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.
Posts Tagged ‘overseas Property Insurance’
The benefits to overseas property insurance
Without overseas property insurance to fall back on you might suffer financial worry and even lose your property if the worst case scenario arises and something happens to your second home. When looking for an insurance policy for your overseas property it is important that you look specifically for holiday home insurance and not just traditional owner-occupier buildings and contents insurance, as with the latter, it is likely that your cover will be invalid.
Why is a second home insurance policy so important?
The reason why choosing specialist overseas property insurance may be so important is that your overseas property typically faces different risks than your own home. For example:
- for part of the year the holiday home usually stands empty, whereas your main property does not. This may make the former more susceptible to things such as theft. Or, something like minor leak, left unattended, could cause extensive damage;
- with a second home, you may have people renting out your holiday home as well as staff to clean the holiday home. With some holiday home insurance policies then you typically have public liability insurance protection and employers’ liability insurance if a third party were to make a claim against due to an injury while in your property.
Of course along with providing protection for events that you may not typically need with standard home and buildings insurance cover, the insurance policy for a holiday home also provides the same protection as a standard policy. This may include:
- protection for the shell of the building against damage or destruction caused by fire, flood and storm;
- damage to the outside of the property due to vandalism;
- damage or destruction caused by falling objects;
- protection for the contents of the building for damage or destruction caused by fire, flood and accidental damage;
- theft of the contents of the property.
Of course the above usually depends on what your insurance provider offers in their overseas property insurance – it can vary among providers – and it is important that you check what the cover entails before you buy holiday home insurance online.
Benefits you may find in overseas property insurance
If you are one of the lucky ones who owns property overseas, either as your own holiday home or with the intention of letting it out then you know how essential it is to find the correct overseas property insurance.
When it comes to taking out cover, you have two options – You may choose to take out policy in the area where your holiday home is situated or you may choose to take out cover in the UK. If you take out your policy overseas, there may be language problems, which might lead to you taking inadequate cover. If you choose to take your insurance online in the UK, there is more chance of you getting the correct policy for your needs.
There are numerous benefits to taking out buildings and contents insurance for your holiday home. Whether you let your overseas property or just use it as your own holiday home may influence what you need in your policy.
An insurance policy for your overseas property typically takes into account the fact that the property may be empty for some time out of the year. An unoccupied property may also be a target for thieves so you may wish to ensure that your chosen provider does not discriminate against this, providing you take adequate security measures.
If you are planning to rent out your holiday home when you are not using it then you will typically need public liability insurance in your policy. This part of your overseas property insurance typically protects you against the financial ramification of a holidaymaker suffering an injury on your property and making a claim against you for compensation. The policy typically pays out towards your legal costs and damages.
You will also want to find out if your overseas property insurance policy includes a loss of pre-booked rental income if your property becomes damaged and you are unable to let it to holiday makers.
Overseas Property Insurance
Buying a property overseas can be an exciting and exhilarating experience whether you are purchasing it for pleasure or profit. But with your foreign home you’re also taking on a fair bit of responsibility and it will be up to you to arrange overseas property insurance. This can often be set aside as a bit of an afterthought in the rush to secure that dream holiday home, but cover is just as essential for a property based abroad as for one at home.
In the process of arranging the purchase you may find that you are offered protection by an overseas company or a firm recommended by the foreign mortgage provider. While this might seem sensible and convenient, you may not get the best deal and were still could end up with something which is completely inadequate.
People have even found they end up with policy documents which are not available in English, meaning they can’t understand the document at all or have to get by with their basic grasp of the local language.
Overseas property insurance can be arranged by UK companies who specialise in supplying documents in English and even employ English staff so processing your claim need not be stressful. Therefore if something does go wrong it can be far easier to go through the UK based company rather than attempt to contact the foreign call centre where staff may not speak enough English to deal with your enquiry.
Specialist cover like this can also help homebuyers who expect that their property will be left empty for long periods. It can also provide protection if you’re thinking of renting out the home to guests. Policies can even include protection for any accidental damage in the home and even any damage to property caused by tenants.
Something else worth considering is what would happen if the property suddenly became uninhabitable because of something like a fire or flood. Hundreds of thousands of Euros could be lost, for example, if an expensive French holiday home cannot be rented out during the high season. Overseas cover can even come with protection for your loss of income due to such a disaster.
Protection can also be arranged whatever level of contents you expect to keep in the house and there is no need to pay for extras like protection for swimming pools if the property does not have one. Deals can even include any foreign taxes when it comes to the premium.
Overseas property insurance can therefore be a straightforward way of making sure the right protection is in place for a home based abroad. As it is unlikely that the owner sare going to be able to keep a particularly close eye on it, cover can be essential not just in terms of peace of mind but in terms of protecting what may be an investment which someone has spent years saving up for.
Top 5 overseas property insurance tips
If you own an overseas property then you probably already realise that getting the right insurance deal is something you need to think about. This is especially the case if the property in question is a holiday or second home. You may, after all, be living in another country and you may not be on the spot to sort things out immediately if something does go wrong. The right overseas property insurance policy could give you real peace of mind in this situation.
There are a variety of things to consider with this kind of insurance policy. The top 5 tips to get started are:
- Location – make sure that your holiday property insurance policy is targeted at the right country. Some locations will have different insurance needs, cover features and terms and conditions.
- Use — if you plan on renting out your holiday home then your insurance needs may be a lot different than if you will be the only one staying there. Each case may have a range of cover features and exclusions that you may need to consider.
- Property type – insuring a small holiday flat vs. a large holiday villa can be very different. You may want to make time to ensure that your overseas insurance policy covers all the options that you need it to.
- Insurer location — you may simply find it easier to buy a specialist policy from a UK based insurer. Although you can buy a policy from an overseas provider you may run into language difficulties along the way which could leave you under insured, over insured or without the right policy to suit you.
- Price comparisons — finding the right policy can be time-consuming if you have to search around for quotes and compare terms and conditions. You may simply find it easier to use an overseas property insurance specialist that can do some of the work for you and find quotes on your behalf.
Looking at your overseas property insurance needs as a whole in this way may well be useful for you. It may, for example, help you find the right cover for your property needs and it may also help you do so at the right cost.