We bought a 3-bed semi-detached house in Thurnscoe, Rotherham, South Yorkshire. We bought this property from a tired landlord. Hung Lee did not want to remain as a landlord. He wanted to start a business and release equity tied up in his investment property.
Everything went as planned, and we bought the property within 3 weeks. In our local authority search, the planned HS2 was going to be built a few hundred yards away from the garden boundary. But we still honoured our purchase.
We got burnt buying this house...
Buying a property can be deceptive and expensive. We did not know that the next-door property was tenanted, and the tenant was evicted on Friday.
We bought our property on Thursday, and on Sunday, our property was on fire. Allegedly the former tenant returned to the evicted property, poured petrol in the living room and bedrooms and set the house on fire.
Does your insurance pay out for a house fire?
Our insurance company did pay out, but only after 10 months. We had to employ the services of a loss adjustor to act for us.
Naturally, any insurance company will either try to get out of the option of paying out or delay paying for as long as possible.
What can invalidate house insurance?
Thank God we were fully insured. Had Hung Lee not sold the property 3 days earlier, he would not have been covered because the property had been empty for more than 30 days.
You need empty property insurance on a full perils cover. This is a specialist insurance product, and due to the increased risk of vandalism, arson attack or theft – this cover is very expensive.
If you sell your residential or commercial property to us, we can insure it once we exchange contracts, giving you peace of mind.
How the story ended
We auctioned the property with just £1 guide price and took a loss on it because the quotes to repair the house were substantial, and our house insurance company did not wish to fully repair the property.
It just goes to show that it is not always glamorous in the property world, and you can get caught out.
