Switch off or else!

It will freeze up in the winter and presumably any security devices will lose power.

Makes one wonder how much the premium was - a good point well made s/c. I shall ask the owner to question the insurance company as to whether or not they will pay out in the event of a claim for burst pipes due to frost damage, fire damage due to disabled mains smoke and heat alarms and losses due to robbery because the security alarm had effectively been disabled by the insurer's own T's & C's.

But how long are backup batteries supposed to last?

What about mains smokes and heat alarms and security alarms?

I have just emailed the owner thus -


"You say that a condition of the granting of the policy was that the electricity supply must be turned off between lets/whilst the property is vacant.


Has it not occurred to the insurance company that if this practice is pursued through the winter months in compliance with their T's & C's, that they would leave themselves wide open to the prospect of a claim for flood damage due to frozen pipes within the building, simply because the electricity which would have powered the boiler and it's associated thermostat had been left turned off?


Similarly -  we get to security. What if you had a intruder alarm installed, which relied upon an electrical supply to function and to keep it's backup batteries charged. If someone broke in, would the company pay out for the loss when their own terms and conditions effectively disabled your security measures? And what about mains powered smoke/heat alarms? What happens then?


I have no idea where you found this insurance company, but having just posted the above scenario on the Wiring Regulations section of the Institute of Engineering Technology forum, I await further input with great interest.


Meanwhile, it might pay you to ask a few awkward questions of your holiday let insurer, since I have never heard of any insistence of the electrical supply being isolated between lets. Rather, in the event of any claims arising, they would insist that the electrical supply be maintained rather than being disconnected, and in the event of failure, would immediately refer you to the electrical supplier's compensation schemes for supply failure rather than creating a situation via their own ts & cs which could give rise to a claim against themselves."

£100 for that letter if you were a solicitor!

I repaired a bungalow for a old lady after pipes burst and brought a bedroom ceiling.


She had gone to stay at her daughters and turned the heating off, the ceiling was down and the bungalow partly flooded within twenty four hours.

In fact I did a job where I disconnected the electrical installation except the consumer then installed a new double socket immediately adjacent to the consumer unit for the security system in a derelict house and all the other services were disconnected, because that was what the insurance company wanted.


They also wanted an EICR to say the existing installation had been disconnected, an Installation Certificate for the new double socket and it’s “circuit” along with a Part P notification.


There’s no second guessing insurance companies, I have just renewed my van insurance and put the annual mileage allowance up from 20K to 30K and the premium went down, the only logical explanation is the more time I spend driving the less time there is for someone to break into it.

IIRC, when I was a boy, the electricity, gas, and water were all turned off when we went away. I don't think that it was unusual.

IIRC, when I was a boy, the electricity, gas, and water were all turned off when we went away. I don't think that it was unusual.


You were spoiled Chris!

No electric, no gas but we did have spring water! And as to going away, well, perhaps a day trip!


Regards


BOD