House Insurance

Yuptizme

Can anyone out there advise.........

My father recently died and I am co-executor of his will. As executors we took out "vacant house" insurance on the property pending it's disposal.

To make a long story short, my sister has bought out our interest in the house and will be the new owner within a week. She is an Irish citizen and a permanent resident of Australia and will use the house as a holiday home when she visits Ireland. We (remaining 4 siblings all resident in Ireland) also use the house and this will continue with my sister's consent. On her behalf, I have been trying to get insurance coverage but to date with no success. In all cases it was declined on the grounds that she resides in Australia.

The pertinent information is that the house has been vacant for the last 8 years or so. My sister has resided in Australia for the past 20 years. The house is visited at least twice weekly by my brother (other co-executor) who lives locally. All we want is public liability and fire coverage. Don't need contents cover and the house is not a flood risk.

Can anyone suggest and Insurance Company/Brokerage that offers this type of coverage whether ir be Holiday Home or Vacant House Insurance.

Regards,


Michael

ravima

is current insurer aware of the unoccupancy for the last few years? If so, could you try to discuss with someone more senior than whoever you spoke with there?

Yuptizme

ravima wrote: »

is current insurer aware of the unoccupancy for the last few years? If so, could you try to discuss with someone more senior than whoever you spoke with there?

Thanks for reply. Yes, fully aware. Even tried to get them to transfer existing policy to my sister's name, without any success. Emailed financial ombudsman seeking advice and they suggested I contact Insurance Information Service which I intend doing next week.

ravima

I suppose the difficulty for you is that no insurer is OLBLIGED to quote/renew/give terms for a house.

I'd suggest she contact a broker.

If it is allowable, I'd suggest peteb, who posts on this forum. he may be able to assist you.

murphaph

Sorry for your loss OP. This can't be a rare occurrence given the amount of holiday homes in Ireland owned by residents of the UK, Germany etc. A broker will almost certainly be able to help here I would have thought. I'll throw this into the ring: FBD insure a long term vacant property for us (public liability & fire cover, no cover for contents and no cover in case of water damage). They wanted to come out and check it out before quoting but it wasn't a problem.

P. Breathnach

I was responsible for a vacant house a couple of years ago. I was able to insure it with Kidd Insurances. It was a condition that the house be checked regularly: I can't remember the interval they allowed, but it was not too onerous - perhaps once a fortnight.

http://www.kiddinsurances.ie/

peteb2

Just looked at an AXA proposal form for their holiday home product. They don't ask where you are resident. Obviously the postal address could be care of your brother. Alternatively she probably wouldnt have insuring it from Oz through a broker there as a foreign holiday home.

Alternatively I'm sure there could be a legal contract put in place that could make someone here responsible for the property and thus giving them insurable interest.

The problem with the Kidd Insurance product is it is a true unoccupied product and requires electrics and all services to the property to be cut.

Yuptizme

Thanks all for your replies. Already declined by Kidd through a brokerage. Was on to Hooper Dolan and this looks more promising at the moment.

Will let you know how I get on.

Thanks.

Brodick

A Broker who places business with Lloyds in London might be your best bet.

Yuptizme

Hi all,

Many thanks for all your assistance. Succeeded today to get holiday home insurance so all is now in order.

Again, thank you all.

Regards,

M

Redwolfe

Hi M,

Could you tell us who you got insurance with? I have a complicated house to insure at the moment and because it's subdivided companies are not even getting as far as taking my name.

I expected it to be expensive, but I'm just not getting quotes at all!

Any recommendations/info would be very welcome.

redwolfe

Yuptizme

Hi redwolfe,

I finally got insurance from Hooper Dolan insurances and they were excellent. I used their Waterford branch as it is right beside where I live.

Hope this helps and if they can't assist you, I feel confident they will be able to point you in the right direction.


Regards,


M