Insure rental property for 6 weeks?

mick kk

Am renting out a property. The existing insurance policy is ending and the existing tenants are leaving six weeks after the policy ends. Am then selling the house and don't want to pay for house insurance for the full year. Does anyone know what companies do this if at all?
Thanks

oldyouth

Insurance Companies don't usually offer policies for less than 12 months. Would it not be wise to maintain a policy on the house, even if it is unoccupied, until the house is sold? It might even be a condition of any mortgage you may have on the property.

PS Prepare for the onslaught of advice to pay the policy by direct debit and then cancel it after 6 weeks. I wouldn't advise that

mick kk

thanks for your reply. I had thought about doing the direct debit alright and then cancelling it..why would you advice against this?

LLU

Most house insurance policies stipulate that the house is not unoccupied for more than 30 consecutive days. After 30 days it is classed as 'unoccupied'. And unfortunately an 'unoccupied' house is considered a greater risk and is dearer to cover and usually gets less cover i.e. may exclude flood damage, break-ins, etc. By failing to inform the insurance cover of the property being unoccupied you might invalidate the policy so be careful of this. Many insurance companies won't even quote for unoccupied buildings.

On the brighter side, I think most companies will allow you to cancel a policy early and refund the remaining amount although with an admin fee.

oldyouth

mick kk wrote: »

thanks for your reply. I had thought about doing the direct debit alright and then cancelling it..why would you advice against this?

Because defaulting on a direct debit means that an insurer has to exercise their condition within the policy to force a cancellation on you. This means you have a duty of disclosure to bring this to the attention of any insurer in the future for all classes of cover. Always cancel a policy with the agreement of the insurer

I am aware that the practice is widspread, but I have seen Insurers use this to their advantage when dealing with a claim. It is not as simple as some will make out

As LLU suggests, notify the insurer when it becomes unoccupied. If your really want to cancel the policy, they will agree a return for you at that stage. However, if you cancel a policy on an unoccupied house, you may never get the cover again until someone is back in it. I'd rather live with the restriceted cover to protect against the major events

mick kk

thanks for the advice