This page provides all the information you need when arranging unoccupied home insurance.
We have also covered this in the following video.
On this page, you will find helpful information to help you arrange unoccupied home insurance.
If you have questions not covered on this page, start a chat or contact us. You can click on any of the items in 'Contents' to jump to the section that interests you.
You should consider a specialist home insurance policy if your property is unoccupied.
If a home is going to be empty for more than 30 days, it is common for standard home insurers to:
The cover can also be more expensive than a standard home insurance product because empty homes are more likely to be damaged by damage (such as a burst pipe), fire, theft, or vandalism.
When you get a quote from Insuristic, you can:
We have made it easy to get an unoccupied home insurance quote, but if you need help, our team are only an online chat away.
You can learn more about the cover you can buy, property inspection rules and guidance on our renovation acceptance criteria below.
A property can become unoccupied for many reasons. Here are the most common instances that require unoccupied home insurance:
Most people don’t know how long they need to insure an unoccupied property. Selling the property, finding new tenants, or completing renovations can take time.
Buying an annual policy might mean a more significant upfront expense than necessary, plus possible early cancellation fees.
Insuristic recognises this and has designed a process that makes arranging short-term unoccupied home insurance easy.
You can buy a policy for as little as three months, with options to insure for six or nine months.
However, the way our cancellation process works is that if you are willing to pay a minimum of three months' insurance premium, you can insure for less than three months.
This is because Insuristic:
Which means you only pay for the cover you need.
Why not get a quote if you need to arrange short-term unoccupied home insurance. It will only take a couple of minutes of your time.
So far in 2024, the average Insuristic customer spent £265, including insurance premium tax, and purchased our silver cover for six months.
If you want to understand what factors influence the cost of Unoccupied Home Insurance, watch our video below or read the text underneath it.
The cost of unoccupied home insurance will vary between providers. The price will be determined by how long you need to insure the property for and the level of cover you buy.
In addition to this, there are a number of other factors that will influence the price you pay:
The number of bedrooms in the property: The bigger the property, the higher the cost of repair of reinstatement. So insurers often factor the number of bedrooms in the property in their pricing.
The property Rebuild Value: Some insurance products are priced on the cost to rebuild the house, including the cost of professional and debris removal fees.
The Location of the Property: will have a bearing on the price you pay. For example, if the property is in an area known for flooding or subsidence or if it is in an area with a high crime rate then this will likely increase the cost.
Property Security: If your house is fitted with above average levels of security, such as alarm, this may result in some insurers providing a discount to reflect the lower risk of theft.
Property Maintenance: If the property is in a good state of repair, well protected, is regularly inspected and all water pipes are insulated then the likelihood of a claim is reduced. If the house has been continuously claims free, most insurers will offer a no claims discount. The level of discount increases by the number of claims free years.
The level of cover you buy: Unoccupied house insurance UK policies, usually have three levels of cover. The cheapest is FLEEA only cover. You can find out more about the levels of available cover available from Insuristic above.
Level 1 is our basic level of cover. It only covers loss or damage to the buildings (or contents if you have chosen to insure that) caused by:
Fire
Lightening
Explosion
Earthquake; or
Aircraft
This cover is often referred to as FLEEA cover.
In addition, level 1 also includes:
Architects & surveyors fees and debris removal
Property owners liability insurance, covering your legal liabilities up to £2,000,000 should a member of the public be injured or have their property damaged at your premises.
There will be exclusions which can be found in your Insurance Product Information Document (IPID) or policy wording.
Level 2 is our mid-range level of cover. It extends to the FLEEA cover provided by level 1 to also include loss or damage to buildings (or contents if you have chosen to insure that) caused by:
Storm
Flood
Weight of snow
Impact of vehicles or animals
Falling trees, lamp-posts or telegraph poles
In addition it also provides cover for:
Accidental breakage of sanitary fittings
Accidental breakage to underground services which extend from your home to the public mains which you are legally liable for
The cost of finding the source of any leaks up to £1000 following an escape of water
Breakage or collapse of fixed radio or television aerials, satellite dishes & their masts
Increased domestic metered water charges up to £750 following an escape of water.
There will be exclusions which can be found in your Insurance Product Information Document (IPID) or policy wording.
Level 3 is our highest level of cover. It extends the cover provided in levels 1 and 2, to also include loss or damage to buildings (or contents if you have chosen to insure that) caused by:
Subsidence, heave or landslip (unless you live in an area prone to this type of damage. If this is the case and the cover is excluded, this will be shown clearly on your policy schedule).
Escape of Water or Oil to a maximum of £3,500 for any individual incident (to main this cover, you will need to keep the heating on at all times set to a constant temperature of 15 degrees)
Malicious Damage
Theft or Attempted Theft.
There will be exclusions which can be found in your Insurance Product Information Document (IPID) or policy wording.
You need to know that unoccupied home insurance differs from standard home insurance.
It will differ in the following areas:
Suppose the property will be unoccupied for longer than your existing insurer allows, usually 30 continuous days (check your policy schedule for details). In that case, you must inform your insurer as soon as possible.
Because the risks are much higher for empty properties, many insurers either will not provide coverage or will restrict coverage for long periods of unoccupation.
The Financial Ombudsman Service has listed a number of case studies on its website that involve claims being rejected because the property was continuously unoccupied when the claim was made.
Here are some examples where the insurance provider has rejected claims because the property was unoccupied. The Financial Ombudsman Service ruled in favour of the insurance provider on both occasions:
Claims disputes can take time and are avoidable by purchasing a specialist unoccupied house insurance policy.
Don't leave it to chance if your house will be unoccupiedn for more than 30 continuous days. Notify your insurer to see if they can offer the cover.
If they don’t, you should purchase an unoccupied house insurance policy. You can usually buy this on a short-term basis.
When you are arranging home insurance for an unoccupied property you need to be aware of the risk of underinsurance.
If you are asked to provide a building sums insured, or a declared value, this should not be the market value. It should be the rebuild value of the property.
What is rebuild value?
The rebuild value is not the same as the market value.
A rebuild valuation can often be far higher than the market value as it includes:
How Insuristic can help you avoid underinsuring the property
When you arrange home insurance for an unoccupied property with Insuristic, you may not need to worry about the rebuild value. If the property has four bedrooms or less and a rebuild value below £750,000, you can request a quote without providing a rebuild value.
The policy you buy then has £750,000 building sums insured as standard, meaning you don’t need to worry about underinsurance, provided you are confident your property rebuild valuation is below this figure. If you are unsure whether it is, we recommend completing a rebuild cost assessment to be on the safe side.
If the property will likely exceed a £750,000 rebuild valuation, you can speak to our underwriting team directly at SJL Insurance. They can advise you on how to get a valuation and then provide insurance based on an actual rebuild cost.
Alternatively, you could arrange a rebuild valuation yourself. BCH specialises in building insurance valuations and has offered a discounted price for Insuristic customers. You can order a building rebuild valuation for £100+ VAT from the BCH website.
Unoccupied properties are at a higher risk of fire, theft, water escape, and other types of claims. As a result, your insurer will require the property to be regularly inspected to check for damage or loss.
If you insure with Insuristic, the property will only need to be inspected every 14 days. Unlike many insurance providers, we do not require a written inspection report.
As most people have a mobile device, we have decided to accept images as proof of inspection.
The person inspecting the home must take two images with their mobile phone (one of the front of the property and one inside). You will need to share these pictures with your insurer in the event of a claim.
When renovating an empty home, many insurers will require you to tell them about any renovations (other than painting and decorating) planned for the home.
Insuristic makes this process easier.
If you are planning renovations that cost less than £50,000 and don't include structural changes to the walls or roof, we can provide a quotation for the property online.
If you are changing kitchens or bathrooms, re-wiring or re-plumbing or replacing the doors and windows (costing less than £50,000 in total) we can cover this without increasing the premium or needing to refer your circumstances to our underwriters.
If you are undertaking a major project, you can complete the quote information, but we will need to refer these changes to our underwriter. If your circumstances don't fit our scheme, the team at SJL Insurance Services can provide advice and access to a range of specialist renovation insurers.
The Insuristic home insurance for unoccupied property scheme is underwritten by certain underwriters at Lloyd’s and administered by SJL Insurance Services.
Lloyds is the world's leading insurance marketplace, with an insurance premium income in excess of £35 billion.
SJL Insurance Services are a leading UK Insurance broker with offices in Worcester, London and Bristol.
If you want to see at a glance what is or isn't covered, please view the IPID (Insurance Product Information Document). The policy wording contains the full terms and conditions of the insurance policy. There may be other exclusions and these will be listed on your schedule.
If you need to make a claim, don’t worry. The team at SJL Insurance Services are only a phone call away.
Between the hours of 9am and 5pm call 01905 27775. Outside of these hours call 0121 411 0535.
We have created a short guide on what is involved in making a claim, which you can find here.
If you cancel the unoccupied policy, the insurer will provide a pro rata refund.
We will not charge you a cancellation fee.
To cancel, you would just need to provide the info on our contact us form, including a reason for cancellation and we will do the rest – https://insuristic.co.uk/contact/
Yes, this is easy to do with Insuristic. You can get a pro-rata refund if you decide to insure for longer or if the property becomes occupied before the three months is up. We won’t charge you a fee to cancel the policy.
Yes, this is an area that Insuristic specialises in. We have developed a probate house insurance policy specifically for this purpose. The property can be insured in the name of the estate.
Insurance providers count any room designed or currently used as a bedroom, regardless of its current function. Even if you convert a bedroom into a home office, it'll still be considered a bedroom for insurance purposes. So, a 3-bedroom house with a converted bedroom would remain a 3-bedroom house in their eyes.
Your insurer generally considers a home unoccupied when it is left empty for thirty consecutive days. However, this can vary by insurer, so check your policy schedule for details. If you will surpass the maximum number of days the insurers allow, you must tell them. You will likely require an unoccupied home insurance policy for the duration the property is empty.
The only person who can tell you this is a RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) Surveyor. If you have had a recent home buyer report completed for mortgage purposes, you may find this information in the report. Alternatively, you can arrange a rebuild valuation online for £100 + VAT.
Your insurer will likely require you to keep the property at a set temperature (unless you have drained the water systems), usually to a minimum of 15°C. Be sure to check your policy wording for details.
This will usually be found on the deeds of the document.
If you do not have these, you can usually find an estimated build year on the property checker website
Alternatively, check out our guide 'How to find out when a house was built' for more ways to find out when the home was built.
Hi, I'm Rob, CEO and Founder of Insuristic. My mission is to make insurance easier to understand and buy online.
I hold an Advanced Diploma in Insurance (ACII) which demonstrates I have a solid technical understanding of Insurance and have committed to continuous professional development. I am also a member of the Chartered Insurance Institute and hold the a Chartered Insurance Broker status.
Over the last 27 years, I have worked for insurers, insurance brokers and insurance technology businesses, specialising in product, sales and marketing.
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Insuristic Limited (No: 13926650), is an Appointed Representative of SJL (Worcester) Ltd, who are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority with the reference number 763599.
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Please Note: Our broking team at SJL Insurance will need to talk to you to discuss your requirements. This is an advised service.
Please Note: Our broking team at SJL Insurance will need to talk to you to discuss your requirements. This is an advised service.
Please Note: Our broking team at SJL Insurance will need to talk to you to discuss your requirements. This is an advised service.
Please Note: Our broking team at SJL Insurance will need to talk to you to discuss your requirements. This is an advised service.
Please Note: Our broking team at SJL Insurance will need to talk to you to discuss your requirements. This is an advised service.
Please Note: Our broking team at SJL Insurance will need to talk to you to discuss your requirements. This is an advised service.
Please Note: Our broking team at SJL Insurance will need to talk to you to discuss your requirements. This is an advised service.