Yes, you can insure a house when it’s empty. However, most standard home insurance policies maintain their normal cover for up to 30 consecutive days of the property being unoccupied. After this, cover may be reduced, restricted, or withdrawn due to the increased risk of fire, theft, or damage. To stay protected, you’ll usually need a specialist unoccupied home insurance policy.
In most cases, no. Standard insurance typically does not provide long-term protection once a home is unoccupied for more than 30 days. You must notify your insurer if your property will be empty for longer, as they may continue cover only with strict conditions such as weekly inspections or draining the water system. These conditions can be easy to breach, potentially invalidating the policy.
If your current provider’s terms are unclear, restrictive, or costly, switching to a specialist insurer can ensure you have adequate, compliant protection.
Many standard or budget policies only offer basic FLEEA cover — fire, lightning, explosion, earthquake, and aircraft impact. This excludes common risks such as escape of water, theft, malicious damage, and flood.
With Insuristic, you can choose from Bronze, Silver, or Gold cover levels, with Silver and Gold including these additional risks for broader protection.
Specialist unoccupied home insurance applies whether the property is in probate, has recently become empty due to the owner’s death, is undergoing renovation, awaiting sale, between tenants, or empty because the owner has moved into care.
If you’re acting as an executor, attorney, or deputy, having the right cover is essential to protect yourself from personal financial liability in the event of a claim.
Yes. While standard policies rarely offer extended protection, Insuristic provides specialist cover for 3, 6, 9, or 12 months, with the option to renew as needed. If you’re only leaving the property empty for a few months, you can arrange short-term empty house insurance to match the exact duration you require.
If circumstances change — for example, the property is sold or let — you can cancel the policy at any time. There are no hidden fees or cancellation charges, and pro-rata refunds are available if no claims have been made.
A house can be insured when empty, but after 30 days, most standard home insurance becomes invalid or restricted. A tailored policy from Insuristic ensures your home remains protected against common risks, whether it’s in probate, awaiting sale, undergoing renovation, between tenants, after a bereavement, or vacant due to a move into care.
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Click to go back to our empty house insurance FAQ page.
Rob Faulkner is a leading expert in executor insurance risk and probate insurance, with nearly 30 years’ experience in the UK insurance market. He is the founder of Insuristic, a specialist provider of probate-related insurance solutions and educational content for executors.
Rob is an ACII Chartered Insurance Broker, a Chartered Manager, and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. His background spans insurers, brokers, and Insurtechs, always focused on innovation, transparency, simplicity, and fair value.
He’s passionate about helping everyday people, executors, beneficiaries, and law firms choose the right probate property insurance or unoccupied home insurance, without jargon, inflated fees, or hidden commissions.
Rob is especially passionate about product development and improving insurance education through marketing, helping people understand what they are buying. These values sit at the heart of everything we do at Insuristic.
Want to learn more? Visit my author page or follow me on LinkedIn.
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