Insurance for a Second Home

Lucky enough to own a second home? What about your home insurance?

Buying a second home whether for personal use, or to let out is becoming very popular now that property prices have risen sufficiently to give many people a sizeable chunk of equity in their property to play with.

You shouldn’t forget however to put in place second home insurance for the additional property, and when applying for insurance you will need to advise the insurer that it is for a second home rather than primary residence.

You will also need to declare if you are planning to let the property out to tenants and may find that you need to find a specialist second home insurance company because of this, as conventional insurers may refuse to cover the property.

Holiday letting is another specialist area, and if the property is going to be let out to individuals who will not be on an ‘assured short hold’ tenancy agreement, which is an agreement used by most landlords, you will need to advise any second home insurance company of this also.

Read the small print carefully, as many home insurance policies have exclusions such as not paying out if the property is unoccupied for over 30 consecutive days – and it is for this reason you will need to carefully declare the expected property usage and most likely also have to source a specialist company.