Cover yourself with insurance for empty properties
If you have an empty property, you could think that you are unable to get it insured. Usually home buildings and contents insurance often do not provide protection for your property if it is left empty for a certain period of time. And without insurance for empty properties, this can leave it exposed to all sorts of risks, such as damage caused by fire, flood or accident, as well as theft and malicious damage.
However there may be many reasons why your property might have to stand empty, including:
- you have inherited it and are waiting to sell it;
- you are a landlord who is without a tenant;
- For long periods of time you might be working away from home;
- you are totally reorganising the property;
- your personal circumstances have changed and you have moved out of the property, leaving it abandonded.
In any of the cases listed above your property may be uninsured which poses a problem and causes worry.
If one of the cases above describes you and you want to make sure that your asset is properly protected, then the good news is that specialist insurance for empty properties is available.
If the above describes your circumstances then you ,ay wish to give some thought to unoccupied property insurance. After all, these are just a snapshot of some of the levels of protection you can get and you should note that policy features and benefits can vary depending on the empty property insurance provider. So do make sure that you fully understand what the cover entails:
- damage caused by such things as fire, lightning, explosion or earthquake;
- flood damage or damage caused by storm or weight of snow;
- subsidence;
- any pipes you may damage accidentally and which you are liable for;
- cover for malicious damage (this is often excluded, so look out for insurance for empty properties that does gives this element of protection).
When taking out insurance you may have to meet certain requirements set out by the provider, so bear these in mind. These will include things like visiting the property regularly; draining down any heating systems etc. Your provider of insurance for empty properties will make these known within the policy documentation.