[ruthyroo]

Okay the situation is taht we have kept our flat in the UK, rented out through an agency. We have a bog standard fixed rate mortgage on it, the lenders have agreed to renting and we are insured (B&C) for tenants.

What I want to know is... do we have to keep on with the UK life assurance policy that we took out when we got the mortgage? Is it a legal requirement that we have this as long as we have a mortgage? Basically, only my OH is insured by it (I wasn't earning at the time), and if something tragic happened to him, I would sell the flat and pay off the mortgage that way. It has a very basic invalidity cover with it - but we would have to go back to the UK to claim on that anyway so not necessarily all that useful.

So I am basically asking what people with rented properties back in the UK have done about their life assurance - continued paying it, or cancelled it (and replaced with a NZ equivalent??) Help!

[wilson182]

Our FA in the UK advised us to keep ours, so thats what we did. I did think about cancelling it, but hubby didnt think it was a good idea.

[Moorf]

Kept mine going too, but have been keeping an eye out for info as I know what a nightmare some co's can be if trying to get out of a claim... i.e. you've been out of the UK for xx no. of days so it's invalid etc.... I guess I could just ring them... :?

[ruthyroo]

Looks like we will just keep paying then - bah humbug! It's an awful lot to shell out when earning NZ$$, especially as it takes our monthly UK costs above a beyond what we earn in rent...

Moorf - we contacted our Life Ass co before leaving and got a letter to confirm that we were still covered, though we would have to return to the UK to make any claim. Def no opint in paying for something that you might not even be ablet o claim on. I tried to get a cheaper policy, but no one else would take us on when they heard we were heading to NZ.

[Jennie & Rob]

What a nightmare this whole life assurance stuff is. We have about £180,000 joint life to oover the mortgage and some. It is not tied up to the mortgage, we could carry it on without the house. I phoned them today to tell them we were off and to check if it was still valid. Shock horror - no! This was Scottish Widows. I then started ringing all sorts of companies trying to get some cover but none of them would cover us if we were leaving. Why not? It is not like we are moving to a war-torn country or China!#
After finally deciding we would have to go a month or so without any cover (which is a big consideration when you have small children) - Scottish Widows rang back and said they would keep us on as long as we continued to pay the direct debit from a UK account.
I hope NZ stuff is easier!

[Wannaway]

We had no problem with life assurance whilst being overseas. I was of the impression that as long as the premiums are paid from a UK bank account the cover just continues. That is what we were advised.