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How to Buy the Best Unoccupied Home Insurance Policy for your Needs

Homeowners, landlords, and families can protect empty properties with flexible short-term unoccupied home insurance. Fast, clear cover designed for peace of mind.
Best Unoccupied Home Insurance

Buy the best unoccupied home insurance for your needs

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Introduction

Looking for the best unoccupied home insurance based on your situation?

Whether you're renovating, between tenants, selling, travelling, or responsible for a property while someone is living in care, we help you secure specialist cover without the usual stress or hidden costs.

Insuristic provides flexible unoccupied home insurance tailored to real-life situations. Our short-term policies start from just 3 months, with the freedom to extend, cancel without penalty, or choose exactly the level of protection you need.

On this page, you’ll learn what to look for in an unoccupied home insurance policy, why standard home insurance often falls short, and how to arrange tailored cover in minutes.

Want to see what’s included at each level? Visit our Unoccupied Home Insurance page for a full breakdown of Bronze, Silver, and Gold, plus exclusions and inspection requirements.

Our cover is exclusive to Insuristic and not available on comparison sites.

You can insure just the buildings or include contents, choose your cover duration, and cancel early with a pro-rata refund if you haven’t claimed. Everything’s backed by our UK-based in-house claims team.

Our mission? To make buying the best insurance for unoccupied homes simple, transparent, and stress-free - just like our many 5 star  Trustpilot reviews confirm.

Get an instant quote online now, or read on to find the best protection for your property.

This page will help you buy the best unoccupied home insurance quickly and confidently with the right level of protection for your situation.

You’ll learn how our short-term cover works, why standard home insurance may not be suitable for empty homes, and how Insuristic makes it simple to compare flexible policies with no hidden fees.

Need help? Start a live chat or contact us. If we’re offline, we’ll respond to your query by email as soon as we’re back online.

Contents

When Specialist Cover Becomes Essential

Standard home insurance usually stops working after 30 days of vacancy. You may need specialist protection if:
• You’re selling, renovating, or between tenants
• The home’s temporarily empty while you travel
• You’re managing a property while someone’s in care

For probate situations, see our guide to Probate House Insurance

Why It’s Difficult to Compare – and Find the Best Unoccupied Home Insurance

When evaluating the best home insurance for unoccupied properties, it helps to understand what each level of cover provides and how that compares across providers.

Unoccupied home insurance policies may look similar, but conditions and exclusions vary widely. Many providers offer only basic FLEEA cover, excluding more frequent risks like water damage, theft, or malicious acts.

Key differences include:

  • Inspection requirements: many require checks every 7 days, with written reports

  • Limited renovation cover

  • Lack of flexibility on cancellation or refunds

Insuristic offers simpler, more flexible solutions:

  • 14-day inspections with no paperwork

  • No cancellation fees

  • Clear cover levels and transparent pricing

Whether or not you choose us, these features offer a reliable benchmark to help you find the best unoccupied home insurance for your situation.

Read our full guide on why it’s difficult to compare unoccupied home insurance.

How to Choose the Best Unoccupied Home Insurance

To make sure you're getting the right protection, without paying for cover you don’t need, keep these key checks in mind:

  • Term length – Do you need short-term (3–12 months) or annual cover?
  • Cover level – Bronze, Silver or Gold? Make sure it matches your risk tolerance.
  • Buildings and/or contents – Are contents included, or is buildings-only enough?
  • Policy exclusions – Understand what’s not covered (like subsidence or flood in some cases).
  • Inspection rules – Can you meet the requirements? (e.g. simple mobile photo evidence every 14 days)
  • Refund flexibility – Will you get a pro-rata refund if you cancel early and haven’t claimed?
  • Claims support – Is the claims team UK-based, and do they specialise in unoccupied homes?

What’s Included in Each Level of Insuristic's Cover

You can choose from three levels of protection, depending on your needs and risk tolerance:

  • Bronze – Basic protection for major risks like fire, lightning, explosion, and property owners’ liability

  • Silver – Adds cover for storm, flood, accidental damage to pipes and sanitary fittings, and more

  • Gold – Includes everything in Silver, plus cover for escape of water, theft, malicious damage, and subsidence (where applicable)

Want the full breakdown of what each level includes (and excludes)? View our detailed cover comparison

Why People Choose Insuristic to Design the Best Unoccupied Home Insurance for Their Needs

Finding the right insurance for an empty home isn’t always straightforward. Policies vary in price, conditions, and exclusions. Here’s how Insuristic makes it easier:

  • Built for real-life scenarios – Cover designed for homes left empty due to sale, renovation, tenancy gaps, or care situations
  • Short-term flexibility – Choose cover for 3, 6, 9 or 12 months with the freedom to extend or cancel
  • Tailored protection – Select from Bronze, Silver, or Gold cover, and choose whether to insure contents
  • No hidden charges – No admin or cancellation fees. Cancel early (with no claim) and get a pro-rata refund
  • Exclusive and specialist – Our policies aren’t on comparison sites. They’re backed by A-rated insurers and supported by our UK-based team
  • Probate-friendly option – Need cover during estate administration? We offer a separate probate insurance policy

Read our 5 star reviews on TrustpilotSee what our customers say

Frequently Asked Questions

Most people have never insured an empty property before.  It is not the same as standard home insurance.

Here are some common FAQs. You can find many more on our Unoccupied Home Insurance FAQ page. 

If we missed anything, please start an online chat.

3 months (90 days), although you can technically insure for less due to our no cancellation fee and pro-rata refund policy.  Which means if you insure for less time and haven't claimed you get a full refund for any unused cover.

Yes there are no cancellation fees. If no claims have been made, you’ll receive a pro-rata refund.

Yes. You can choose buildings-only or add contents.

Just once every 14 days. We don’t require written reports, two photographs taken with a mobile (one of the front of the property plus any room inside)  per inspection are enough to maintain compliance.

No. You can choose to insure the building only or include contents depending on your needs.

Yes. We offer a dedicated insurance policy for probate properties, including flexible terms and support for executors and solicitors.

You can cancel your Unoccupied Home Insurance policy at any time. Here's how cancellation and refunds work:

Within the First 14 Days (Cooling-Off Period)

You’re entitled to a full refund if you cancel within 14 days of either:

  • The policy start date, or

  • The day you receive your documents (whichever is later),

as long as no claims have been made.

After 14 Days

You can still cancel at any time. As long as no claims have been made (or are pending), you’ll receive a pro-rata refund for the remaining policy period.

  • Although our policy wording includes a minimum charge for cancelling within the first 6 months, Insuristic waives this condition. That means provided there are no claims, you’ll always receive a fair refund based on the days left on cover.

There are no admin or cancellation fees, and cancellation is quick and hassle-free,  just contact us via email or live chat.

If the property has been sold, occupied or entered probate, we can also help you arrange the correct insurance going forward.

Other useful pages

Learn more about our Insurance Expert, Rob Faulkner

Rob Faulkner, Founder of Insuristic

Hi, I'm Rob Faulkner, CEO & Founder of Insuristic.

I’m passionate about simplifying insurance to help everyday people, executors, beneficiaries, and law firms confidently choose the right probate insurance or unoccupied home insurance policy, without jargon, big commissions, or unnecessary fees that inflate your costs.

As an ACII-qualified Chartered Insurance Broker with nearly 30 years of experience, I’ve led product innovations at insurers, brokers, and Insurtech firms, developing solutions that make insurance simpler and more transparent.

I’m especially passionate about product development and marketing, which sit at the heart of our customer-first approach.

Want to learn more? Visit my author page or follow me on LinkedIn.

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