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Protect your property in the UK and abroad with holiday home insurance

Do you own or are you considering buying a holiday home or an additional property for frequent visits? With holiday home insurance your property can benefit from added protection against damage, theft, and other risks.

Whether it’s for weekends away with the family or a base for friends to stop by, second homes open up opportunities, and we understand the appeal. However, you may also want to consider putting appropriate safeguards in place for your property.

At Intasure, we offer holiday home insurance in the UK and across more than 20 countries and territories throughout the EU and beyond. Speak to us about securing cover for a variety of property types – from luxury villas to apartments, barns, and chalets.

What is holiday home insurance?

Holiday home insurance (also referred to as second home insurance) can cover an additional property that isn’t used as a full-time or main residence. Like standard home insurance, it’s a policy that can include buildings and contents cover. This is an important consideration regardless of whether your property is based in the UK or overseas.

Policy details can vary depending on your property type and how you plan to use the property. Holiday let insurance, for example, contains clauses specific to a property that is let on short-term rentals and long-term rentals.

Likewise, property insurance requirements for log cabins may differ to those for an old brick cottage, for instance, due to structural and locational differences.

Which countries are covered by holiday home insurance?

You shouldn’t feel restricted when buying a second home. This is a chance for you to secure your dream holiday home, after all! That’s why we’ve extended our holiday home insurance to cover more than 20 countries and territories across the EU and beyond, covering many popular British tourist destinations. What’s more, our customer service is handled by a UK-based, English-speaking support team, to help you find the information you need.

Our holiday home insurance abroad covers many common British tourist destinations, such as France and Spain. Looking to go somewhere further afield? We also offer policies for more exotic locations, such as Turkey and the UAE. Here’s our complete list of destinations:

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What does holiday home insurance cover?

Intasure holiday home insurance policies can cover loss, theft or damage to your property’s building and contents. Our policies can also include public liability cover, to help financially with claims relating to compensation or injury.

Policies are broken down into buildings and contents cover, and both can protect a different aspect of your property.

Buildings insurance offers protection for any permanent structure within the grounds of your holiday home, covering:

  • Damage to buildings

    due to natural disasters such as floods or storms

  • Physical loss or damage

    caused by smoke, riot, malicious damage, fire, explosion, hail, and avalanche

  • Escape of water or oil

    from household fixtures

  • Public liability cover

    of up to £5 million

Contents insurance protects your household goods, fittings, and personal property, including:

  • Loss or damage to contents

    due to fire, flood or storm

  • Theft or malicious damage

    caused to contents

  • Accidental damage

    to household fittings, including glass tops in furniture and ceramic hobs

Why choose Intasure for your holiday home?

Our service is built on simplifying how you take out cover, aiming to eliminate complications where possible. Whether your holiday home is in the UK or abroad, you’ll always deal with English-speaking representatives. Intasure will support you from day one through to renewal, making any necessary modifications along the way and handling claims.

Some of the benefits of taking out a holiday home insurance package with Intasure include:

Building insurance

Up to £1 million included as standard

Public liability cover

Up to £5 million included as standard

Loss of rent cover

Following an insured claim included as standard for short-term lets

Emergency travel

Optional cover for after an insured claim

Policy limits and exclusions may apply, please see the policy wording for full terms and conditions.

What properties does holiday home insurance cover?

Whether your property is in the UK or abroad, we can supply holiday home insurance for an extensive range of property types, including:

We’re here to help you take care of your investment with insurance cover for your holiday home. Talk to our experienced staff today to arrange a policy that fits your property. Call us on 0345 111 0680.

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Holiday home insurance FAQ

Please note that these frequently asked questions are not a substitute for the policy wording. For full terms and conditions please see the policy documentation.

How much does holiday home insurance cost?

The cost of holiday home insurance varies depending on several factors, including:

  • The location of your property – for example, if it’s in a place where flooding is likely, you would expect to pay higher premiums
  • The size of your property – typically, you’d expect to pay higher premiums for a large mansion or villa and lower premiums for a small apartment
  • The value of your contents – more valuable items can attract a higher premium

When reviewing home buildings insurance packages, you should ensure that the total cost of repairing partial damage or rebuilding your holiday home is covered. This should include the structure of the building and any permanent fixtures and fittings, including bathrooms. Also, be sure to check that external buildings are covered, such as swimming pools, summer houses, and sheds.

Holiday home contents insurance typically covers the cost of your household furniture and other belongings if they’re stored in your holiday home or any outbuildings. Please be advised that contents left in vehicles tend to be excluded. A good rule of thumb: “contents” are any personal property removed from a second home when sold.

While it might be tempting to use standard home insurance to try and protect your second property, it may not be designed to cover the risks associated with owning a second home. These are generally two completely different policies, and as such, you may want to consider cover that’s bespoke to holiday home insurance. That way, if something unexpected does happen, you can have assurance that the things that matter most to you can be covered following an insured claim.

While public liability insurance for a holiday let isn’t a legal requirement, it’s typically added to cover as it could protect you from legal costs arising from guests who experience injury, disease, illness, or death during their stay in the event of an insured claim.

The word “liability” is important here; if you are considered negligent, you could be liable to pay your guests’ costs. For example, your guest might experience an electric shock as a result of poor wiring. Or perhaps even fall due to a poorly maintained floor. In any case, public liability protection from Intasure acts as a safeguard, helping to cover costs arising from injuries.

While holiday home insurance isn’t a legal requirement in the UK, some mortgage lenders may require you to take out a policy that includes buildings insurance.

In addition, while contents cover isn’t mandatory, you may want to carefully consider including it in your policy. Having suitable cover in place can help protect your possessions in the event of damage or theft. The inconvenience alone of not having an adequate level of cover can make it worth adding that extra level of protection, so that you can enjoy your downtime in peace.

Our standard cover is available for holiday homes left unoccupied for up to 60 days. After 60 days, cover will be restricted. It’s important to let us know if your property is unoccupied, to help ensure you have suitable cover in place.

In most cases, yes. Holiday home insurance tends to be more expensive than standard home cover, because the risks are higher. Holiday homes are often left unoccupied for long periods of time, which increases the risk of theft and damage. Further to that, holiday homes are usually used as rental properties with various different tenants staying at any one time. This adds risks such as public liability claims, accidental damage, and added contents cover, which could increase the cost of insurance premiums.

The biggest difference between a holiday let and a second home is the amount of time spent there. Second homes are technically another residence which you plan to occupy for certain times during the year. You may still let it out occasionally, but you spend much of the year there too. A holiday home is typically used for shorter breaks, and generally occupied by tenants rather than yourself.

Holiday home insurance isn’t mandatory. That said, most mortgage providers ask you to get buildings insurance at a minimum. However, this is usually basic cover, and only provides protection against damage to the structure of your buy-to-let. This could leave you vulnerable to financial costs if something else goes wrong, whether that’s theft, damage to your furniture, or even public liability claims. So, purchasing a specialist holiday home insurance policy could prove worthwhile to protect your investment and your financial security.

Our mission as second home insurance specialists

We comprise of an in-house team of sales, renewals, customer service, claims, and underwriting specialists. Our aim is to help you find property insurance that suits your needs.

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providing holiday home insurance

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*correct as at June 2024

Specialist second home insurance from Intasure

Learn more about the cover our products provide:

Airbnb Insurance

Buildings and contents insurance suitable for holiday homes let via Airbnb.

Holiday Let Insurance

Protection for your holiday home when it’s let to paying guests.

Expat & EU Residents Insurance

At Intasure, we can provide an insurance solution for expat homeowners.

Static Caravan Insurance

Our cover is available for static caravans in the UK and overseas.

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