Home Insurance Whilst Away

[CaptainWindsock]

I am about to start my 3rd long stay holiday in Samui. 5 months this time. I can hardly wait! Trouble is my UK house and contents insurance company is taking the piss with its renewal premium as my UK home will be unoccupied. I'm sure there are many board members in same position. Anybody know good insurance company to cover this circumstance?

[Rooo]

I really do not know where to Re locate that post. I will put in general for now.

[theblether]

Try this for starters,

http://www.click4quo...y-insurance.htm

If you have no luck you'll need to go through an old fashioned general broker, the rule normally is that the home should not be unoccupied for more than 60 continuous days. My solution in the past has been to get a family member to move in for a few days at a time and burn the electricity and gas.

That's how they catch you out by the way, they will ask you for a copy of your utility bills and if the usage is too low or zero they'll know the place is unoccupied. The flaw in the policy ( normally ) is not that the householder must be in the home, but that the home must be occupied by someone. You can't tell them you have a lodger as that is under a separate type of insurance cover again.

However you can use a thing called a Room Rental Agreement, which is exactly as it sounds. The great thing about it is that you will get a rental from a lodger tax free up to £4500.00 per annum. I use a website called easyroommate.com when I need to rent a room out quickly in my own home, and depending where you are your room should be filled within 2 or 3 days by a professional person.

If you go down that route you will find the insurers and your mortgage company are a lot gentler on you, as the regulations in regards to someone who shares a home with a owner occupier are far less stringent than other landlord agreements. This will give you the added bonus of a few extra quid to use in Samui too. You can download an agreement from the website I mentioned, take a deposit, and get someone to nip past the house now and again and pick up your mail for you. It; 's probably better that than being genuinely unoccupied.

[CaptainWindsock]

Try this for starters,

http://www.click4quo...y-insurance.htm

If you have no luck you'll need to go through an old fashioned general broker, the rule normally is that the home should not be unoccupied for more than 60 continuous days. My solution in the past has been to get a family member to move in for a few days at a time and burn the electricity and gas.

That's how they catch you out by the way, they will ask you for a copy of your utility bills and if the usage is too low or zero they'll know the place is unoccupied. The flaw in the policy ( normally ) is not that the householder must be in the home, but that the home must be occupied by someone. You can't tell them you have a lodger as that is under a separate type of insurance cover again.

However you can use a thing called a Room Rental Agreement, which is exactly as it sounds. The great thing about it is that you will get a rental from a lodger tax free up to £4500.00 per annum. I use a website called easyroommate.com when I need to rent a room out quickly in my own home, and depending where you are your room should be filled within 2 or 3 days by a professional person.

If you go down that route you will find the insurers and your mortgage company are a lot gentler on you, as the regulations in regards to someone who shares a home with a owner occupier are far less stringent than other landlord agreements. This will give you the added bonus of a few extra quid to use in Samui too. You can download an agreement from the website I mentioned, take a deposit, and get someone to nip past the house now and again and pick up your mail for you. It; 's probably better that than being genuinely unoccupied.

Thanks. I ll try click4quo