New Home - Unnocupied house insurance / fire only

random_banter

Hi there. Hoping someone can advise as I think this problem must be fairly typical?

We've just bought our home and it requires refurbishment before we can move in. I called a major insurance company for a quote just before we drew down (fire insurance is a stipulation of the mortgage) and explained to them it could be a few months before we can move in, so we would be seeking fire only insurance until then - salesperson said it shouldn't be a problem. Now, 5 weeks later, they are chasing me to say they won't insure an unoccupied property for more than 6 weeks, and will cancel the policy at the end of this week. I've disputed this and they're going back to listen to the sales call.

Anyway my question is, is this not a common problem? I've read that most major insurers won't do this, and yet the banks require fire insurance (which is usual for an unoccupied property) as a stipulation for the mortgage.

Is it the case that most people tell white lies when they purchase, are renovating but not moved in? We are at the house working on it every day, but we don't sleep there yet. However it's against my principles (and against common sense) to lie to an insurer. It will only come back to bite you IMO.

I'm guessing I need to find a specialist broker to help me with this? Any recommendations?

AnRothar

Interesting, I thought fire only cover only applies to an unoccupied house following a berevement.

While the house is yours and pending refurbishment commencement you probably will need full insurance cover, subject to unoccupied small print.

Then when construction starts you may need another type of insurance.

Broker time I suspect.

Eggs For Dinner

Most insurers will only allow a month or so unoccupied before moving in, with theirpolicies. If you are renovating, that would not be considered 'unoccupied ' in insurance terms and you need a specific under renovation policy and this will satisfy the bank. Try Frost Insurance or Hooper Dolan.

As for telling white lies to an insurer, I wouldn't ever consider it. If you misrepresent your circumstances, they will have no problem in declining a claim, big or small

Webster29

OBF insurance brokers deal with non standard cases like unoccupied houses. Not affiliated with them but I have used them for specialised flat roof insurance in the past.

jonnybravo

We got ours through Glennons broker (with Allianz) for our renovation. It was expensive though at €770 for a year. It was a yearly policy so we got a refund for the last 3 months as our renovation took 9 months.

random_banter

Thanks everyone.

We were actually getting a good quote from Glennon's ourselves.

However the insurance company I took out the original policy with came back to me - they listened back to the sales call - the salesperson had agreed 6 months with me and it was on record, so they are standing by their agreement.