Home insurance while away for extended periods. (1 Viewer)

[Biggles]

Not MH insurance but MH related insurance question.

I am wondering how people get on when away from home for extended periods. I think in my home insurance there is some clause about being away for 28 consecutive days or something like.

So I was wondering how you (one) gets around this. Do you tell them, do you risk it, do they just add extra to the premium?

 

[Figaro]

Churchill allow you to be away for 60 consecutive days. Other may be similar or offer more, I just renewed my policy which is how I knew. Don`t risk not telling Ins Co if you going to be away longer, they will find out and refuse a claim.

 

[Theonlysue]

home insurance

When I was away I insured and paid extra premium to be away for up to six months.
After that as you are away for more time than you are in the home, it's a whole new ball game. But you should always be honest just in case.
Else you may as well save your money and not pay the premium.

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[Snowbird]

We are lucky that Pats son is still at home. I do wonder sometimes if he would notice we are not there .

 

[PhilandMena]

Do not take the risk ! Contact your insurance company and ask them how long you can be away and still covered. They should offer extended cover for a increase in premium.

Want to have some fun with them ! ask them how long you have to be in your home before the 30/60 day cover is activated again. Suggest to them you fly home and back out the next day and when they start hesitating ask them what is stated in their policy. I put this to my insurance agent and she was so out of here depth it was unreal. Refused to say how long I had to be in my home before I could go away again and re-activate my cover. I also asked if my daughter visited the house on a weekly basis would they accept this as the house being occupied and they said no. My wife or I had to be living in the house.

 

[tony_g]

From the enquiries I have made, many Insurers will not allow more than 60 days away, even for additional premium. However, Aviva will. You have to take out a standard policy with them and then give them dates for any period over 60 days you intend to be away. A percentage uplift is then charged depending on how long and whether it is summer or winter months. They answered all my questions efficiently and there don't seem to be any catches. From memory, I think they may have stipulations about either turning water off in winter or maintaining a low level of background heating and maybe getting neighbours in for a weekly check. But these are all precautions I would take anyway. Also, I believe if you have Comfort Insurance for the van, which is Aviva, you can arrange both together.

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[Puddleduck]

My brother-in-law goes to New Zealand for several months a year to say with his son. He tells his insurance company in writing and has a close family member live in the house for part of the time he is away. A couple of years ago I lived in the house when he was away as we had a family crisis and I needed to be close by. When there is no one living in the house someone is there at least every other day - but never at the same time of day - just to check up on things.

He has security shutters and a monitored alarm system. The insurance company have adjusted his premium but he does have insurance but I'm not sure of the company.

 

[Detnor]

Check the caravan club or camping and caravan club.
Both have standard policies allowing extended time away.

 

[MrMotorhome]

House Insurance

We informed our insurance company we would be away for 4 months. They came back and informed us as long as someone was checking the house weekly and heating was set to 10 degrees, water switched off, it would not be a problem. No increase in charges. A new contract was issued with the added clauses.

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[tony_g]

We informed our insurance company we would be away for 4 months. They came back and informed us as long as someone was checking the house weekly and heating was set to 10 degrees, water switched off, it would not be a problem. No increase in charges. A new contract was issued with the added clauses.

Heating on, water off? Can you do that with a normal gas central heating system, even if only programmed for radiators but not hot water?

 

[MrMotorhome]

Heating on, water off? Can you do that with a normal gas central heating system, even if only programmed for radiators but not hot water?

Our system is a 'sealed system' combi. You only top it up if\when required. :thumb: Which I always check before we depart.

 

[JockandRita]

Heating on, water off? Can you do that with a normal gas central heating system, even if only programmed for radiators but not hot water?

I was wondering tha same Tony, ie, would the contents of the header tank be suffice to keep the boiler topped up over months, or in the case of combi boilers (where there is no header tank), how would the required pressure be maintained if the water supply was isolated?

We too are keen on the answers, and thank the OP for starting the thread. :thumb:

Cheers,

Jock.

[HI]Edit, just seen Andrew's reply re the sealed combi system.[/HI]

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[MrMotorhome]

Combi Boilers

Our system is a 'sealed system' combi. You only top it up if\when required. :thumb: Which I always check before we depart.

Just thought I should clarify the above. The pressure should be around 1 bar when boiler not working and rising to around 2.5 Bar when on. DO NOT OVER FILL. We check ours every 9 months or so. If your pressure is often dropping - you have a small leak somewhere in your system.

Someone with much better knowledge will be along soon or check with a plumber. :thumb:

 

[motorhomer]

Re Insurance, camping and caravanning club offer an excellent and quite cheap policy that allows 180 days away.

Many other insurers won't budge from their standard - whatever it is. Direct line is 30 days fixed.

 

[hdvrod]

We used "Comfort" allows up to 180 days.

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[MikeandCarolyn]

I believe we are with Vantage,via camping and caravan Club and get 180 days-but,we have just moved from S.wales to North Somerset and now our excess for subsidence has gone to £10k and they won't cover for flooding. (they would if we only had 60day cover.)
It sounded as if this was more about flooding from inside (burst pipes etc) than from outside.
We are looking more closely into this now.

Mike

 

[Reallyretired]

This thread reminded me that I didn't check this when we changed our insurance last month. All is well as we have 90 days away allowed. This is enough for us, as although we go away several times in a year, it is never more than 6-8 weeks at a time.

 

[tony_g]

Just thought I should clarify the above. The pressure should be around 1 bar when boiler not working and rising to around 2.5 Bar when on. DO NOT OVER FILL. We check ours every 9 months or so. If your pressure is often dropping - you have a small leak somewhere in your system.

Someone with much better knowledge will be along soon or check with a plumber. :thumb:

Ours is a near 30 years old standard for the eighties system. Header tank in the loft etc. We might get away with running heating only, mains water off but any water loss would be problematic, so best avoided. Aviva are happy with either background heating or mains turned off. Thanks to all for comments.

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[jaygee]

We paid an extra premium, can't remember how much but not a lot, to be away for 180 days. They said if we didn't extend the cover we would not be covered for fire,theft or flood - so basically everything you want to be covered for. It wasn't worth the risk. They also said my son living there wouldn't count.
One point , if you do take out extra cover check your renewal premium next year as Aviva assumed we'd want the same extension the following year and had added it to the premium!!

 

[Biggles]

I am really struggling with this unoccupied insurance. Nowhere can I get over 60 days. So what I need now is names of insurance companies that will do it.

I'm not sure if this is permitted in the forum so if not can you PM me.

 

[jaygee]

I am really struggling with this unoccupied insurance. Nowhere can I get over 60 days. So what I need now is names of insurance companies that will do it.

I'm not sure if this is permitted in the forum so if not can you PM me.

We are with Aviva and can get 180 days away from home extension on our home insurance that we have with them for about an extra £60 - worth it for peace of mind!

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[Biggles]

We are with Aviva and can get 180 days away from home extension on our home insurance that we have with them for about an extra £60 - worth it for peace of mind!

Does your policy have a special (particular) name?

 

[jaygee]

No it is just a general buildings & contents policy. If you ring them and ask how long you can be absent they will just say the normal 30/60 days but if you ask them if this is possible to extend this to 90 or 180 days and pay an extra premium then I'm sure they would ok this although they do have to check with the assessor, this is what happened when I asked - maybe it's different for different areas?

 

[gibbon]

Re Insurance, camping and caravanning club offer an excellent and quite cheap policy that allows 180 days away.

Many other insurers won't budge from their standard - whatever it is. Direct line is 30 days fixed.

Ditto, we changed to c&cc for this very reason:thumb:

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[mitzimad]

providied your heating system is in good order the tank will probably last a year most combi systems with no leaks will only need topping up every few months all combis will stop running if the preasure gets to low
open vented (tank) systems will carry on running until the pump runs dry and burns out so how long till this happens depends how close to the tank the pump is

 

[Sheddy]

Does your policy have a special (particular) name?

Just received a quote today from Club Care who are the Household Insurers for the C&CC, which covers us for leaving the house unoccupied for up to 180 days with no heating or water preconditions.
The total premium is £200 including legals.