Home Insurance for Unoccupied House.

With siblings I am the owner of a house which has been unoccupied, and not insured, for number of years. I am anxious to have it insured. Broker advised that he could not obtain insurance for an unoccupied house. He advised me to ask for advice from insurer of my own home but they (FBD) declined to quote. Anyone with previous experience of this?

yes... try Axa.. I know of someone who had normal house insurance while people lived in the house... then the house became unoccupied, the insurance continued as normal until renewal, then it was renewed but for fire only... and contents, frozen food cover and other covers that simply could not be claimed or removed from the policy.. but the unoccupied house was covered for fire...

There are several companies that specialise in unoccupied properties. O'Brien Finlay is probably one the better brokers with direct access to a scheme for this. But there are other insurers that will do it.

Thanks for replies. Have tried FBD - No. AXA - No. 123 - NO. Hibernian aviva - No.

You could suggest to the insurers, you will have power and water turned off, as they may be concerned of flooding and electrical problem associated with an unoccupied house. There is a clause in property insurance, where if left un occupied for a time, water must be turned off. Some people have found this out the hard way.

I know Dolmen insurance do this cover as well. Last time I checked it was pretty pricey (Approx €800 for €300000 rebuild cost) and a fair amount of conditions.

I had this issue last year and ended up insuring the house as a holiday home.
A few people on here recommended it.

Kano said:

I had this issue last year and ended up insuring the house as a holiday home.
A few people on here recommended it.

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This does not cover you when its empty. If a property is empty for 30 days or more then it will not be covered by insurance. The only exception is storm damage as it dosnt matter if someone lives there or not for this.

kkelliher said:

This does not cover you when its empty. If a property is empty for 30 days or more then it will not be covered by insurance. The only exception is storm damage as it dosnt matter if someone lives there or not for this.

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I can assure you it does cover you as I spent ages researching it.
The 30 day clause is removed for Holiday Home Insurance policies.

darvas said:

Thanks for replies. Have tried FBD - No. AXA - No. 123 - NO. Hibernian aviva - No.

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I recently had a similar policy with Allianz, the property was under construction and the only peril covered was for fire.
I was also dealing with a case a while back in which a client of mine moved out of her house in Newbridge and advised her insurers (who were also Allianz) that she had moved out, the insurer reduced her premium and removed all of the insured perils from her policy with the exception of fire.

The unfortunate thing was that this only came to light when the water tank in the attic leaked and she had found out she wasn't covered.
So if you do get a policy like this be sure to drain the tank and turn the water off and to inform the insurers if the house becomes occupied again.

Best of luck
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