insurance for vacant property

Jessbow

Registered User
Mar 1, 2013
5,660
0
Midlands
It can be difficult to buy insurance for an empty property.

Does someone check it on a regular basis?

Some would say turn the water etc off, but this time of year, the heating prob needs to be on a bit
 

Mydarlingdaughter

Registered User
Oct 25, 2019
205
0
North East England UK
Yes I know. I asked a freind who has experience with landlords, who said the landlords who have emty properties get vacant property insurance. I looked into it and its special insurance for ermpty homes. I passed the info on to db and let him deal with the stress. I find everything to do with that side of things gives me high anxiety. Ive even decided not to go there again until someone takes charge of that side of it. Ive point b;ank refused to get involved. So why am I even talkng about it, I ask myself...
 

canary

Registered User
Feb 25, 2014
24,920
0
South coast
I had exactly the same problem with mums property. You are right, unless you have POA or deputyship you dont have the authority to purchase insurance.
Once I submitted the application for deputyship I got the ball rolling for her property to be sold and by the time I was granted deputyship I had a buyer, so I never did get insurance for the bungalow.

Whoever is applying for deputyship needs to make sure that they ask in their initial application for permission to sell the property, otherwise they will have to go back to the court (taking extra time plus another £400) in order to get this permission before they can sell.
 

nitram

Registered User
Apr 6, 2011
30,019
0
Bury
I've had this problem with the property of a deceased relative.
I ended up going through a broker.
Stipulations were:

  • 1 Visited once a week
  • 2 Letterbox blocked
  • 3 Electricity, gas, and water turned off
  • 4 House heating left on at frost protection level
I said that I could not meet 4 if I met 3 and got written dispensation on 3 - it was mid winter.

Stipulation 2 to my mind is daft, the risk of somebody setting fire to the house is far less than the risk of 'empty house' evidenced by charity bags etc just left lying outside.
 
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Elle3

Registered User
Jun 30, 2016
705
0
Hi, I ditto Nitram, I arranged vacant property insurance for my dad's house (in his name) and I used a broker too. I had a problem that dads house had no heating and I couldn't very well leave an electric fire on in a vacant house. I informed them of this and it was agreed that as long as I visited the property 1-2 times a week it would be ok.

I was told by the solicitors when I was selling dads house that it needed to be insured, especially when an offer had been accepted, just in case anything went wrong at the property after contracts had been exchanged. As soon as keys were handed over I rang the broker and cancelled the insurance and I got refunded what was left on the policy.
 

Melles Belles

Registered User
Jul 4, 2017
1,208
0
South east
I bought an empty home policy (both buildings and contents) after Dad died. It was expensive, in fact about 3 times the price of standard home insurance but it is essential so it just had to be done. I searched online for empty property insurance and got some online quotes, before calling the one with the best price.
 

anxious annie

Registered User
Jan 2, 2019
808
0
Hi
When mum moved into a home I contacted her home insurance company
( we have Poa and I was already named as contact for the policy) and explained that the house was now empty. They changed the policy for an additional payment , can't remember how much, but not much. They just said that someone needed to check on the house weekly and remove junk mail, and the house needed to be kept at 10 degrees between November and March.
 

Mydarlingdaughter

Registered User
Oct 25, 2019
205
0
North East England UK
Useful contributions all.
Basically I need to relinquish this as I dont have PoA or deputyship.

The letterbox can't blocked as Mum is still receiving posts. No one has PoA or deputyship so bills still going to her Home address.
I am disabled and do not drive. Mum's house in in a different county and when I have been there I need my carer to go with me in her car and support me as its difficult for me to even get into the house on my own as access not great. Db lives even further away than me but because he agreed to get involved, that is why the social worker asked him to sort everything out. He agreed but progress has been slow. There is no way he would be able to pop in to do anything as it would involve a whole days driving. He has decided to involve a solicitor to get things moving on a bit faster. Hopefully once they have legal authority, they will get the empty home policy. I know you can also find companies that will provide a service by which they check on the house periodically. They'd probably need keys.
To be honest I'm less and less bothered as social worker has asserted many times that Mum is staying in the current care home for the long haul and no way is she going home. The house s a **** house, built of **** in the early 20thC in an area where there are some of the lowest house prices in the UK, and there is nothing of value left in it. Once Mums assets are depreciated she wont have to pay any additional fees. She is safe and warm where she is and oblivious to all this.
I am happy to visit her in the care home, my carer is happy to take me there, my Mum likes my carer, I can keep any eye on how things are going at the care home and everyone is getting on ok, db doest visit Mum so he can sort out the insurance instead:p
 

Mydarlingdaughter

Registered User
Oct 25, 2019
205
0
North East England UK
Thank you.
I just looked up vacant property management. Its a thing. So you can get vacant property insurance, and vacant property management. But of course it all costs and the sooner you can sell it, the better!
 

Elle3

Registered User
Jun 30, 2016
705
0
Useful contributions all.
Basically I need to relinquish this as I dont have PoA or deputyship.

The letterbox can't blocked as Mum is still receiving posts. No one has PoA or deputyship so bills still going to her Home address.
I am disabled and do not drive. Mum's house in in a different county and when I have been there I need my carer to go with me in her car and support me as its difficult for me to even get into the house on my own as access not great. Db lives even further away than me but because he agreed to get involved, that is why the social worker asked him to sort everything out. He agreed but progress has been slow. There is no way he would be able to pop in to do anything as it would involve a whole days driving. He has decided to involve a solicitor to get things moving on a bit faster. Hopefully once they have legal authority, they will get the empty home policy. I know you can also find companies that will provide a service by which they check on the house periodically. They'd probably need keys.
To be honest I'm less and less bothered as social worker has asserted many times that Mum is staying in the current care home for the long haul and no way is she going home. The house s a **** house, built of **** in the early 20thC in an area where there are some of the lowest house prices in the UK, and there is nothing of value left in it. Once Mums assets are depreciated she wont have to pay any additional fees. She is safe and warm where she is and oblivious to all this.
I am happy to visit her in the care home, my carer is happy to take me there, my Mum likes my carer, I can keep any eye on how things are going at the care home and everyone is getting on ok, db doest visit Mum so he can sort out the insurance instead:p

Just a suggestion, you can do online billing with quite a lot of companies now. This is what I did with my dad's utility companies, water, electric, council, phone. I didn't need to change anything except register them all using my dads details but my email address. It also made it a lot easier to cancel them all later and I didn't need to show them POA.