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5 Things You Should Know About Unoccupied Property Insurance
People travel for extended periods and might be away from home for months at a time. A house may be awaiting sale or tied up in the legal issues surrounding probate. A property may require extensive refurbishment or a renovation that leave it uninhabitable. Buy to let properties often have empty periods when they are between tenants. If you’ve ever tried to find insurance for an unoccupied property, you’ll know that it can be a more complicated process than standard home insurance, many insurance companies will refuse to over you and those that do may charge sky-high premiums. Vacant properties are at increased risk. The chances of burglary are higher, the chances of vandalism increase and the potential damage caused by issues such as burst water pipes is greater. Storm damage may go unnoticed for a longer time, compounding the problems and increasing the cost. You may be at risk from squatters. Your standard insurance policy may not cover you. If your home is empty for longer than 30 days, you may find that your standard policy is invalidated and you are left at increased risk and with no cover, it’s not an ideal situation and one that should be addressed as a matter of urgency. So in order to make sure you get the right level of cover at the right price – here are 5 things you need to know about unoccupied property insurance and making sure that your empty property stays safe. 5 Simple steps can reduce the risk to your vacant property 1 – Make it look occupied. There are lots of things you can do here to create the illusion that the property is occupied. Asking a neighbour to park outside and putting lights and appliances on timer switches will help. Leaving furniture inside is also recommended. 2 –Consider the water and central heating. If your home is going to be empty over the winter months, there is the risk of frozen pipes and water damage. Keeping the heating on a low setting will go some way to reducing this risk. 3 – Arrange a regular inspection. Most of the issues that arise with empty property come about simple because no one notices, a leaking tap turns into significant water damage, a broken window lets in squatters and so on. Having a trusted third party make a regular inspection of your property will put your mind at ease and written records of each visit will help in the event of a claim. 4 – Secure the property and remove all valuables. Make sure all entry points are secure and the alarm is set. Remove all valuables as these are only like to attract attention and are unlikely to be covered in the event of a break-in. 5 – Make sure you have specialist unoccupied property insurance. Standard policies won’t cover empty property so it pays to talk to an expert and explore the various specialist policies that exist for this sort of cover. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Doug Walker Dip Cll is the General Manager of Academy Insurance Services Ltd. Doug has more than 20 years experience in insurance and is an expert at finding competitive unoccupied property insurance. |
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