How Is Home Insurance for an Empty House Different from Standard Cover?

If your property will be unoccupied for more than 30 consecutive days, your standard home insurance may no longer give you full protection. Most insurers reduce cover to basic FLEEA risks (fire, lightning, earthquake, explosion, and aircraft) or add strict new conditions, leaving you exposed to major risks like theft, escape of water, flood, malicious damage, and subsidence.

Specialist unoccupied home insurance is designed to keep properties protected whilst they are unoccupied, whether due to probate, renovation, awaiting sale, between tenants, or have gone into care.

What Is Standard Home Insurance?

Standard home insurance is built for lived-in homes and typically covers:

• A wide range of perils covered
• Optional high-value contents cover
• No strict inspection or security requirements
• Cover for belongings taken away from the home (e.g., laptops, jewellery)

This works well while the property is occupied. But once it’s empty, the risk profile changes, and so does the level of protection, often leaving significant gaps in cover.

What Changes When the House Is Empty?

Once unoccupied for more than 30 days, insurers often:

• Reduce cover to basic FLEEA cover (fire, lightning, earthquake, explosion, aircraft)
• Impose stricter conditions (regular inspections, draining water systems, switching off utilities)
• Limit or remove the contents cover entirely

Specialist unoccupied home insurance is built for these scenarios and is more likely to require and accommodate practical precautions.

Contents Cover for an Empty Property

Because empty homes are more vulnerable to theft, contents cover is often restricted:

• No cover for items away from the home
• Lower single-item limits (often around £1,000)
• Reduced overall sums insured (commonly £30,000 max)

How Insuristic Makes This Easier

We make compliance simple and achievable:

• Inspections: Every 30 days for probate properties, every 14 days for unoccupied home insurance.
• No written reports: Just take a photo with a mobile phone of the inside and outside of the property to evidence each visit.
• Flexible cover: Choose Bronze (FLEEA), Silver, or Gold (with options to include theft, escape of water, flood, malicious damage, subsidence).
• Policy lengths: Short-term insurance for 3, 6, 9 or 12 months, or an annual policy.
• No hidden fees or cancellation charges
• Pro-rata refunds if cancelled without a claim

When Do You Need Specialist Empty House Cover?

You should consider switching if the property is empty:

• Whilst awaiting sale
• When between tenants
• During renovation
• When the owner has passed away
• Dyring probate
• While the owner is in the hospital or care

Summary: Home Insurance for an Empty House

If your home is unoccupied for more than 30 days, standard home insurance may leave dangerous gaps in coverage. Specialist unoccupied home insurance from Insuristic ensures you stay protected against the unique risks of unoccupied property, with practical conditions and flexible terms.

Learn More

• Unoccupied Home Insurance – full details of our flexible cover options
• Probate House Insurance – specialist protection for executors and administrators

Click to go back to our empty house insurance FAQ page.