insurer and have the necessary unoccupied property insurance cover put in place. Failure to mention this to your insurer will typically render your existing home building contents insurance invalid.

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