For a lot of people, owning a holiday home away from home is a dream like no other. It is a place for people to escape to, go relax and get away from the everyday rigors of life, such as work, bills, kids etc. Owning a holiday home can also be a source of income for short term rentals. If you don’t want to turn your holiday house into a liability, this is where holiday home insurance comes in handy. It has been proven that having a holiday home poses a great risk in terms of perils. Some examples are burst pipes, water damage, thievery etc. Having holiday home insurance will help cover perils such as these, saving you from spending money out your pocket.
So what differentiates holiday home insurance from other home insurance policies? Well having a holiday home means your renting the house out to people on short terms deals, or you use it as a second home at times. This means that the home policy is different from Landlord insurance policies because a holiday home is vacant for a good portion of time.
Don’t get me wrong, there are many similarities between home owners insurance and holiday home insurance as well. They cover many perils such as:
Home Robbery
- Theft or robbery
- Property damages from falling trees of collisions to the house
- Fire and earthquakes
- Flooding, storms, snow
- Water damage
- Pipe or sewer damage
This is just a small list of what a holiday home insurance covers. Additionally, policies such as these are designed for the times where the houses are being rented out. That means that the policy takes full effect only when the property is considered to be occupied. For a property to be considered occupied, holiday home insurance companies say a property has to be occupied within the last 30 days in order for this to take effect. If the house has been vacant for over 30 days, then the coverage is limited and certain terms need to be added to the policy in order to keep your home insured.
Home Insurance
There are also regulations for the home while it isn’t being occupied. For instances like these, holiday home insurance companies don’t cover the house or the contents inside for the following:
- Jewelry gold, silverware
- Water damages that exceed over $1,600
- Burst pipelines, unless the water valve has been shut off.
- Heating systems being left on
In order to keep you and your property safe and up to date, schedule an internal and external inspection of the property every 30 days to keep a record of visits and maintenance to the house. Having holiday home insurance is enough to keep you safe and you should make sure that you let your insurer know when you have tenants living in the house so you can receive full coverage.