To an insurer, a holiday home or weekend house is its own category: a property that isn't permanently occupied, where damage is often noticed weeks later, and where nobody sets foot for months in winter. It can still be insured perfectly well – just under different rules, and with a few autumn routines that are worth taking seriously.
- A not permanently occupied property typically comes with different terms - state exactly how it's used.
- For burglary, expect typically stricter requirements and lower limits: don't leave high-value items sitting in the holiday home over winter.
- Winterising - draining the pipes, shutting off the mains, keeping minimal heating - can be a condition for winter water-damage claims under some policies.
Why a separate category?
In a permanently occupied home, a burst pipe is noticed within minutes; in a holiday home, water can run for weeks before anyone notices - so the scale of the damage is genuinely different. Insurers handle this difference through the "not permanently occupied" category: typically different terms, limits and requirements apply. The key to signing up is stating exactly how the property is used: a weekend house, a seasonal holiday home, or a property lived in regularly through the year - it isn't the same thing, and if the use changes, the policy can be updated too. Honesty matters here as well: if a weekend house gradually turns into a permanent home - or the other way round - the category needs updating, because a wrong classification can backfire at claim time.
Burglary: the appeal of an empty house
The period a property stands empty is also the period of highest burglary risk - which is why holiday-home terms typically apply stricter security requirements and lower contents limits. There are two practical lessons: first, before you sign, clarify what security measures and what limit your burglary cover applies to; second, in autumn, take home whatever high-value, portable items you have - electronics, power tools, sports gear. If a burglary happens, the two first steps are a police report and notifying the insurer via its claims line. Security requirements here too are typically tied to the sum insured - a good lock, bars or an alarm aren't just a condition, they're a genuine deterrent too.
Winterising: frost is winter's big risk
Frost damage is the classic holiday-home claim: a pipe freezes in an unheated building, and by spring you're greeted with soaked walls. That's why terms typically set out prevention requirements for the winter period - draining the pipes, shutting off the mains, perhaps low-level background heating - and can make winter water-damage payouts conditional on them. The autumn shutdown routine is therefore an insurance question too: water off, the system drained, the mains shut off. Our loss-prevention article collects the detailed prevention tips. If you visit the holiday home in winter too, a combination of background heating and regular check-ins is the realistic solution.
Value, storms, and a neighbour's watchful eye
For sums insured, the same benchmark applies to a holiday home as anywhere else: the real rebuilding value and a realistic contents estimate - the "it's only a small weekend house" attitude backfires at claim time, and the proportional-settlement rule applies here too. After a storm, it's worth checking on the property as soon as possible, or asking someone to - notification has a deadline, and mitigating the damage, for instance sheeting over a damaged roof, is an obligation here too.
A reliable neighbour or caretaker is therefore worth a great deal - our extended-absence article covers the rules for longer unoccupancy. To get started: a quote for the holiday home too takes just minutes - and let's talk through the winterising questions before autumn sets in.
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