Insurance and displaced family stays in Manchester
Insurance accommodation in Manchester
Whole homes in Manchester for families out of their house after a fire, a flood or an escape of water. Pets considered, schools taken into account, and the insurer invoiced directly.
Or call reservations on 0333 880 7213
The short answer
Alternative accommodation in Manchester while your home is unusable.
If a fire, a flood or an escape of water has made your house unliveable, your policy almost certainly pays for somewhere else while it is repaired. That is called alternative accommodation, and it is what we provide in Manchester: a whole furnished house or apartment, for as long as the works take, with the bills included and the invoice going to the insurer or the loss adjuster rather than to you. We deal with adjusters regularly and we know what they need in writing. Manchester is the market we started in and the one we know best.
Called a few different things
You will see this called several things and they all mean the same. Insurance accommodation Manchester, alternative accommodation, displaced family accommodation, emergency accommodation, temporary accommodation after a flood or fire, loss of use accommodation, or simply what the policy calls alternative accommodation. If a loss adjuster has asked you to find somewhere, this is the page.
What the first week is actually like
Two hotel rooms, a microwave and the school run, for four months.
That is what usually happens first, and it is nobody's fault: the insurer needs somewhere immediately and a hotel is what is available at nine at night. It stops working within about a fortnight. A family needs a kitchen, separate bedrooms, somewhere to put the things that were salvaged and a school run that has not doubled. It suits you if:
Where you would be
Staying near your own life in Manchester.
Staying inside the same school run
The constraint that actually decides this is rarely the postcode, it is the school. Greater Manchester is big enough that being three miles out in the wrong direction turns a ten minute walk into a drive across the Mancunian Way at half eight. Tell us the school rather than the town and we will be honest about whether we have anything close enough to it.
Out of the centre, where families actually live
Most insurance claims are not city centre flats. They are semis and terraces in Sale, Chorlton, Prestwich, Stockport and the towns around the edge, and what you need is a whole house with a garden and somewhere to park two cars, not a one bedroom apartment above a bar. It is worth saying which you need at the start.
Getting to work while the works run
The tram network is the thing that makes a temporary address workable here. If you can reach a Metrolink stop, most of Greater Manchester is one change away and you can put up with being a few miles off. If you cannot, you are driving the ring road twice a day for the length of the claim, which wears thin by month three.
A claim that runs longer than anyone says
Fire and escape of water claims in this region commonly run three to nine months and almost always longer than the first estimate. Pick for month five rather than for the first fortnight: a proper kitchen, separate bedrooms, somewhere to put what was salvaged and a garden if there are children. Moving a family twice is the thing worth avoiding.
Parking two cars, which nobody thinks about
The house that burned probably had a drive. The flat that is available probably does not, and in Chorlton or Didsbury a permit zone turns a second car into a daily argument. It is a small thing on day two and a large one by month four, so it is worth putting on the list before the kitchen worktops are.
Winter is when the claims cluster
Escape of water peaks in January and February, when a pipe goes in a cold snap, which is also when the stock that is easy to book is thinnest. If the loss adjuster has just told you to find somewhere, move faster than feels comfortable. The good properties in the right catchment go first and then it is hotels again.
Getting back to the house while it is worked on
You will be back and forth more than you expect: meeting the contractor, letting the drying equipment people in, retrieving things from the loft. Being twenty minutes from your own front door rather than an hour makes that a nuisance instead of a day off work each time. Weight it more heavily than the flat itself.
Somewhere for the things that survived
Salvage comes back in boxes, and it comes back before you have anywhere to put it. A garage, a spare room or even a decent loft hatch is worth more over a nine month claim than an extra bathroom. Ask about storage when you look, because almost nobody advertises it and almost everybody needs it.
Booking direct
The same property, without the platform's cut.
Our properties are on Airbnb and Booking.com as well, and you are welcome to book there. Booking direct also avoids the guest service fee the big platforms add on top, which on a longer Manchester stay is not a small number. Booking with us direct also means you are talking to the people who actually run the property rather than a message thread inside an app, which matters when you need an early check-in or an extra week.
Message reservations rather than booking online, and tell us the postcode you have come out of and which school or work you need to stay near. We will tell you honestly what we have close to it and what we do not, and we will deal with the adjuster directly from there.
In every property
What is actually there when you arrive.
Manchester questions
What people ask about staying in Manchester.
Which part of Manchester should I be in?
Most of what you would need day to day sits in the city centre, the Northern Quarter, Ancoats and the inner suburbs. Tell us where you need to be each morning rather than which postcode you fancy, and we will be honest about what is close to it and what only looks close.
Can I park in Manchester?
Most of the city centre is permit or paid parking and a lot of apartment blocks have no allocated space at all. If you are bringing a car, ask about the specific property, because it is the single most common thing people get wrong here.
How easy is it to get around Manchester without a car?
Metrolink reaches Altrincham, Bury, Rochdale, MediaCity and the airport from the middle of the city, and Piccadilly puts London inside two hours.
What is there to do in Manchester on a day off?
The Northern Quarter, Ancoats, Castlefield and the museums are all walkable from a central base, and the Peak District is inside an hour by train or car. On a long stay the Peaks are what most people end up using at weekends.
Questions we get asked
What families and adjusters ask us.
Will the insurer pay you directly?
In almost every case, yes. We invoice the insurer or the loss adjuster on their terms, with the dates, the address and the claim reference, so you are not putting months of accommodation on a credit card and waiting to be reimbursed. Give us the adjuster's details and we will take it from there.
How long can we stay?
As long as the works take. Claims like this commonly run three to nine months and we would rather book you for the realistic length than move you twice. If the schedule slips, which it usually does, extending is a message.
Can we bring the dog?
Some properties take pets and some do not, so ask early rather than at the end. It is one of the most common reasons a hotel stops working for a family and one of the easiest things for us to solve if we know at the start.
We need to stay in the same school catchment.
Tell us the school and the postcode rather than the city. That is the constraint that actually decides this, and we would rather say we have nothing close enough than put you somewhere that adds forty minutes to every morning.
Check availability
Tell us the postcode you have come out of.
Message reservations with the postcode, how many of you there are and whether there is a pet, and we will tell you straight away what we have near you.
Reservations, seven days a week, on 0333 880 7213