Insuring Properties At Greater Risk With Unoccupied Insurance

Unoccupied Insurance

I remember the abandoned house on the corner of my street. It was the hangout of many of the neighborhood kids. The good ones knew that some shady stuff happened there, but even the good ones sometimes sat on the porch to chat.

That home was rundown and unloved. And very unoccupied. I wonder who owned it and what had happened. One thing that seems likely is that the owner, if there was one, did not have unoccupied insurance. Otherwise, caring for any damages would have been simple.

When a property is left empty for a period of time, the chances of it being vandalized or otherwise damaged or defaced increase significantly. Your basic homeowners insurance may not cover the property during such periods for this very reason. Instead you may want to take out an unoccupied insurance policy.

The most common type of living place that might be unoccupied for a stretch of time is property for let. It is not unusual for there to be some difficulty for the landlord to find tenants. This might mean that the building is left empty and vulnerable.

There are obvious signs that a home is unoccupied. First, the lights are never on in the evening. Of course you may also see from the street that there is no furniture or curtains. It doesn’t take long for the wrong type of people to see this and vandalize the property, throwing bricks through windows, spray painting on it, or even entering it and using it.

A typical landlord insurance policy will usually include unoccupied insurance, but only for a very short period of time. It can sometimes take months to find a tenant, but coverage during these periods on a normal policy is usually only 30-60 days. Some policies offer up to 90 days, but beyond that, you are on your own.

Landlords are not the only ones who may want to take out an unoccupied insurance policy on their property. Some other reasons houses might be abandoned, which are good situations for unoccupied insurance are when a property is being renovated or is purchased by an owner who plans to move in at a future date, when their current home sales or when repairs have been made.

Because an unoccupied property is at greater risk of some perils, most types of landlord and homeowners insurance do not offer a very long period of cover in these situations. Getting an additional policy specifically for unoccupied properties is a good idea. This, along with prevention in the form of inspecting the property for possible break-in sites, sealing up windows, doors and letterboxes as well as guarding against burst pipes by turning off or leaving on central heating are all good ideas that can save you a potentially big headache.