Holiday let insurance
Find out more
Get quotes for properties in the UK and abroad with Intasure[1]
It’s just home insurance that’s specifically designed to cover your second property, whether or not you let it out.
You can buy holiday home insurance for the building, its contents, or both combined into one policy.
Buildings insurance will cover your holiday home’s structure and pay out for repairs if it’s damaged by fire, storms, flooding, vandalism or other insured events.
Contents insurance covers the possessions inside your holiday home, including furniture, TVs, carpets and any personal property you keep in it.
While it’s not a legal requirement, there are several reasons why taking out home insurance for your holiday property is a good idea.
For a start, mortgage lenders often require you to have buildings insurance in place as a condition of the loan. But even without a mortgage, this cover is still vital for covering your property against unexpected disasters.
You should also think about protecting your home’s contents. Especially if there’ll be others using the property. As it makes accidents and breakages more likely.
The chances of losing or misplacing house keys also increases as more guests come to stay. And there’s a higher risk of break-ins if your place is left empty for long periods.
Home insurance will usually only cover your main residence. A second home needs holiday home insurance.
This type of policy can cover you for the times that your holiday home is unoccupied, even if that’s longer than 30 to 60 days.
But if you let your holiday home out to guests, you’ll need holiday lets insurance.
It’ll cover the risks that come with renting your second home out. And you can add extra cover, like public liability and employee liability that you need to run your holiday letting business.
If your holiday home is only used by you and your family, a lot of what’s covered by holiday home insurance will be similar to standard home insurance. And if you let your holiday home out, your policy will share some similarities with landlord cover.
But your holiday home won’t be lived in full-time, so holiday home insurance allows you to leave it empty for extended periods.
You’ll just need to provide a few simple details to get quotes for your holiday home:
The address, building type, the year it was built and plot number if it’s on a holiday park or site
Tell us whether you need buildings insurance, contents insurance, or both. And let us know when you need your cover to start
If you’re letting your property out, you can add public liability insurance and loss of rental income guarantee
Tell us whether your holiday home will be unoccupied for longer periods of 30 days or more
Let us know your contact details and your current correspondence address
Here are some tips that can help cut the cost of insuring your second home:
If you can afford it, it’s often cheaper to pay for the year in one lump sum than to pay monthly
If you need both, it can be cheaper and more convenient to deal with just one insurer
Choose a higher voluntary excess to lower your premium – but make sure it’s affordable if you do need to claim
Find out exactly how much your belongings are worth
Fitting a smoke alarm on every floor could help you find a deal on your insurance
Make sure you have adequate locks installed on your doors and windows
Keep your holiday home properly maintained to reduce your chance of a claim being rejected
Shop around to get the best price possible for your policy
Holiday home insurance isn’t just for UK properties – you can cover your bolt-hole abroad as well. And you can get insurance for lots of different shapes and sizes of buildings.
UK holiday homes can be a smart investment, especially if you’re letting them out. Just make sure you check rising property prices when you give a valuation for insurance.
UK holiday insurance will protect your asset from break-ins, storms, and fires - even if it’s just used as a private family retreat.
Chalets in seaside resorts or woodland log cabins can have unusual or temporary structures.
But holiday home insurance can cover cabins and chalets, as well as hot tubs or outbuildings.
It can be nerve-wracking having something as valuable as a second home so far away from you.
But even if you can only visit it a few times a year, the right overseas holiday home insurance policy will protect your property overseas.
Find out more
Find out more
Find out more
Find out more
Find out more
Find out more
Page last reviewed: 20 July 2023
Page reviewed by Jasmine Hembury
[1]Gocompare.com introduces customers to Intasure which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Gocompare.com's relationship with Intasure is limited to that of a business partnership, no common ownership or control rights exist between us. Please note, we cannot be held responsible for the content of external websites and by using the links stated to access these separate websites you will be subject to the terms of use applying to those sites