Again, for my MIL she insists she can’t come for longer than 6 or 8 weeks at a time as her house insurance won’t cover an empty house longer. This is clearly not the case with all insurers as there are plenty of 2nd home owners who spend months on end here, and even, I think, some of you who have flats over there empty other than when you visit.
Could you please advise who can offer insurance with longer vacancy permitted? Obviously good value always looked at too!
@fabien ?
For insurance you could see if any of the UK comparison sites lets you select on that criteria. It works for cars eg amount of time covered abroad.
Moneysaving expert keeps a list of the top 4. They include moneysupermarket and comparethemarket plus 2 I forget that are always there. Cashback sites - the two being topcashback.co.uk and quidco.com - can get good amounts off all sorts of insurance too if you check if provider names on your shortlist are there.
She just needs to change her insurance
Maybe she just doesn’t like you !
we’re starting to wonder I think 2 years not leaving her house much took their toll tbh!!!
Thanks for all the links I’ll at least have something to talk to her about
Would you want someone to stay with you for longer?
She probably should be insured in France instead of abroad as the logic in France usually isn’t that complex. If you declare a property as being a second house it just means that the insurance company know that the property is empty most of the time. It would make a difference is she were to become a permanent resident in France but being in the house for 6 or 12 weeks doesn’t really make a difference. It does make a legal difference though as more than 3 months would probably require a visa but that’s a story for another time 
Her house is in the UK so can’t be insured here, I think Grahame misunderstood when he tagged you! She is French so doesn’t need a visa!
My mums coming for 3 months in June!
With MIL we’d ideally finish our little house next door so she can spend large chunks of time here.
ah… silly me! 
We eventually took out a policy that allows up to 6 months absence via the Camping and Caravanning Club. It does require someone to check on the empty house every 2 weeks reliably, and some other security implemented like window locks etc and ensuring a minimum 15 deg C in winter or draining down. Membership of the club obviously increases the cost a bit, but they do have enough members using Motorhomes and Caravanning abroad for months to be able to negotiate good rates. About 5 days back resets the clock and another 6 month period of unoccupied cover can start.
There are policies - unfortunately my approach to filing is a bin liner or the fire.
Some home insurers will give you cover as a one off - just call and ask nicely - but they tell you to bugger off when you ask again a week after you get home.
You just need to keep searching - it used cost me about another £150 a year on top of a normal policy in London for buildings/contents - and I could be away for up to 6 months on any trip. Someone was supposed to check - but it wasn’t onerous.
You won’t find them on comparison sites - it was google and some calls - broker from memory who sorted. I will have a look in the filing cabinet - but … chances are remote
Sorry - I do remember Saga had policies - I was too young back then but they had long absence policies