Perhaps you genuinely don’t have need for unoccupied property insurance – but are you sure? In the event that you needed to make a claim, getting this wrong potentially may cost you serious amounts of money and major stress – so reading on may be a smart idea!

A basic question about unoccupied property insurance

Is your property really never unoccupied?

It’s worth remembering two key points to start with. They may well affect your views of unoccupied property insurance and help you to answer the above question:

• typically this is any property that stands unoccupied for more than 30 consecutive days (this may vary slightly depending on who your buildings insurance provider is);
• if your property does meet the criteria for being unoccupied, then your existing buildings and contents insurance may be invalidated.

The owner-occupier

If you are an owner-occupier, you may wish to consider whether or not you’re ever likely to:

• take an extended holiday;
• work away from home for a period of time;
• have a property under probate or one awaiting sale due to an elderly relative moving in to a care home;
• own a property currently empty pending a divorce settlement.

In any of these cases, vacant property insurance may be needed in order to give your home the protection it needs.

The landlord and landlords’ buildings and contents cover

Many experienced and veteran landlords will already appreciate that they need specific landlords buy to let insurance as traditional owner-occupier buildings and contents insurance typically won’t provide protection for a property once you start to rent it out.

And if you are a landlord, then some of the above risks may also apply to you at times but you’ve also got to take into account:

• properties empty in between rentals;
• properties that are empty because you’re having them decorated;
• properties that are unoccupied because you’ve only just purchased them on a buy to let basis and you are in the process of converting them;
• properties that are just simply tired and which you’re refreshing and refurbishing.

In all these situations those 30 days may disappear very quickly indeed – in fact, before you even realise it. That’s why unoccupied property insurance may be worth taking seriously from the outset.

As mentioned before, do note that failure to notify your insurer that a property will be standing empty for a period of time whether you are an owner-occupier or a landlord may invalidate your existing insurance arrangements.

In conclusion, unoccupied property insurance may not be something to be dismissed too lightly as unnecessary – unless you enjoy gambling with significant amounts of your capital assets!