If you’re a landlord currently looking for a new tenant, a property developer selling the property on or you’re doing a little renovation and have moved out, you’ll have an unoccupied house on your hands. This situation doesn’t have to be stressful. At Titan Insurance, we’ve got the expertise and knowledge to guide you through this.
Here’s what you need to know when buying Unoccupied Home Insurance:
1. Standard home insurance will not cover an unoccupied property.
If you’re not living in the property or the property is vacant for more than 30 days, insurers will count it as ‘unoccupied’. To ensure that you’re adequately covered should anything happen, you will need unoccupied property insurance. It’s possible to get 3, 6, 9 or 12-month’s cover, depending on your unique situation.
2. The risk for insurers is higher
As you won’t be living in the property, you won’t be there to see to any problems that may arise.
The boiler could burst and flood the house. Someone could also accidentally drive through your front wall. Your insurer will take all of these aspects into account.
3. You will need to check the property
For your insurance to be valid, you will need to check on the property every 7 – 14 days.
4. You will need to have security measures in place
Your insurer will request that the property have adequate security measures in place. This will help guard against illegal entry or burglars looking for an easy target.
5. Don’t forget to turn the gas and electricity off
As the property will be unoccupied, you must ensure that the gas and electricity are turned off at the mains. An exception would be if you need to maintain heating.
6. There are three levels of unoccupied property insurance
Like most types of insurance, you can buy different levels of cover depending on what you require. Titan Insurance offers 3 levels of Unoccupied Building Insurance. All of them insure up to £2 000 000 Property Owners Liability. This covers you if any accidents or loss happens to a third party such as a person or property eg., like the property next door.
Level 1:
This covers the cost of repairing or rebuilding the property following loss or damage caused by fire, lightning, an explosion or earthquake.
Level 2:
This cover includes the disasters as listed above as well as the following:
- Storm, flood and weight of snow
- Escape of water or oil
- Impact by aircraft or items dropped by them
- Collision from an animal or vehicle
- Falling objects – trees, telephone poles, lamp posts, radio aerials and satellite dishes & masts
Importantly, this level gives you cover for theft or attempted theft. It also covers damage by riot, civil commotion, strikers or labour disturbances (up to £2 500 each).
Level 3:
Along with the various risks covered by Level 2, this top-level insurance covers the property against subsidence or landslips (unless the property was built before 1850)
Choosing the correct level of insurance is of the utmost importance. You don’t want to be left out of pocket should anything occur.
7. Switch your policy when the property is occupied again
Once your property is occupied again, you mustn’t forget to switch your policy back to a standard cover.
Titan Insurance has been delivering specialist insurance for over 30 years. Our team are always on hand with the knowledge, expertise and industry relationships to provide you with the best policies to meet your needs.
Give us a call on 0207 731 3700 or drop us an email.
