Unoccupied property insurance in the UK ensures that an empty property is fully insured when no one is residing in it.
In this guide, we tell you everything you need to know about empty house insurance, including what it covers, when you might need it and how much it costs.
Unoccupied house insurance is a niche type of home insurance policy that specifically provides insurance cover for a property that is left empty for longer than is acceptable under standard home insurance policies.
Most standard home insurance policies typically only provide cover for a home that has been left unoccupied for up to 30 days (or, albeit rarely, sometimes up to 60 days) - the time period for non-occupancy varies between insurance providers.
If you know a property you own is going to be left unoccupied for four weeks or more, you should check the terms and conditions of your existing home insurance policy to ensure your home is fully covered.
An unoccupied property is much more susceptible to damage than an occupied property as no one will be there to, say, notice a leak or a sneaky potential squatter breaking into the property.
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Unoccupied insurance can cover everything that a standard home buildings insurance policy and, if required, everything a standard home contents insurance policy typically covers such as damage caused to your property and/or its contents by:
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As with all insurance policies, there are circumstances where you may not be covered should you have:
Insuring a house that no one lives in can be necessary for a variety of reasons such as:
With most standard home insurance policies, you can only leave your home unoccupied for up to 31 days and still be covered.
However, if your home is left unoccupied for longer than 30 days and you fail to tell your insurer and/or arrange specific insurance for an empty property, then you risk invalidating your home insurance policy.
If you invalidate your home insurance, if you try to make a claim and your insurer becomes aware that the property was left unoccupied for 30 days or more, they could easily refuse to honour your claim.
This means that if your house burned down to the ground, you’d have to fund building another property in its place out of your own pocket. What’s more, if your property is mortgaged, you’ll still have to pay your monthly mortgage payments for a pile of ashes!
The cost will vary between insurance providers and additionally, postcodes will affect the cost of your premiums too. For example, your insurance premiums will be much higher if you live in a high crime rate area with lots of house burglaries like London or Birmingham or much lower if you live in an area with a low burglary rate such as Swansea.
To give you a general idea of costs, the following table shows the average amount you’d expect to pay based on how many days your property is left empty.
As you will see from the table below, it’s more expensive to insure a property for only 1 to 14 days than it is to insure it for 15 to 30 days in a row.
No. of days house left unoccupied |
Average insurance premium cost |
|
1 to 14 consecutive days |
£140 |
|
15 to 30 consecutive days |
£127 |
|
31-45 consecutive days |
£146 |
|
46-60 consecutive days |
£150 |
|
61+ consecutive days |
£172 |
|
None |
£113 |
Source: moneysupermarket.com
If you’re not sure how long you need cover for, most insurers will allow you to extend your policy should you need to. But ask, when taking out insurance, what your provider’s fees will be if you wish to extend your policy cover (i.e. possible administration fees) and whether your insurance premiums will increase, and if so, by how much.
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When an insurer provides you with a quote for empty home insurance, when trying to determine what to charge you, they will look at your:
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If you fail to tell your insurance provider that your home has been left unoccupied for longer than is allowed, as specified in your insurance policy’s terms and conditions, then you could invalidate your insurance and should you try to make one, have a claim refused.
Read more: What can invalidate home insurance?
You should compare quotes from different insurers and when comparing quotes, specifically compare: