Is your home going to be vacant for a considerable amount of time? This isn't about going away on a trip for several weeks or a couple of months time. This is what "unoccupied" means to a home insurance company. It's something that many people do occasionally, and is to be expected.
Usually, if your home is "unoccupied", the only coverage restriction occurs when you're away from your home for 4 days or more during the usual heating season. Homes should have a daily visit in order to ensure that your heating system is running properly. Another good option is to drain your appliances and your pipes, and then shut the water to your home off. If you fail to take these simple steps and your pipes freeze over causing damage, your insurance provider will not accept your claim.
What's considered "vacant"?
Typically, the insurance company will consider your home to be "vacant" if you have moved out and are not intending to go back, or if this is a new home that you have not moved into yet. It could also be a home you're renting out, and it is currently untenanted.
Whatever the case, if your home is "vacant", you'd better make sure you contact your insurance provider right away! You can have insurance on your vacant home and still have certain exceptions that are not covered, including vandalism, water damage, and glass breakage. In most cases, if you have not included a "vacancy permit" on to your insurance, and you're away from the home for more than 30 days, your coverage will no longer be active.
What does a vacancy permit actually mean?
For an additional charge each month, some coverage can be retained by adding a vacancy permit, but it isn't going to be cheap. Vandalism, glass, and water are generally not covered though.
If you follow some steps to protect yourself, there's a lot that you can do to minimize the occurrence of loss or damage to your home while it is vacant:
Make sure the lawn is kept trimmed, and any garbage or debris is picked up.
Keep curtains on all the windows.
Mail should be collected, and flyers should be taken away and recycled.
Put a timer in the house, to turn lights on and off.
Once or twice a week, you, or someone else should have a look around to make sure everything is safe and secure.
The furnace and heat situation needs to be maintained during the winter months.
Make sure all the doors and windows are locked, and consider installing a monitored intrusion alarm.
Do whatever you can to make a vacant home looked lived in. If it's obvious that a house is vacant, it won't be long before vandals strike. Most importantly, keep in close contact with your insurance provider. Let them know how long the home will be vacant, and provide them with details on when you're returning and what you have arranged to ensure that the home is safe. Get the best coverage you can, so you don't have any nasty surprises if the worst happens.
Usually, if your home is "unoccupied", the only coverage restriction occurs when you're away from your home for 4 days or more during the usual heating season. Homes should have a daily visit in order to ensure that your heating system is running properly. Another good option is to drain your appliances and your pipes, and then shut the water to your home off. If you fail to take these simple steps and your pipes freeze over causing damage, your insurance provider will not accept your claim.
What's considered "vacant"?
Typically, the insurance company will consider your home to be "vacant" if you have moved out and are not intending to go back, or if this is a new home that you have not moved into yet. It could also be a home you're renting out, and it is currently untenanted.
Whatever the case, if your home is "vacant", you'd better make sure you contact your insurance provider right away! You can have insurance on your vacant home and still have certain exceptions that are not covered, including vandalism, water damage, and glass breakage. In most cases, if you have not included a "vacancy permit" on to your insurance, and you're away from the home for more than 30 days, your coverage will no longer be active.
What does a vacancy permit actually mean?
For an additional charge each month, some coverage can be retained by adding a vacancy permit, but it isn't going to be cheap. Vandalism, glass, and water are generally not covered though.
If you follow some steps to protect yourself, there's a lot that you can do to minimize the occurrence of loss or damage to your home while it is vacant:
Make sure the lawn is kept trimmed, and any garbage or debris is picked up.
Keep curtains on all the windows.
Mail should be collected, and flyers should be taken away and recycled.
Put a timer in the house, to turn lights on and off.
Once or twice a week, you, or someone else should have a look around to make sure everything is safe and secure.
The furnace and heat situation needs to be maintained during the winter months.
Make sure all the doors and windows are locked, and consider installing a monitored intrusion alarm.
Do whatever you can to make a vacant home looked lived in. If it's obvious that a house is vacant, it won't be long before vandals strike. Most importantly, keep in close contact with your insurance provider. Let them know how long the home will be vacant, and provide them with details on when you're returning and what you have arranged to ensure that the home is safe. Get the best coverage you can, so you don't have any nasty surprises if the worst happens.
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For further details, please visit this blog, or if you're a first time home buyer visit www.squareoneinsurance.ca.
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