Empty house insurance

[UncleEbenezer]

No-one will pop by, they are all a min of 3 hours away, one is a 7 hours drive (plus an hour for changing the car....).

Therein is perhaps a market niche for someone to provide a weekly-visit service?

FWIW, my brother dealt successfully with insuring our late father's house. Haven't posted about that 'cos I don't have useful details, but I think his existing insurer was happy to continue provided someone visits at intervals no longer than a fortnight.

Windows don't have vents, it's a very old property, no double glazing, sash windows with that weird internal frame secondary glazing stuff. I'm going to have to set the heating higher than 10deg, probably 16 to ward off damp.

Damp comes from people: our metabolisms and our activities (the latter almost entirely when hot water is involved - especially the bath or shower). If there's noone in the house then there should be no significant source of damp. Of course if you burn gas, that produces water.

my sister keeps saying 'when you come to sell x, y or z', I'm just ignoring her).

Have you invited her to do the legwork of selling things?

[melonfool]

No-one will pop by, they are all a min of 3 hours away, one is a 7 hours drive (plus an hour for changing the car....).

Therein is perhaps a market niche for someone to provide a weekly-visit service?

FWIW, my brother dealt successfully with insuring our late father's house. Haven't posted about that 'cos I don't have useful details, but I think his existing insurer was happy to continue provided someone visits at intervals no longer than a fortnight.

Windows don't have vents, it's a very old property, no double glazing, sash windows with that weird internal frame secondary glazing stuff. I'm going to have to set the heating higher than 10deg, probably 16 to ward off damp.

Damp comes from people: our metabolisms and our activities (the latter almost entirely when hot water is involved - especially the bath or shower). If there's noone in the house then there should be no significant source of damp. Of course if you burn gas, that produces water.

my sister keeps saying 'when you come to sell x, y or z', I'm just ignoring her).

Have you invited her to do the legwork of selling things?

I am ignoring my sister. Over the years I have found this the best strategy, at least initially. She often "forgets" her good ideas if it looks like noone else is going to do them for her.

When mum was ill and sister was instructing me from a distance "you'll need to do this, or that, or make sure x person [normally my brother, who I don't speak to] does y" etc, I did sometimes say "I won't be doing that, you can if you want" and she took great umbrage at me making my own decisions.

This house gets damp from the marshes, floods and rising water table. It's a damp house. The water (and salt) comes out of the walls. It has to be redecorated regularly and the paint flakes off the walls. This is not due to people being in the house.

Btw, the "current" (no longer current) insurer refused to continue the insurance, that was why I asked the question.

Mel

[leojones]

Thank you all, it's more complex than I had expected.

To answer a few things:

It is a house, an extremely old and annoying house that gets very damp. It's not thatched, thank god, but it has a damp cellar.

I have no idea where the stopcock is, I'll add it to my list of Things I Need To Find Out. The very tame local plumber will know. I had been trying to get mum to have a surestop fitted but we never got around to it.

I think I need to leave the heating on, its costing me a fortune, more than my own in a house I actually live in, but hey ho.

I am prepared for the insurance to be really costly, it already is, more than three times mine. I'm getting a £500 refund for the part of the year that is unused, and that's 6m. My own insurance is under £300 a year!

I can't simply move anything valuable I'm afraid, I have nowhere to put it, I don't know what the other beneficiaries might want to take (and they don't reply to my emails, though the next email will have a 'tell me by this date or it's going to house clearance'), I want to leave the house looking 'livable' for marketing for sale, etc etc. There's nothing of huge value though I guess.

Re the flood risk - it's in a flood zone, on the outer edge of one. Admittedly not flooded in the 23 years mum and dad were here, but flooded in 1953 and maybe again since then. This is probably why the insurance is so high in the first place. It does take an extremely rare set of circumstances for the water to come to this part of the flood zone, but they obviously can happen.

I can't drain down the system as I will need to come to the house a lot to sort things out still, though I can't guarantee to be here every 7 days (I can guarantee that I won't in fact). But neighbours will tell me if anything happens that they notice externally, but they won't be going in. There is a cleaner who I can pay to keep an eye on things and come in once a week. She'd not been since mid-Nov and when I got here on 23rd Dec the shelf in the shower had detached itself from the wall, deposited all the bottles etc that were on it into the shower cubicle. Lucky nothing was glass so no breakages and the shelf itself did not shatter, but that's just the type of thing that could happen and lead to more problems I suppose.

I'll call a few today. And have a strong cup of tea while I do! The estate already owes me around £4k so I'm not looking forward to this! (and soon I'll have to pay the estimated inheritance tax, which I'll need a loan for).

Mel

Managing an old property with its challenges can indeed be quite overwhelming, especially when dealing with maintenance, insurance, and potential risks like flooding. It's crucial to prioritize safety and take necessary precautions, such as ensuring regular checks and having someone keep an eye on the property. Engaging with professionals and considering your options step by step can help navigate these complexities. Best of luck with managing the estate and handling the necessary tasks ahead.