Introduction | Homeowners
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| Costs of cover |
Choosing a policy | Making a claim
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insurance
Levels of COver
Holiday homes
Anyone who's returned from leave, frazzled after negotiating grim
hotel rooms and crowded beaches, may have fantasised about owning
their own holiday get-away. As well as offering the chance to disappear
over weekends, the option of renting the property to other holiday
makers can go some way towards making it a cost effective proposition.
But aside from interest rates and property prices, potential holiday
homeowners should also pay plenty of attention to selecting the
right insurance, as second homes can carry unique risks.
If you rent out your holiday home, you could loose pre-booked hiring
charges because damage to the building suddenly makes it uninhabitable
or oil spillage has occurred on a nearby beach. It's worth looking
around for a policy that can protect that income.
Even if you doesn't plan to rent out the property, a standard household
policy is unlikely to provide appropriate cover. You can expect
to pay extra to insure a second home under a standard household
policy, without getting any of the benefits of a specialised policy.
Omitting to mention the insurance is for a second home is not a
solution either. The insurer refuse to pay your claim if you have
not disclosed this additional risk.
In order to get the best value out of their insurance, keep the
following five points in mind:
- Use your second home as regularly as possible. If you leave
it unoccupied for more than 60 days at a time, you risk losing
your cover against events like malicious damage, escaped water
and theft or attempted theft.
- Don't be tempted to casually rent out your holiday home if
you initially said you're not going to. Those who keep a second
home purely for their own use, without letting it out, pay lower
insurance premiums and are likely to receive wider cover. If you
take this chance, you put your insurance cover at risk.
- Think twice about what you keep in your holiday home. Insurers
are unlikely to cover valuables and money in second properties.
- Having holidaymakers stay in your property brings certain responsibilities.
Make sure your insurance policy covers you against liability arising
from ownership of the property, for example someone breaking a
leg after tripping on a broken step.
- Your holiday home should not only be on your mind during the
summer. If the building is unoccupied for more than two weeks
at a time during the winter months, you will need to protect your
property from the usual winter risks such as frozen pipes. Either
turn gas electricity off at the main or leave the heating systems
on.
Further reading on levels of cover:
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