When a house becomes unoccupied, home insurance policy cover will be severely restricted, or even invalidated unless positive action is taken.
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When a house becomes unoccupied, home insurance policy cover will be severely restricted, or even invalidated unless positive action is taken.
When a family member goes into residential care, the decision on what happens to their permanent home is not one that will necessarily be made immediately. Often, the unoccupied property will be the former family home and with that, comes a lot of history and a great deal of emotional attachment.
This will often lead to a deferment of any decision to let, or to sell the property.
After all, for many people, the move to residential care might be a temporary measure. Even after a permanent move into care, the family might want to keep the property in its present state, so that the householder can visit, and can visualise the prospect of return.
However, this situation results in thousands of families unknowingly putting themselves at huge financial risk, and even the resident themselves in danger of losing their chosen care solution, and their home because of two clauses which are written into nearly every home insurance policy.
- Unoccupancy exclusions - After the insured property has not been lived in for either 30 (or in some cases, 60) days, the following exclusions will usually automatically apply:
Excluded - Theft
Excluded - Malicious Damage
Excluded - Escape of water / burst pipes
Excluded - Escape of oil - General conditions - Most policies carry an obligation to advise the insurer in the event of any change in occupancy. When the policy was taken out, it would have been disclosed on the proposal or statement of fact that the property is the main resident of the insured and lived in by them, as their main residence on a daily basis.
If the insurer has not been advised of a change in this status, they could invalidate a policy completely and refuse to deal with any claim.
Both of the above clauses are perfectly reasonable, as the policy has been designed and priced for a certain scenario, which the property no longer fits.
However, it does mean that immediate action must be taken in every case to prevent the property from becoming vastly inadequately insured, or not insured at all.
What must be done?
- Advise the existing insurer
They will either:
a) Continue cover until renewal on restricted perils (ie cover reduced to Fire, Lightning, Earthquake, Explosion and liability cover only)
b) Cancel cover immediately
c) Confirm continued cover on standard terms (Beware, this means no cover for Theft, malicious damage or escape of water or oil unless they have provided an written endorsement extending the cover) - Speak to Bickers Insurance Services
- Each one of our experts have been working in the field of unoccupied property insurance for at least 6 years.
- We can provide a quotation over the telephone in just a few minutes
- Cover can be arranged immediately if required
- Full standard perils cover available (subject to usual underwriting criteria)