UKC

Sadly, it's looking like my father is going to have to go into residential care. The plan is not to sell his home, at least in the short term, and so it will need to be insured as unoccupied.

Does anybody have experience of this? Good insurance companies, tips, things to consider that might not be obvious? I wondered, for example, whether sleeping there once a month might constitute 'occupation', subject to policy conditions of course.

Thanks

Mike

For this sort of thing you need to read the specific policy.  I spent some time weekly commuting a while back, and found that there were basically two common wordings in policies - one was "cannot be unoccupied for more than 60 days per annum" and the other "cannot be unoccupied for more than 60 days consecutively" - obviously one of those was OK for me and the other wasn't.

There may be policies specifically intended for unoccupied properties of course.

Or as an alternative, why not consider either renting it out on his behalf (which will add some money to his estate to help pay for his care) or even making it available short term for a Ukrainian refugee family?

Have you talked to the current insurance company about the sistuation?..it must happen enough for it to be an issue - in fact my elderly neighbour is in the same position ( and she is not coming back). Just like some mortgage providers can allow you to switch from occupier to BTL.

Not such an issue at the moment, but ensure the heating stays on (but can be low), maybe do something about automatic lights, check the post etc..depends how local you are.

Good luck!

When my dad died, and I informed the insurers they just cancelled the insurance - they wouldn't insure an empty house. I ended up having to get specialist insurance cover, while the house sold, which was quite expensive as I recall, given that the house was empty.

In the “old days” insurers would restrict the cover and apply some conditions, such as regular inspection, turn off water etc. Even if you didn’t tell them, they could well turn down a claim anyway due to the change in circumstances, even if the event happened within the 60 days.

Had two houses unoccupied recently for similar family reasons .

Both times just discussed it with the insurance company , both times they just wanted a diary kept of visits . One company wanted once a week , the other once a month! 

".. Or as an alternative, why not consider either renting it out on his behalf (which will add some money to his estate to help pay for his care) or even making it available short term for a Ukrainian refugee family?"

This really depends on how permanent the situation is, where the property is and the condition of the property.

In Wales the assembly have put in place many well meaning but potentially restrictive rules on letting property that could result in short temporarily empty property being left empty.

Surely house-sitters (who maybe contribute to electricity / bills) - could work out much cheaper than having it empty....

If a property becomes vacant by an Insurer's definition, they typically require logs of regular internal and external inspections.  In some cases, they also require the removal of all "unfixed combustibles" (e.g. furniture), draining of the plumbing, isolation of the mains power, and sometimes additional security protections (window locks, boarding-up, security grilles / shutters). 

Another thing to consider as well as the insurance is the council tax, when my grandad died and the house was empty for over a year we got stung with a big hike in council tax due to it being unoccupied. 

  As others have said, the first thing to do is talk to the current insurer. When my father died the insurer kept the current terms for 60 days and then the conditions became onerous. eg weekly (not monthly) visits were required as I recall, but it varies.  We moved to a specialist insurer (Home Protect) who were flexible.

In theory brilliant, houses don't do well if they are left empty and someone has somewhere to live.

It could leave you open to issues if you then need the property back if say the persons father is well enough to leave care or worse sadly dies and the inheritors want to sell up. There could also be issues if the property doesn't have things like wired in and linked fire detection and CO detection systems, current gas certificate, electrical installation report and something goes wrong. And as is the situation the owner (technically landlord) doesn't have liability insurance.

So considering it's just a dodge to avoid a potentially higher insurance premium and a need to heat/air the property a few times a month it's probably not worth the hassle.

Thanks for all your replies folks !

I'm certain that I had no council tax to pay for a year after my Mum died and the house was unoccupied. I think this was specific to cases of death and inheritance rather than having a house sitting empty.

OP: I think others have said, but there will likely be a condition requiring regular visits, which may vary. I can't remember what my period was but I'm thinking it was once a week, as I recall refusing to go away with work for two solid weeks for this reason. 

I think it's six months after probate has been completed.

OP. As your dad has moved into residential care he might now be entitled to a reduction/exemption 

If you move into a care home or hospital

If you live alone, and your house becomes unoccupied because you have moved into a care or nursing home, hospital or hostel which is now your main residence, you will be exempt from council tax.

I’m fairly certain it was a year but it was 6 years ago so my memory could be off.  It was also in Scotland so rules may differ.

Quite possibly, Scotland had the rule about double council tax for empty investment properties many years before England thought it was a step in the right direction.