A vacant house, as you could probably have guessed, is a property with no permanent or temporary resident at the current moment in time.
Whether this is set to change tomorrow, next week, or months along the line doesn’t change the fact that a house is currently vacant and will be treated as such by insurers, neighbours, and criminals.
Is vacant different to unoccupied?
Yes, all vacant properties are unoccupied, but not all unoccupied properties are vacant. The difference between the two is actually set out in UK regulations which states that a property only becomes vacant when it has been unoccupied for more than 30 days AND all the furniture has been removed.
This is an important distinction that both your council and your insurer will be take into account.
With this definition in mind, properties that are temporarily empty, in terms of human inhabitation, whilst you look for a new tenant, for example, cannot be considered as vacant, but do have many of the same security threats as a vacant property.
What do you need to know about owning a vacant property?
The most important things to know when purchasing a vacant property, or when considering leaving your property unoccupied long enough for it to be considered as vacant include:
Empty Home Premiums
Many people don’t realise that there is actually a fee charged for holding a vacant property, in the form of an empty home premium.
There are certain exceptions to the rule when it comes to empty home premiums, mainly in the form of tax relief for properties currently being renovated but you could find yourself paying a whopping 3x more council tax simply for keeping your property empty so this is definitely something that is worth looking into.
Vacant Property Security
Vacant property security systems can vary slightly from the security measures that you would need to put in place if you were living in the property yourself.
Just one example of this could include the fact that a security camera for vacant property security may need to be powered using a battery because the connection to the mains has temporarily been removed to save money whilst there is no tenant.
Insurance
Vacant property insurance is an interesting one. On the one hand, if you have emptied your property completely, the value of assets on site will fall and your contents insurance MAY be reduced as a result.
On the other hand, with no-one on the premises to deter criminals from gaining entry, the chances of an incident may be judged to increase slightly.
You may see a rise in your premiums as a result of this, however, it may be possible to mitigate at least a percentage of this rise by taking certain security precautions such as installing steel security screens or installing a CCTV system that acts as a deterrent instead.
This is all just general advice, however, and you should consult with your insurance company if you have any specific questions.