House and contents insurance for house unoccupied for 80 days

[David & Gill]

Hi
Can anybody point me in the right direction to a home and house Insurance company that allows me to have the house unoccupied for holidays up to 80 days.

Dave

 

[Andy MacD]

Try M&S and CMC, both 90 days, but you’ll pay for it!

 

[Podney]

Try your local general insurance broker.

 

[makems]

Contact your insurance company and ask if they will extend.
Its a few years since we had to do this but we contacted our insurance company to enquire about extending to 120 days and they agreed without any issues.
I did however have an interesting conversation with one of the insurance company's reps who said we had to turn off the electric and leave the alarm switched on. I pointed out that without electric the alarm wouldn't work and she quickly agreed to waive that particular condition.

 

[Bolti]

Hi
Can anybody point me in the right direction to a home and house Insurance company that allows me to have the house unoccupied for holidays up to 80 days.

Dave

Also LV but they apply conditions property must be visited weekly and heating either drained down or kept at 13 degrees.

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[MarionK]

I just spotted a 60 days clause on my house insurance, so never mind Schengen visa is only 90 days! Presumably contents away from home cover also lapses? It's not absolutely clear.
And then there's those pesky conditions to watch out for, thanks for the heads up Bolti.
I'm thanking my lucky stars that I have grown-up kids that live within easy travelling distance to pop in every few weeks!

 

[Bolti]

I just spotted a 60 days clause on my house insurance, so never mind Schengen visa is only 90 days! Presumably contents away from home cover also lapses? It's not absolutely clear.
And then there's those pesky conditions to watch out for, thanks for the heads up Bolti.
I'm thanking my lucky stars that I have grown-up kids that live within easy travelling distance to pop in every few weeks!

Popping in every few weeks may not satisfy your insurers. Some can be quite specific as to the requirements for cover.

 

[MarionK]

Popping in every few weeks may not satisfy your insurers. Some can be quite specific as to the requirements for cover.

I'm in the process of changing my insurers, and if I can't find one that suits at a sensible price, I will do without, and still get my kids (and neighbours) to keep an eye on the place. I have a very low opinion of insurance companies and brokers, which only gets lower with time and experience. Loyalty really doesn't pay.

 

[Widge]

A different tack, but have you considered house sitters? We have used "mind my house" very successfully on two occasions, in fact we have become good frends with our last sitters who are from Perth Australia, in fact they sat for us again last year when we spent 3 1/2 weeks in Spain, we have cats and prefer not to abandon them to being fed by neighbours for too long.

 

[treeker]

Also LV but they apply conditions property must be visited weekly and heating either drained down or kept at 13 degrees.

I've had an LV policy taken out in Jan 2023. It has the 60 day unoccupied clause but no conditions. I rang them in case there were exclusions and they confirmed 60 days.

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[MotorhomersRus]

We’re with the C&CC they insure for loads more time than normal house insurance not to bad on price either

 

[Bolti]

I've had an LV policy taken out in Jan 2023. It has the 60 day unoccupied clause but no conditions. I rang them in case there were exclusions and they confirmed 60 days.

You can easily extend the unoccupancy period for very little money with LV but they apply the afore mentioned restrictions.

 

[Purple2]

Admiral cover us for 120 days.

 

[51LVER F0X]

Camping & Caravan Club. Cover for 180 days, 90 with insurance company and an extra 90 through C&CC. Competitive prices too. (Carefree Insurance) is the brand name.

 

[wp1234]

I’m with Home Protect (AXA) and they have an clause in that after 30 days away the home is considered unoccupied and not covered for escape of water during period Oct to April and theft unless house has the usual window locks etc. This works for me as the escape of water clause doesn’t worry me as I do not have a header tank and I always switch off the mains when I’m away.

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[nickq]

Highest value item at my house is the motorhome
House insurance is really just in case it burns to the ground. I doubt I would claim if someone took the tv, just becomes a new tv on stealth credit through increased premiums.

 

[HattersLane]

A different tack, but have you considered house sitters? We have used "mind my house" very successfully on two occasions, in fact we have become good frends with our last sitters who are from Perth Australia, in fact they sat for us again last year when we spent 3 1/2 weeks in Spain, we have cats and prefer not to abandon them to being fed by neighbours for too long.

Does your existing insurance cover this? What costs are incurred having the house sitters? Thanks

 

[Wombles]

Don't forget we have our own driveway/house sitter section https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/forums/motorhome-house-sitting/ Money does not need to be involved as those full timing may be happy to driveway sit if access to water, waste & maybe EHU & laundry facilities saving them site fees. Care of property & pets could be possible & up to the parties involved with regards to terms. Know this has worked well for some Funsters over the years.

 

[KLWinton]

I just get a friend to stay over for a night and it resets to another 30 days. I have security cameras to prove she stays incase there is any questions asked.

 

[Widge]

Does your existing insurance cover this? What costs are incurred having the house sitters? Thanks

We have only used "Mind my house" twice, they do not handle the house sit, they are an introduction site, where sitters and people who want a sitter can meet online, I think sitters have to pay a registration fee to advertise on the site, they post their details the sorts of sits that they would like, which countries etc, there is also feedback system that allows the people who they have sat for to post feedback.

The sitters cannot see the feedback, although it would be simple for them to get a friend to have a look for them.

The actual details of the arrangement for the sit is down to the individuals, in our case we did not charge for anything, in fact the first couple from New Zealand also used our car while we were away. Although some people ask for a nominal charge to cover electricity etc. in our case we had plenty of people wanting to stay at our house, our friends in Louisiana tried it, and they only got replies from people who wanted to charge to house sit, even to the point some asked for the cost of the flights, but then again Louisiana is not very pleasant in mid-summer so i dont blame them.
You have to have a lot of trust, but we have good neighbours and a good friend who lives off grid near us, who as all his post/parcels delivered to our house so is a regular visiter.

We purposely picked mature couples with good feedback and had excellent results both times, as far as insurance we just said friends we house sitting while we were away.

Which would be fine for most things eg accidental damage etc, but i guess if they disappeared with all our possessions it would be a bit difficult. But as they were from New Zealand and Australia we thought that they probably wouldn't get far.

We obviously squirreled away a few items of value, but generally tidied up the house and cleared a couple of kitchen cupboards. Lastly we created a guide for the house, with instructions for appliances, stop taps electricity, drains and anything else we could think of that might go wrong, then for looking after the garden and cat, plus suitable contact numbers of people that could help in an emergency, also introduced them to the neighbours.

We were surprised that both couples only wanted to have 1 day handover, but discovered by talking to them, that any more and they get information overload and it is better to keep the handover as short as possible.

In the case of the couple from Perth we actually spent out last two nights in Australia at their house, as we flew home from perth and it gave us a chance to clean the camper up, and we left behind all sorts of things that we bought for our journey, for them to take to the charity shop.

I think that covers everything, sorry it is a bit long winded.

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[Tonks]

When I spent nearly four months working away on a research project, I arranged for someone I knew well to stay in my home overnight a couple of nights a month. I also had folk who popped in randomly to check on the place and make sure it looked lived in.
(It turned out that there had actually been people there more often than I'd expected since when I got home I discovered that a secret project had been going on in my garden while I was away! At least, everyone involved kept it secret until they day I got back when someone else asked me 'What did you think of the garden?' before I'd actually got into the house, and blew their surprise a bit...)

 

[Minxy]

I just get a friend to stay over for a night and it resets to another 30 days. I have security cameras to prove she stays incase there is any questions asked.

Make sure that still applies to continue full coverage as that doesn't work with a lot of insurers now.

 

[Teetime]

A different tack, but have you considered house sitters? We have used "mind my house" very successfully on two occasions, in fact we have become good frends with our last sitters who are from Perth Australia, in fact they sat for us again last year when we spent 3 1/2 weeks in Spain, we have cats and prefer not to abandon them to being fed by neighbours for too long.

I asked my insurer if my son stopping in my house at weekends would work and they replied the person looking after house must be on the electoral register for that address. Worth checking

 

[Widge]

I asked my insurer if my son stopping in my house at weekends would work and they replied the person looking after house must be on the electoral register for that address. Worth checking

I dont know about out here, but i can imagine the insurers not being happy about somebody only stopping one night, but surly they cannot dictate whether somebody is on the electoral register or not, otherwise it would exclude 40% of the eligible uk population, based on election turnouts.

In my case in france, since Brexit i am excluded from the electoral register anyway, I am not even registered in the UK any more as i am passed the 15 years brought in by the last Labour government.

 

[Minxy]

Being on the electoral register is a way of proving that the person is a resident of the property not just someone who pops in every now and then. If that's in the insurer's t&C's that's up to them, you don't have to use that insurer.

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