Home insurance - What defines occupation of property ?

sinzinc

I hope this is the right are to bring up this discussion, Mod please let me know otherwise.


I have recently purchased house in the city which require considerable renovation, reading the small print of home insurance which BOI subsidised with mortgage, I have found out that the house must not be left unoccupied for more than 45 days.

To put it simply the house whilst having 4 walls and roof, will not be fournished and slept in for the next six months, which will nullify my insurance. However, it will have builders and myself working on it, its also on my way to work and I would be in a position to enter the property everyday.

Can anyone shed light on what constitutes occupied, if I roll out the sleeping bag every 6 weeks for a night does that count. How does this work with holiday homes all over the country, or is it a grey area.

Finally, it has been suggested that the bank is the best avenue seems as its mostly their money tied up and not mine. I'd just like to get some feedback before I pickup the phone.

Jo King

Tell your insurance broker what the position is. Ask him to organise temporary cover. Insurance contracts require you to disclose any fact which is relevant to the risk assumed by the insurer. If you have a fire a month before you move in the insurer may repudiate liability on the grounds that you were not in residence and that you failed to tell them you were not resident. If you have a dispute with the insurance company you will have to go to arbitration. Lose at arbitration, there is no appeal and you will have hefty legal bills on top of the losses sustained in the fire! Don't go there!

Maximilian

Talk to your broker, this is not a forum for legal advice, not that anyone could advise you without reading the terms of your policy of course.