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Compare holiday home insurance: the details to have ready for quotes
To compare holiday home insurance in the UK, have occupancy, letting days, heating, security, rebuild value and claims ready. Here is why each one matters.
To compare holiday home insurance in the UK, have the same facts ready for every quote: how many nights a year the home is lived in, whether and how often it is let, how it is heated and protected in winter, its security, its full rebuild cost and any past claims. Those answers decide whether an insurer will cover the property, on what terms and at what price, and getting one wrong can cut or cancel a claim later.
Why is holiday home insurance different from normal home insurance?
The main difference is that a holiday home spends long stretches empty, which leaves it more exposed to burst pipes, unnoticed leaks and break-ins.
Standard home policies deal with this through an unoccupancy limit. The Financial Ombudsman Service explains that many policies stop covering theft or attempted theft, malicious damage and escape of water once a home has been empty for a set period, and that the period "is usually 30 or 60 days". A second home that sits empty from October to Easter can pass that point easily.
Holiday home policies are written with those gaps in mind, but still ask detailed questions. There is more on the wider differences in holiday home insurance vs home insurance: why a second home differs.
What details do you need to compare holiday home insurance?
This is the list to have ready before you ask for a second home insurance quote. If you give the same answers each time, any holiday home insurance comparison you make is like for like.
| What you will be asked | Why the insurer asks |
|---|---|
| Nights a year the home is lived in, and the longest gap between visits | Sets how long the property is empty, which affects escape of water, theft and damage risk |
| Whether it is let out, how many nights and to whom (family, friends, paying guests) | Paying guests change the risk and may need a policy that allows letting |
| Heating type and what happens in winter (heating left on low, system drained down, water turned off) | Frozen and burst pipes are a known risk in homes left empty in cold weather |
| Locks, alarm, who holds a key and how often someone checks the property | Security and regular checks reduce theft and help spot leaks early |
| Full rebuild cost of the building and value of the contents | Sets the sum insured; too low and claims can be paid in part |
| Construction (walls, roof, flat roof areas), age, listed status | Affects repair costs and some risks such as fire |
| Location, including flood history and nearby rivers or the coast | Flood and storm exposure |
| Past claims and any previous refusal or cancellation of insurance | Past claims can affect whether cover is offered and on what terms |
| Whether it is your home, a family home or held through a business | Decides which kinds of policy and scheme can apply |
Occupancy and letting days
Be precise. "We go most weekends in summer" is not a count of nights, so check bookings or a diary and work out the longest stretch the home sat empty last year.
If you let to paying guests, give the number of letting nights and say whether you use an agency or booking platform. A policy written for private use may not suit a holiday let. If you let it out on a longer basis, the questions are closer to a landlord policy, covered in landlord insurance quote UK: what you're asked and why it matters.
Heating and drain-down in winter
Expect questions about the heating system and what you do when you leave. The Association of British Insurers advises turning off the water at the stopcock if a home is left unoccupied, insulating pipes and loft tanks, setting heating on a timer when you go away and fixing dripping taps. The same guidance tells people to check their policy for requirements once a home is unoccupied for a set period, such as 30 days or more.
Some policies make steps like these a condition of cover in winter, and a claim can be affected if a condition you agreed to was not kept.
Security and key holders
Know your door and window locks, whether there is an alarm (and if it is monitored), who holds a key and how often they check the house. Regular visits matter: the Ombudsman says a property may still count as occupied if it was visited "reasonably frequently" where a policy does not define the word, but it is unlikely to back a complaint where a property was abandoned or neglected.
How do you work out the rebuild value of a holiday home?
The buildings sum insured should be the cost of rebuilding the property from scratch. It is not the price you paid or what it would sell for, and for older cottages and listed buildings in particular the two figures can be very different.
Getting this wrong has a direct cost. In one Financial Ombudsman case study, a homeowner gave a rebuild cost of £400,000 when a loss adjuster estimated it at about £800,000, and the insurer applied the average clause and paid half of an escape of water claim. The Ombudsman decided the settlement should reflect the extra premium the insurer would have charged, which raised the payment to 85% of the claim, but it still agreed the homeowner was underinsured.
To estimate rebuild cost, the options are:
- Check whether a recent survey or valuation report gives a reinstatement figure (a mortgage valuation figure is not the same thing).
- Use a rebuild cost calculator offered by an insurer or broker, entering the floor area and construction accurately.
- For unusual, listed or large properties, ask a chartered surveyor for a rebuild cost assessment.
Why does a wrong answer matter when you get a holiday home insurance quote?
When you buy insurance as a private individual, the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012 puts a duty on you to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation. In practice, that means answering the questions you are asked accurately and fully.
If an answer turns out to be wrong, what happens depends on how it went wrong, as set out in Schedule 1 of the Act:
- Deliberate or reckless: the insurer can void the policy, refuse all claims and keep the premium unless that would be unfair.
- Careless, and the insurer would not have offered cover at all: it can void the policy and refuse claims, but must return the premium.
- Careless, and the insurer would have offered different terms: the policy can be treated as if those terms applied, such as an exclusion or a condition.
- Careless, and the insurer would have charged more: it can reduce the claim in proportion to the premium it should have charged.
For example, if you said the house was lived in most weeks when in fact it was empty for three months over winter, and a pipe burst in February, an insurer could look at what it would have done had it known. That is why the occupancy, letting and heating answers deserve care.
If you start letting, have building work done or plan a longer empty spell than usual, check the policy wording for what you must tell the insurer.
Flood cover and holiday lets: the extra checks
Can you get flood cover for a second home?
Flood cover depends on the property and the insurer. Flood Re, the scheme that helps make flood cover available for homes at higher risk, says holiday and second homes can be eligible for buildings or combined cover if they meet all its criteria. These include the policy being held by an individual, the property being in a domestic council tax band A to H (or equivalent), being used for private residential purposes and being built before 1 January 2009.
Whether a particular policy uses Flood Re is up to the insurer, so when you compare quotes, ask whether flood is covered and what excess applies to it.
Holiday lets in Scotland: what the licence requires
If you run a short-term let in Scotland that needs a licence, mygov.scot says you must have buildings insurance valid for the duration of the licence and public liability insurance valid for each short-term let agreement. Councils can also set extra licence conditions, which they list on their websites. Have your licence details ready when you ask for quotes so the policy matches what the licence requires.
What affects the price of holiday home insurance?
There is no fixed price. The answers above are what sets it, and the main factors are:
- how long and how often the property is empty
- whether it is let, and to whom
- the rebuild cost and contents value
- location, including flood, storm and crime exposure
- construction, age and listed status
- your claims history
- the excess you choose and any extras such as accidental damage
Choices such as a voluntary excess, extra security, regular key holder checks or winter conditions change what you are covered for or what you must do, so read the terms of each quote rather than looking only at the figure.
How to compare holiday home insurance UK quotes
- Write down your answers to the questions in the table above so you give the same information each time.
- Check what each quote covers when the home is empty, including any time limit or winter condition.
- Compare the buildings and contents sums insured against your own rebuild and contents figures.
- Look at the excesses, including whether separate excesses apply to escape of water or flood.
- Check whether letting, if you do it, is covered and whether public liability is included.
With Kompare, you fill in a short form to get holiday home insurance quotes and a specialist FCA-authorised broker from the panel contacts you with quotes. Having these details ready makes that conversation quicker.