Holiday Home Insurance and Second Home Insurance
Protecting your holiday home either overseas or in the UK is a vital way to protect your investment. Choosing a UK insurance product means that you will have peace of mind, when it comes to having to make a claim.Selecting the "get a quote" button will direct you to Intasure.
Archive for the ‘Holiday Property Insurance’ Category
Should I purchase holiday property insurance in the UK?
If you own a holiday home abroad you may be considering whether to purchase holiday property insurance in the UK or in the country your holiday home is. You may find there are advantages in purchasing your insurance policy in the UK.
Peace of mind
You may find that it gives you peace of mind arranging your holiday home insurance in the UK as it may help you fully understand the policy that you are taking out and its terms and conditions.
A UK provider of holiday home insurance may be able to explain to you what the insurance policy covers and any important clauses that may be relevant to you. If you have a language barrier problem you may also find it is appropriate to you to arrange UK based holiday property insurance.
Claims process
If you need to make a claim on your insurance policy or there is an emergency that you need to deal with you may find it easier speaking to your insurance claims department if they are based in the UK.
UK based staff may be able to resolve and problems and issues that you have and help you to make a claim without the need to phone abroad or visit your property.
Paying for your insurance policy
When you are arranging your holiday property insurance you may also find it is helpful to make payment for the policy in pounds sterling rather than needing to work out currency conversions or rates of exchange.
If you have made a valid claim on your holiday property insurance and receive payment for repair work that needs to be done you may also find it easier to receive your claim money in pounds sterling.
Holiday home insurance in France
Whether you opt for a get away from it all rural property in France or prefer something a bit closer to cafés, bars, shops and other amenities, it may be sensible to have sorting out your holiday home insurance in France high on your priority list.
Your holiday home may be somewhere where you go to relax and to get away from day to day cares and stresses.
However, being complacent about the need for holiday home insurance in France may not result in you finding the peace of mind that you are looking for.
Using a UK based specialist to find you the most appropriate overseas property cover may save you both time and effort, as well as ensuring that you have cover for:
- the standard insurance perils that may cause damage to your property including events such as fire, floods, smoke damage, earthquakes etc;
- theft and vandalism;
- periods when your property is rented out if that is your plan;
- those potentially long periods when your property is empty as well as when you or guests are using it;
- employers and public liability;
- loss of rental income if you have to cancel a guest’s booking in circumstances due to an insured risk.
You may wish to bear in mind too that there are certain things that you can do to help keep your property safer.
You may not even consider going out and leaving doors and windows open in your home in the UK and the same should hold true for your French retreat. Your holiday home insurance in France may require that you close all doors, windows and shutters whenever you go out and ask your guests to do the same.
Holiday home insurance in Portugal
It may be that you loved Portugal so much during your visits that you decided to buy a holiday property there. As elsewhere in the world though, it makes sense to protect your investment and for that reason, you may be looking for holiday home insurance in Portugal.
Unfortunately, that may not always be quite as much a matter of routine as it sounds.
Portuguese is a beautiful language and spoken not only in Portugal but also in Brazil and some other areas of the world that were once explored and colonised by the Portuguese.
However, being practical, it is perhaps unlikely that you speak it fluently and even if you have people available to you locally that speak a measure of English and Portuguese, they may not have fluency in both tongues when it comes to the technical details of overseas property cover insurance policies.
It may be important to be clear that holiday home insurance in Portugal may be all that stands between you and a financial disaster if bad luck strikes.
Trying to make a claim based upon what you hope the policy covers or what someone told you they thought it probably covers, may not be a thought that sits comfortably with you.
If not, you do have options.
Although at one time it may have been difficult to do so, today you may be able to find UK based insurance providers that are able to offer holiday home insurance in Portugal. It may be worth thinking about.
Overseas property cover – things to consider
When you are looking to obtain overseas property cover for your holiday home it is always important to make sure your overseas buildings insurance is adequate enough to cover the type of property that you own.
The property and its perimeter
When you are choosing your second home insurance you may wish to check the clauses in the policy to see what is included. Does your property have garages, sheds or other outbuildings that may typically need to be covered? If there is a pool on your property you may wish to insure both for any damage that may happen to the pool, but also for the machinery and equipment that operates the pool and its cleaning systems.
Consider whether you need to have overseas property cover for decking and terraced areas as well as any tennis court you might have. Finally think about the walls and boundaries around the property. Whether these boundaries belong to you or your neighbours, you may find it beneficial to include the boundaries in your cover in case of accidental damage.
Liability cover for your property
If you have employees that work on your property you may wish to purchase overseas property cover that includes employers liability insurance. This may typically cover staff such as gardeners, cleaners and maintenance staff. Some people choose also to employ an agency to look after the property if it remains unoccupied for any length of time. They may typically also be covered should anything happen whilst they are on your property which may result in a claim against you.
Contents cover for your property
When you are purchasing overseas property cover you may also want to look for contents cover. This is particularly important if you are letting the property out. There are often a wide range of policies to choose from covering items such as white goods, furniture, textiles and carpets. You may wish to make sure your second home contents insurance policy also includes jewellery, though do note that there may be special limits and conditions applied.
Other items that may typically be overlooked in holiday property insurance policies are outside furniture such as benches, gazebos and patio sets. By checking the policy clauses you may typically make sure that both your property and its contents are fully covered in case of any accidents.
Things to consider when obtaining overseas holiday home insurance
When you are looking to obtain overseas holiday home insurance there are a number of things you may wish to consider before purchasing your policy.
Renting your property
If you are renting your property to private tenants, friends or family you may wish to look at policies that include public liability cover. This may typically cover you for anything that might happen while someone else is in your house. You may also wish to include accidental damage cover. This means that you may typically be able to claim for damage to both the property itself and any contents, goods and furniture that are inside.
The area your property is in
Before you look for overseas home insurance you may wish to consider carefully the area that your property is in. Is there a possibility that your property might be prone to flood or water damage? What sort of ground is your property built on? Is there any possibility that it might be prone to subsidence? Is there any wildlife or insects that are native to the area that might cause your property damage? A little local knowledge is valuable when you are selecting holiday home insurance. You may also want to consider whether there is any likelihood of criminal damage occurring to your property.
Outbuildings and pools
You may wish to make sure that your overseas holiday home insurance includes insurance for any outbuildings, garages and sheds that are on the land. Special insurance may be needed if your property has a pool. This is not only for any damage may happen to the pool itself but also for any public liability if any tenant has an accident whilst using the pool. You may wish to check the wording of any second home insurance carefully to make sure these things are covered. If necessary you may typically always ask for extra clauses to be included in your policy to cover you in case of any accidents.
Finding holiday property insurance
If you have a holiday home abroad then holiday property insurance may be something that you may need to consider, if you are to protect the investment you have made in your property. There are obviously a number of factors to be taken into account when considering the insurance side of the situation including:
- does your holiday home insurance provide adequate cover if it is empty for significant periods of the year;
- are there special terms and conditions that you may need to take account of if your holiday property cover is to remain valid;
- if you have someone carrying out jobs for you on a formal or informal basis – cleaning, maintenance, greeting paying guests and the like, does your insurance provide employers liability insurance cover;
- if you rent your property out, are you protected against accidental damage by guests;
- if one of your guests or another member of the public decides to sue you, after injuring themselves in or around your property, does you insurance cover this?
When it comes down to finding holiday home insurance, you may have a couple of options:
- you may, of course, take some time off your holiday to search some out locally the next time you are having a break in your holiday home;
- on the other hand, you may wish to source your holiday home cover in the UK through a specialist internet-based holiday property insurance provider.
Being able to conduct your business in English and at your convenience may make all the difference to your peace of mind when you are making a purchasing decision for your holiday property insurance - and if you ever have to deal with making a claim.
French property insurance
When you are arranging French property insurance for your second home or holiday rental property you may typically probably want to insure it for its rebuild value. This may typically be different from the property’s market value. The rebuild value is the amount it would cost to replace the house and its fittings if it was damaged by flood, fire or other accident.
Calculating the rebuild value
When you are determining the rebuild value for your French property insurance quote, you may want to take into account some of the following items.
- outbuildings such as garden sheds, garages, summer houses and barns;
- swimming pools and the surrounding tiled areas;
- tennis courts;
- garden decking areas;
- patios and driveways;
- the fences, gates or walls that surround your property;
- septic tanks and fuel tanks.
Help with calculating the rebuild value
You may want to ask a local builder or surveyor with assistance in calculating the rebuild value for your holiday home before obtaining a quote for French property insurance. This may typically help ensure that you’ve got accurate information about your property and what it would cost to replace it should an accident occur. If you find you have underestimated your rebuild value when purchasing for holiday home insurance, if you make a claim, you might not get the full amount that you need in order to repair any damage.
Terms of your holiday home policy
Many French insurance policies may typically have terms and conditions that you may typically need to meet to ensure that your policy is not made invalid should you make a claim. These may include stipulations such as
- your property should not be left unattended for more than so many consecutive days;
- if your property is left unattended for any period of time then all shutters must be securely closed and locked;
- if you leave your property unattended for longer than so many days then you must drain the water system;
- locks and shutters must be of a certain standard.
All these things are worth taking into account before arranging your holiday home insurance. This way you may typically be sure that all the details you give the insurer are correct.
Holiday home insurance in Turkey – not so exotic as it might sound
Although Turkey has fast become a popular holiday destination for British travellers and many have decided to purchase a second home there, the country still has a nice “foreign” feel to it. Nevertheless, arranging holiday home insurance in Turkey need not be so exotic as it might sound.
There are specialist insurance providers in Britain who are now perfectly familiar with the Turkish property insurance and with second home insurance there in particular.
Probably the single biggest advantage in choosing a UK-based provider to arrange your holiday home insurance in Turkey is the potential language barrier in opting for a local provider. Turkish is perhaps one of the least well known languages for Britons and although many Turks will speak and understand some English, that knowledge falls short of readily explaining the intricacies of Turkish legal requirements and local custom and practice when it comes to property insurance.
Arranging your second home insurance through a British-based provider, therefore, could typically include the following advantages:
- an explanation of the Turkish legal requirements and the level of cover you are likely to need in plain English, by native English speakers;
- policy documents written in English and familiar in presentation to more or less anyone who has bought home insurance in the UK;
- a level of cover that exceeds the typical, standard Turkish buildings and contents insurance policy;
- the maintenance of full cover during any period that your holiday home is left unoccupied; and
- the maintenance of full cover during any period that you let your holiday home to others.
Even though your second home might be located in one of the most exotic locations in Europe, arranging holiday home insurance in Turkey could be made as easy as insurance cover at home.
Choosing holiday home insurance in Italy
If you’ve successfully weathered the long – and sometimes tortuous – process of actually buying your second home there, you could reasonably expect choosing holiday home insurance in Italy to be a similarly complicated procedure. It could turn out that way, but you could also choose more wisely.
When you were buying the property, you almost certainly needed to place oversight of the whole purchase in the hands of an Italian notary public, only to find the process long-winded and bureaucratic. With your purchase complete, similar bureaucracy can often spill over into the way holiday home insurance in Italy is also arranged.
Of course, local insurance agents will be familiar with all the rules, legislation and practice of property insurance in the country – and you might welcome such familiarity with the local scene. Your problem, however, is likely to rest in grappling with the Italian language itself, and especially that formal variant of it that appears in property insurance contracts.
But simply because you’ve patiently run the hoops of buying your holiday home in Italy, it doesn’t mean that you also have choose holiday home insurance in Italy too.
Specialist overseas property insurance providers in Britain are also sufficiently familiar with the Italian property market to help you choose the most appropriate cover for your second home there – and can conduct all the necessary paperwork with you in plain English, with policy documents in a language you can readily understand, and a claims process (if it should come to it) that is also conducted in English.
With a provider based in Britain, choosing holiday home insurance in Italy may in some cases prove faster, more readily understood and more cost-effective than opting for an Italian insurance provider.
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Holiday home insurance in Portugal: local insurance with an English voice
Insurance contracts are rarely the easiest of documents to read and understand, even when they’re written in English. If you are arranging your holiday home insurance in Portugal through a local agent, therefore, and are presented with a policy written in Portuguese, imagine the likely difficulty in understanding every section, sub-section and clause.
Added to that initial language barrier is the fact that Portuguese insurance contracts necessarily reflect the intricacies of local, Portuguese legislation. This is legislation which also takes a distinctive, local approach to such complex issues of home insurance as cover when the property is left temporarily vacant and unoccupied, when the property is let to paying guests, and the rights of and protection given to individuals who are employed by the owners of the property (maids, gardeners, caretakers, etc).
Effective holiday home insurance in Portugal, therefore, is likely to be the kind that is able to work within the framework of local, Portuguese legislation, regulations and conventions, but is also readily accessible and understandable to the English-speaking owners of those properties. In the event of a claim under the insurance needing to be made, you are also likely to value the presence on the ground of local agents, familiar with both local legislation and loss adjustment practices, but also the provision of a “hot line” to native English-speaking insurance experts, familiar with the needs and requirements of British holiday homeowners.
In fact, satisfying these twin demands is easier than it might appear. These days, there are a number of UK-based insurance providers who are specialists in arranging holiday home insurance in Portugal. Not only do they have access to local, Portuguese professionals, comfortable within the framework of local legislation and practices, but also issue policy documents in English and maintain English-speaking staff within the UK to offer help, guidance and to lead you through the claims process, should this be necessary.