Insurance for unoccupied house

tkc

Registered User
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My mother went in to full time residential care last year. When the renewal date for her house insurance came up, I got a policy through Chill who had to go to a specialist "Plum" in London to get a quote which was for €1,650. With renewal coming up, I tried another broker who also said they would have to go through Plum. Is there any other insurer on the market who could give a more competitive rate? Thanks for any help.
 
Vacant houses are expensive to insure.

If owner (mother) is in nursing home, could house be let? That way, an income would be coming in and insurance would be lower.
 
I dealt with this issue a few years ago when my mother went into residential care.. The only way around it was to say we were using her house as a holiday home and to visit the house and stay over on a semi regular basis at weekends. It was still expensive to insure but not as bad as if it was completely unoccupied. I don't know if this is an option for you but it's worth trying!
 
Vacant houses are expensive to insure.

If owner (mother) is in nursing home, could house be let? That way, an income would be coming in and insurance would be lower.

renting out the house could cause complications if they're availing of Fair Deal.
 
Classify it as a holiday home and then have people visit and stay to meet the criteria required, they usually insist that the holiday house will not be left unoccupied for more than 60 days at a time, that should work especially if your Mum is in a local care facility to her house.
 
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The market for unoccupied homes is restricted (most of the standard insurers won't quote on them). I know we use a QBE product as well as the Plum product (both of these policies are underwritten by lloyds). €1600 does seem high though. It most be a large home or you have a requirement for additional cover other than basic fire and property owners liability.
 
We also insured parents house in same circumstances as a holiday home. We visited the odd time to keep an eye on it.
 
What do people with property let to students do regarding insurance when a lot of these properties would be unoccupied June to September?
 
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