There are several reasons why a home may lie vacant for a long time. Perhaps you’ve inherited a property and are in the process of transferring ownership through legal channels. Perhaps you are in the middle of a house relocation and the finishing dates have not quite fallen into place. You could be working away for a number of months, or enduring a long renovation, or simply waiting for a new renter to move in. But for whatever reason, the moment a property is left vacant, it falls into a risk category that ordinary home insurance plans are not meant to cover – and that’s exactly what empty house insurance is for.
Many property owners believe their current buildings and contents insurance will continue to cover their property whether if someone is living there or not. This is one of the most prevalent and expensive mistakes in the insurance industry. Most basic house insurance plans have a condition which voids or significantly restricts cover if the property is left uninhabited for a specific period, often between 30 and 60 days. Once that point is passed the homeowner might be totally defenceless, frequently without recognising it until something goes wrong. Empty house insurance is meant to fill that gap and to guarantee the property stays completely insured throughout the vacant time.
The Risks That Compound the Moment You Exit
It may be tempting to imagine that an empty home is safer than an occupied one, as there are no tenants to accidently leave the stove on or forget to lock the back door. In fact it’s usually the other way around. There are several reasons why unoccupied buildings have a higher than average amount of risk, and these reasons make empty house insurance not only a prudent choice but an important one.
Firstly, empty houses attract opportunistic burglars. Burglars and vandals are quick to discover buildings that give signals of being vacant for a long period – no mail being collected, uncut lawn, darkened windows night after night, and no sound of movement inside. Without the natural deterrent of day-to-day occupation, these houses are far more exposed to break-ins, vandalism, fly-tipping in gardens and even unlawful squatting. Any of these situations can cause thousands of pounds worth of damage and without empty house insurance in place, every bit of that cost will be the owners.
Second, vacant buildings are far more vulnerable to harm from undiscovered maintenance flaws. In a lived-in house, tiny faults are spotted and fixed fast – a leaking pipe, a broken roof tile, a broken boiler. These problems may go unnoticed for weeks or months when the property is unoccupied. A trickle can turn into a disastrous deluge. A little wet area can become into structural damage and hazardous mould. Tragic fires can be caused by minor electrical faults. Empty house insurance is built with these dangers in mind, offering the type of comprehensive protection that a regular occupied-home policy just can’t deliver.
Why Your Regular Policy Will Almost Certainly Let You Down
Here’s a detailed explanation of why a standard house insurance policy doesn’t cover an uninhabited property. When an insurance company quotes a conventional policy they price risk with the premise the property is occupied. A home that is lived in has an early warning system: its people. They notice if the heater breaks down, a window is left open in a storm or a neighbour is acting suspiciously. Human presence significantly cuts risk and insurers price their insurance accordingly.
Without that human presence, the risk profile alters radically. This is why most insurers have a so-called unoccupancy clause, which means your policy is lowered, or terminated altogether, once the property has been unoccupied for a certain number of consecutive days. But unless the homeowner takes out specific vacant house insurance before that time passes, they are basically running without any significant protection at all. In the event of a claim, they may be denied altogether since the property didn’t match the insurer’s occupancy rules.
This is not a technicality that impacts a limited number of individuals. Every year thousands of home owners find that their insurer will not pay out, often in the most stressful of situations, because they neglected to notify the insurer of the vacancy or to secure sufficient empty house insurance. The financial and emotional toll may be staggering.
Legal and Financial Consequences of Being Uninsured
The financial and legal ramifications of leaving a vacant house without empty house insurance extend beyond the obvious expense of repairing or replacing a damaged property. If a third party is hurt or suffers damage as a consequence of a problem with your property – for instance, a fire spreading to a neighbour’s home, or a guest being wounded on the grounds – you may be held personally accountable. Claims and prosecutions of this sort can be financially crippling, particularly if there is no insurance coverage to cover the costs.
The stakes are bigger for landlords. A gap between tenancies is part of the routine leasing process, but it’s also when the property is at its most susceptible and when empty house insurance is most important. Like normal residential plans, landlord insurance policies often include unoccupancy provisions. Without specialist unoccupied property protection in place during void periods, not only is the property vulnerable but it also constitutes a breach of any mortgage restrictions requiring the property to be suitably covered at all times.
What Empty House Insurance Actually Covers
Specialist empty home insurance is designed to provide for the particular vulnerabilities of a deserted property . Policies vary but a complete policy will often include protection for fire, flood, storm damage, escape of water, theft and intentional damage. Some plans will additionally contain liability insurance protection to protect the owner if a third party makes a claim in relation to the property. Many plans also provide you the option of taking out cover for short periods of time which is perfect when you expect the vacancy to be temporary.
It’s worth noting that insurers selling vacant house insurance will typically demand the owner to follow specific requirements in order to keep valid cover. This might involve scheduling frequent inspections of the property, leaving the heating on at a low level throughout the colder months to prevent burst pipes, ensuring all access points are secure and emptying the water system if the home is to be unoccupied for the length of winter. These are totally fair criteria, and their fulfilment not only maintains the effectiveness of the insurance but actually minimises the chances of a claim occurring in the first place.
The Price of Cutting Corners
Some homeowners baulk at the expense of empty house insurance, especially if the property is only being left unoccupied for a short length of time. This is reasonable – any extra expenditure is a pain when you are already dealing with the costs of a property sale, a probate procedure or a remodelling project. But the expense of a specialist empty property coverage is little compared to the potential cost of one uninsured claim.
The expense of reinstating a house which has suffered a catastrophic fire, flood or vandalism may quickly run into tens of thousands of pounds. In other situations of structural damage the value might be much greater. No reasonable owner, having properly grasped these hazards, would choose to leave their property exposed like this of their own accord. That little extra cost of empty house insurance isn’t a luxury you don’t need – it’s the cost of peace of mind and financial stability at what is frequently an already unpredictable and stressful period.
A Last Word on Peace of Mind
If you own a house or an investment property, your duties don’t finish just because no one is living there. This responsibility is intensified if anything at the moment a property becomes unoccupied, because the natural protection that everyday occupation provides is lost overnight. Empty house insurance exists to fill that gap, ensuring that the risks associated with an abandoned property are appropriately managed and that the owner is not left facing potentially catastrophic losses on their own.
Skipping vacant house insurance is like playing Russian roulette with what is, for most individuals, their biggest financial asset. No short term discount on premiums is worth that risk. It is evident that the rational and responsible thing to do when a property becomes unoccupied is to make suitable arrangements for insurance immediately, to maintain that cover during the period of vacancy, and to review it as circumstances change. You deserve no less for your property.
