I have been given Court of Protection for my Dad who is in a care home. The court gave my husband and I power to act on his behalf for everything apart from his home which we must not sell. The problem I have is I do not live close to his home and I am having trouble finding an insurance company that will insure it as it will be empty. Has anyone else had this problem or found a reasonable insurance company. Many thanks
House Insurance
- Thread starter Suexpat
- Start date
P.S. I forgot to say that one property I look after remains empty (long story!) and I've not had any problems with it over the years. My usual broker found me a good policy and the only thing I need to really remember is to set the thermostat to a particular temperature when the weather gets cold. Most policies will have pretty obvious stuff like that for empty properties.
Hope you find something suitable!
Hope you find something suitable!
Hi suexpat, welcome to TP
There's a list of insurers who specialise in this type of insurance on the link below.
K
http://www.money.co.uk/home-insurance/unoccupied-house-insurance.htm
There's a list of insurers who specialise in this type of insurance on the link below.
K
http://www.money.co.uk/home-insurance/unoccupied-house-insurance.htm
Is there a particular reason why the house cannot be sold and has to stay empty? Otherwise, it would seem more sensible to either go back to the court and ask for permission to sell, or to rent out the house. If it just sits empty for years, that doesn't seem like a good investment for your dad's money.
Hi suexpat, my parents house has been empty for a few months. We had no difficulties with both the house and contents insurance when we informed the insurance company (a well known one) that the house was empty, though had to agree to leave the heating on and regularly check the property. That said, on renewal the premiums have gone up and the insurance, organised by the same broker, is now through a different provider. Hope you can find a solution. Georgina.
No unfortunately the court gave no reason about the home but just that it cannot be sold or let. Looks like I will have to go back to the court. Also I have spoken to 2 brokers and none can find insurance that will cover the building let alone the contents.
It could be that the initial application was simply to become a Deputy. This never covers the selling of a property unless specifically requested in the application but it just needs a second application to sell which involves a repeat of the fee.
Saffie is right. Unless you specifically asked on the original application to be allowed to sell or rent then these will be written up on the order as not allowed. All it means is that the Court wasn't asked to grant that permission and it doesn't mean that they would not have granted it, or that they won't if you apply now.
Keeping the 'powers' of a Deputy to what they actually need to do saves on the Deputy bond, which can increase significantly if the selling of property is allowed.
So that's the reason for the Court keeping bog standard orders quite limited. On the other hand, the selling of properties by Deputies is nothing out of the ordinary. In fact I'd hazard a guess that this is what happens in most cases, to fund care costs. If you feel that a sale would be best in your particular circumstances , even if the money isn't needed for funding care but because you don't want the hassle of dealing with an empty house, then go back to the Court with another application and ask them for an order that will allow you to proceed.
Keeping the 'powers' of a Deputy to what they actually need to do saves on the Deputy bond, which can increase significantly if the selling of property is allowed.
So that's the reason for the Court keeping bog standard orders quite limited. On the other hand, the selling of properties by Deputies is nothing out of the ordinary. In fact I'd hazard a guess that this is what happens in most cases, to fund care costs. If you feel that a sale would be best in your particular circumstances , even if the money isn't needed for funding care but because you don't want the hassle of dealing with an empty house, then go back to the Court with another application and ask them for an order that will allow you to proceed.
Was a reason given? I'm just really curious! No problem if you'd rather not say.
No reason at all and apparently they don't have to give a reason.
Did you ask for it as a separate request because if so, it would have required double the fee.
In my application I said I wanted to become my husband's Deputy because I needed to sell a jointly owned holiday chalet. Oddly enough, I was given the official permission to sell and allowed to appoint a Trustee to represent my husband's interest in the sale but didn't receive my actual authorisation of Deputyship.
When I rang the CoP to ask why a very nice man asked me to repeat exactly what I had written in the application form. As I had a copy, I was able to do so and he said I should have just applied to be a Deputy and the application to sell the chalet was a separate application! He asked me to send another £400 to him directly by name and he would rush the Deputyship through which he did.
I still think it very odd that I was given permission to sell when I actually had no authority to do so!
