Vacant buildings, undeclared: finding vacancy risk across a portfolio

Vacancy transforms a property risk. Unoccupied buildings suffer worse fire outcomes (later discovery, disabled protection), worse water damage (no one notices the leak), and more crime. Policy terms usually recognise this — vacancy clauses, occupancy warranties — but they only work when vacancy is known.

The declaration gap

Occupancy is declared at inception and rarely updated. Buildings fall vacant mid-term; schedules inherited through renewals carry stale occupancy codes; and in large portfolios nobody is re-verifying line by line. The claims team often discovers vacancy first — at the worst possible moment.

Detection at submission and across the book

Vacancy indicators can be surfaced automatically: signals from imagery, activity data and public records combine to flag locations that appear unoccupied. Applied at submission, the underwriter prices the risk that actually exists. Applied across a portfolio, it produces a worklist of locations to verify — turning an invisible exposure into a managed one.

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