Unoccupied homes present a special case for home insurance policies. If you know your home is going to be unoccupied for more than 60 consecutive days, you may want to contact your home insurance provider directly to find out what this means for your home insurance policy.

Most home insurance policies will allow for your property to be unoccupied for up to 60 consecutive days without it affecting your policy. However if your home is unoccupied for more than 60 days, it may make your claim invalid if an incident takes place during that time. For the purposes of home insurance policies, ‘unoccupied’ usually means that a property is not lived in by you or your family for more than 60 consecutive days or if it is occupied by squatters.

Not everyone lives in their home all of the time and home insurance providers understand that their clients may need some flexibility. If your property is usually unoccupied or the property is a second home, you may want to consider specialist home insurance as a more effective alternative. A special home insurance policy may be able to provide cover for a home that is predominantly unoccupied, as it can meet the different requirements in terms of security and the cover provided.

You would hope that your home is always protected by home insurance – but this might not be the case if your home is unoccupied. If you lose your valuables or your home suffers from theft or attempted theft, for example, your claim for loss or damage may be deemed invalid while your home is unoccupied or unfurnished. The same applies if damage is caused by water, oil or damage caused by malicious persons or vandals whilst your home is unoccupied.

It is therefore essential that you keep your home insurance provider up to date with your whereabouts if you are going to leave your home unoccupied for some time. Your home insurance should protect you and your home against loss or damage, but this can usually only happen when you are actually resident in it and you have a valid, reputable home insurance policy.

About John Lewis Insurance:

Since Greenbee launched four years ago, we’ve provided insurance with the same high standards of service and value for money that you’d expect from John Lewis, so we’ve decided to change our name to John Lewis Insurance. As we evolve, we’ll continue to offer our customers exceptional products and service.

We believe that everything we do should be straightforward, great value and come with an extra level of service that’s always reassuring. Which is why our Home Insurance includes accidental damage as standard. And faithful friends will be pleased to know that our Pet Insurance includes older dogs.

We all know that it makes a lot of sense to buy the important things from someone you trust. In fact, you’ll find that all the products and services offered from John Lewis Insurance are exactly what you would expect from the John Lewis Partnership.

Author Bio: John Lewis Insurance offers a range of insurance services selected by the John Lewis Partnership. These include car, life, travel, wedding, event, pet and specialist home insurance products.

Category: Finances
Keywords: contents insurance, home contents insurance, building and contents insurance