Terraced row at night
Did you know that covering your house whilst its vacant is specialised cover, not all insurers want to know. Most household insurers realise that the property will, at some stage be left empty, you may go away for Christmas, or, your annual holiday, these things the insurers know, they have stats to bear out the rates that are charged. Vacant houses though are a different matter. Let’s look at the reasons for it and why there are things that you can do to reduce the premium when you come to insure your vacant house!
Water is probably the cause of the worst claims you can have in a vacant property. If you have a pipe burst in your home, as soon as you hear, or see it you will rush straight out to turn the water off. If you’re not there the difference can be huge in the damage! I once saw a commercial premise’s that had a water leak that wasn’t discovered till after 3 weeks. The ceiling in the basement had collapsed, the wall plaster had slipped from the brickwork, the walls were soaked and the floorboards and joists were warped beyond hope of redemption. The leak wasn’t huge, but due taken to turn off the water the damage was huge. To make matters worse the insurers hadn’t been told it had been unoccupied. The client accepted it was his fault; he didn’t really have a leg to stand on because he knew the pipe was weeping for months and did nothing to fix it, other than get a plumber in to quote for repairs which he didn’t take up
Vacant property use to be the subject of squatter before, it’s not so common these days, but break- ins can be a risk, security is one of the things requested by insurers, Usually it’s a minimum of 5 lever Mortise dead locks on the front door together with key operated widow locks on all accessible windows. Most insurers would want the premises visited at least once a week, this reduce the chances of an ongoing problem being missed. If you drain the water tanks and central heating system it considerably reduces the chance of water claim. These can take place of having the system being set to come on below 14 degrees in the winter.
Keeping the lawns cut and the appearance of the house in good condition will also be a help, if the house looks lived in, it makes it less of a risk. You can even ask one of the neighbours to park in the drive to help. It all goes to making a safer risk.
Contact us for further details on blog.bsure.uk.com/vacant–home–insurance
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