Your peace of mind holiday home insurance specialists

Holiday Home Insurance is specialist cover designed for properties that are not your primary residence, whether you use them for personal holidays, rent them out to guests, or both.

Standard home insurance is designed for your main residence and typically will not cover a property that is left unoccupied for extended periods or used by paying guests.

Because holiday homes face unique risks, including longer unoccupied periods, guest-related damage, and seasonal maintenance challenges, a specialist policy is essential to ensure you’re properly protected.

A comprehensive holiday home policy typically includes buildings insurance (protecting the structure against fire, storm, flood, escape of water, theft, vandalism, and subsidence), contents insurance (covering furniture, appliances, and furnishings), and public liability (protecting you if a guest or visitor is injured at the property).

If you let your holiday home to paying guests, additional cover can include loss of rental income (if the property becomes uninhabitable following an insured event), alternative accommodation costs for displaced guests, and accidental damage cover for incidents caused during guest stays.

No, in most cases, standard home insurance will not adequately cover a holiday home.

Standard policies are designed for a property that is your main residence and occupied throughout the year.

Holiday homes are typically left unoccupied for extended periods, which most standard policies limit to 30 or 60 consecutive days.

Beyond that threshold, cover may be significantly reduced or invalid entirely. If you also rent out your holiday home to paying guests, standard home insurance almost certainly will not cover claims arising from guest stays.

A specialist holiday home policy is designed to address both of these situations.

Holiday Home Insurance is not a legal requirement in the UK for most property owners.

However, if your holiday home is mortgaged, your lender will almost certainly require buildings insurance as a condition of the loan.

If you let your property in Scotland to paying guests, public liability insurance is currently a legal requirement as part of the short-term let licensing scheme, and similar legislation may follow elsewhere in the UK.

Even where it isn’t legally required, the financial exposure of owning an unoccupied or let property without adequate cover makes specialist insurance strongly advisable.

Yes, provided you have the right level of cover in place. If you rent your holiday home to paying guests (including through platforms such as Airbnb, Booking.com or specialist holiday let agencies), you need to ensure your policy specifically includes holiday let cover.

This typically extends to public liability for guest injuries, accidental damage caused by guests, loss of rental income if the property becomes uninhabitable following an insured event, and alternative accommodation costs if guests cannot stay.

Standard holiday home policies that cover owner-use only may not provide adequate protection for let periods, so it’s important to declare the letting activity when arranging your policy.

Most standard home insurance policies limit unoccupancy to 30 or 60 consecutive days.

Specialist holiday home insurance is designed to accommodate longer unoccupied periods, which is a key reason why a dedicated policy is necessary for most holiday home owners.

However, most policies will require certain conditions to be met during unoccupied periods, such as regular property inspections, draining water systems during winter, and maintaining adequate security.

Failing to meet these conditions could affect the validity of any claim. RightSure For Business can help you arrange a policy with unoccupied period terms that suit your usage pattern.

Yes, loss of rental income cover can be included in a holiday home policy and is particularly important if you let your property to paying guests as a source of income.

It pays out if your property becomes uninhabitable following an insured event, such as a fire, flood, or serious storm damage, meaning booked guests cannot stay and rental income is lost while repairs are carried out.

The level of cover and maximum payout varies between policies, so it’s worth ensuring your cover reflects your typical letting income. RightSure For Business can help you find a policy with appropriate loss of income protection for your specific letting arrangements.

Standard holiday home policies typically exclude general wear and tear, damage caused by gradual deterioration or poor maintenance, and personal belongings or valuables belonging to guests.

Properties left unoccupied without meeting the policy’s inspection or security requirements may find certain claims excluded. Damage caused during major renovation or construction works is usually excluded from a holiday home policy, specialist renovation cover would be needed for that period.

Contents belonging to paying guests are their own responsibility.

Reading your policy documents carefully and working with a specialist broker ensures you understand exactly what your cover includes and any conditions that apply.

Yes. If you own more than one holiday property, whether in the same location or across different parts of the UK, it’s possible to arrange cover for all of them under a single policy.

This simplifies administration considerably, with one renewal date and one insurer to manage for all your properties.

For property investors or portfolio owners with multiple holiday homes, a single policy can also be more cost-effective than managing separate policies for each property.

RightSure For Business can help you arrange multi-property holiday home cover tailored to your portfolio.