UK Holiday Home Insurance
According to a recent Census, some 1.6 million Britons have a holiday home in which they live for longer than a month each year. That accounts for a sizeable 2.8% of the whole population of England and Wales.
A further 1.5% of the population have a second address abroad.
From responses relating to the principal uses of all second addresses, it is clear that there is widespread and popular appeal in owning a holiday home.
The prudent owners amongst this large population are likely to have considered the valuable protection given by holiday home insurance.
What is UK holiday home insurance?
What is UK holiday home insurance?
In the same way that home building and contents insurance is likely to be the principal safeguard for the property which is your main residence, holiday home insurance is designed to protect your holiday home in the UK.
It is important to remember that the property’s use as a second or holiday home, however, makes the risks and perils against which it needs to be insured somewhat different.
It is that difference which makes this type of insurance something of a niche product in which a specialist provider – such as those of us here at Specialist 4 Property Insurance – is likely to have a particular expertise and experience.
What does it typically cover?
What does it typically cover?
The core elements of UK holiday home insurance may be immediately recognisable as similar to your main home insurance, namely:
- building insurance to protect the structure and fabric of the property against such major risks as flooding, storm damage, fire, impacts, and vandalism; and
- contents insurance to protect those possessions, belongings, equipment and appliances which you keep within the property – and even within a second home, the contents that have built up over the years may represent a considerable investment.
But holiday home insurance also recognises some risks and perils which might be especially relevant to a second home, just two of which may be given by way of example:
- cover for those periods when the property is vacant and unoccupied – almost inevitable with a holiday home, even one that is let occasionally or on a regular basis to tenants and other holidaymakers; and
- related to the latter point, a recognition of the particular need for adequate public liability insurance – to protect against claims which may be made by your visitors, tenants or members of the public who may suffer personal injury or have their property damaged in connection with the holiday home you own.
Who is UK holiday home insurance suitable for?
Who is UK holiday home insurance suitable for?
If you own a second or holiday home in the UK, there is every reason to consider this type of insurance as suitable for your needs.
It maintains protection for your second home even when you are not there to look after it – but you any insurer is nevertheless entitled to expect you to take every care to mitigate the risk of loss or damage, especially when the property is unoccupied, for example.
Summary
Summary
Holiday home insurance is similar to standard home insurance, but different in some critical respects – determined, of course, by the property’s use as a holiday home as distinct from the one in which you reside on a permanent basis.
Because of these critical differences, you might want to make sure that your holiday home insurance is arranged through a specialist provider of such cover.
