Unoccupied property insurance

Properties can be unoccupied for a number of reasons. If it’s your main home, you might be away for an extended period for work or on holiday. A home may also be left empty if an elderly owner has moved into care or during probate. Properties are also often unoccupied if extensive building work is being carried out.

Many unoccupied properties are second homes, which have either been bought as rental properties or inherited. Buy-to-let properties may be empty because of ‘voids’ between tenants, or while undergoing renovation, and holiday homes may be vacant out of season. Inherited properties are frequently left empty while the new owner or owners decides what to do with them, particularly as this type of home may need renovation before it is suitable for rental.

Most insurance providers consider a property to be unoccupied if it’s empty for more than 30 consecutive days. It’s important that you notify your provider if this is going to be the case. After 30 days, different insurers change their cover levels at different cut off points and for different situations: for example, if the property being insured is your main residence, HomeProtect, requires you to arrange for weekly inspection visits to be carried out. Sometimes this is referred to as the 30 day rule by insurers.

Empty properties carry greater risks in terms of burglary, vandalism or even squatting, and also the amount of damage caused by unnoticed issues like bust pipes. It’s easy to imagine how carpets and skirting boards could be ruined by water escaping over several days in an empty house, whereas in an occupied property it would be spotted much more quickly.

Your insurance provider needs to know that your property is unoccupied for 30 consecutive days or more so that they can factor these increased risks into your policy terms.

Many of the factors that affect insurance premiums for empty properties are the same as those for occupied homes, such as location and rebuild value. The cost of insurance may be higher for a particular property when it is empty than when it is unoccupied because of higher security risks, or it may be similar but with limitations on what is covered; for example, buildings cover may be limited to fire, lightening, explosion, earthquake and aircraft collision, but not include storm, flood or subsidence.