unoccupied homeowners insurance

[lblack]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
South Carolina

My mother is presently in assisted living and her home is not occupied. Can her homeowners insurance be cancelled? The property is maintained; electric and water are still supplied to the property. There is also an alarm system in the house; however, there is no working phone for notification if the alarm goes off. Is unoccupied homeowners insurance an option?

Thanks,
L Black

[swrdmbo]

We have this come up with some of our rentals.When we first purchase a property it usually needs improvements made that will render it unoccupied for a
a few months.We get insurance for the unoccupied house,but it is more expensive. Just call your agent and ask.If their company will not do it, call around.Good luck.

[moburkes]

You MUST change the insurance policy. Generally speaking, once the home has been unoccupied for more than 30 days, your coverages are extremely limited. Read the policy. You'll see what it says.

It IS a more expensive policy, but worth it.

[FlyingRon]

You might want to pay for a minimal phone service to get the monitoring or get one of the systems like I have that has a wireless connection to the central station. My alarm is completely independent of either the phone or the building power going out (as a matter of fact, that's how I know the power goes out when I'm not there, the alarm system sends me a trouble message via a text message).

[codysmom]

Even with all the utilities working and the alarm system you will need to get a vacant dwelling policy. As moburkes indicated read the vacancy clause in your homeowners policy it will outline the number of days after which the coverage becomes almost non-exsistant.