Unoccupied Property

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Vacant property needs protection

We have all seen them - the houses that are clearly unoccupied, some for a short time, others for what seems like many months. We drive past and might wonder why there is no one at home and why they remain vacant. But how many passersby - and, more importantly, how many owners - spend a thought on how much such vacant property continues to need the protection of adequate insurance?

For many homeowners, buildings and contents insurance is taken as given. Indeed, adequate buildings cover is something likely to have been insisted upon by the mortgage company from the outset. Unfortunately, with the insurance cover arranged from the outset, this is when many homeowners also put the subject to bed and barely give it another thought. Yet this is something that needs to be done - and especially if the property is to be left vacant for any period of time.

The reasons for a property falling vacant, of course, are many-fold - and insurance considerations tend to be left until the last whenever such an occasion arises. The owners might have moved out for a while, for instance, while the builders are in to renovate or extend the home. The owners might even have moved to a new house, needing to leave their former home vacant before the new owners have bought it and moved in. Perhaps the owner has died and the property remains vacant pending its sale by the estate. In other cases, the property might be in the private rental sector and is simply between tenants.

Rarely considered in any of these cases is the adequacy or otherwise of the property insurance on the vacant dwelling. All too often, owners overlook the fact that their regular insurers take a dim view of the property being left vacant. In such events, many insurers will reduce the level of cover to its most basic or even regard the policy as lapsed for as long as the building remains unoccupied. Clearly, this will leave the owner of the property at considerable financial risk if the worst should happen to the building.

Yet vacant property is property probably at its most vulnerable. When no one is at home to spot the first warning signs; when the first spark goes unnoticed; when the dripping tap goes un-mended - these are the times when an otherwise minor domestic crisis can rapidly turn to disaster. Vacant property is also far more vulnerable to malicious damage, arson and vandalism, of course, and even the most "professional" of squatters are going to be leaving the property in a far worse condition than in which they found it.

Vacant property, in sum, needs protection. It needs the protection of adequate insurance precisely when many mainstream insurance companies will be backpedaling away from such risks. These days, fortunately, there is a growing selection of specialist insurance packages available that can provide the protection required. Vacant property insurance can give the concerned, temporarily absent owner the security and peace of mind that all will be taken care of should the worst happen.