Unoccupied Home Insurance

Gaylehere · Guru

Unoccupied Home Insurance

rockylizard · Guru

Gday...

Others may howl me down ... but my understanding is that the major insurers accept that the premises are not 'completely' unoccupied if the key is with a neighbour or family member who comes regularly - for instance each few days or week and checks mail and the general condition of the premises. Keeping the lawns mowed also is considered as 'not being left unoccupied'.

A quick call to your insurer will confirm that - but each insurer I have used for the past decades have all maintained that stance with my policies.

Cheers - John

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Go and see a broker.
We have full insurance while away. The only change is a moderate increase in excess if it was unoccupied.

Cheers,
Peter

Aussie1 · Guru

Hi Gaylehere, We are with RACWA and always give them a call when going away for an extended period (over 60 days). As we leave alarm controller and keys with a neighbour, engage a lawn mowing contractor, set timer lights and have mail box checked, the RAC have never requested any additional fee's for the period. When we return home we give them a call to advise we are back. been using this method for 10 + years. Must admit we are very fortunate with the neighbours we have (40+ years). We do the same for them when they go away.

villatranquilla · Guru

we notified the insurance company that we would be away for at least 6mths and that the lawns were being mowed and that the power would be actually cut off. Their only comment was that the excess would increase from $400 to $1000 for the period we were away and they were happy to have power disconnected. It was cheaper to do this even with reconnection costs than keep paying the weekly surcharge even when using no power. It also prevented relatives from staying.

-- Edited by villatranquilla on Monday 16th of April 2018 01:05:07 PM

PeterD · Guru

If you are in a manufactured home village (sometimes called a lifestyle village) then MHIA Insurance wave the 60 day clause.

Gaylehere · Guru

Thanks for the replies. Will look into it further down the track. At the moment no long trips are in the planning and winter will be spent at home base. Hope to get away in the spring. Thanks again and cheers.

Tony Bev · Guru

I was unaware that we had to notify the insurance company when we were away travelling

But on the plus side, we do have good neighbours, who look out for each other, take the mail from the letterbox etc

Family member come and mow the lawn

Family also have their own key, and can come and go as they please, borrow the car etc