Insurance for Vacant Properties

Most insurance companies won't cover property if it is vacant for longer than 30 days because unoccupied homes are more risky to insure than occupied homes.  For example, fear of robbery or vandalism is higher when the property is empty simply because there is no one in the home to protect it.  The fact that the property is vacant does not make it any less at risk for various types of potential disasters like flood, fire or vandalism.

Reasons Your Home Could Be Empty

• You have purchased a new home but don't yet have a buyer for your existing one so you may move into your new home while leaving the existing home on the market for sale.  Yet, it still needs protecting. There will be viewings of people interested in buying the house and you are not there to oversee that nothing goes amiss such as fire damage from a cigarette.  

• A relative pass away and his or her house remains empty for a short period of time until the contents of the house can be sold or moved.  In this case you must be sure to check with the existing insurer to see if the current policy will cover the unoccupied house. If not then you will have to make arrangements for unoccupied property insurance.

• Your tenants move out of your rental property and it remains vacant until you can find new tenants.

How It Works

Unoccupied property insurance can be purchased just like regular home insurance and you should always check with your existing insurance carrier to see what your policy states regarding the property being vacant.  

• If your current carrier does not cover you then you must see if they have special coverage for unoccupied properties. 

• If your insurance broker does carry unoccupied property insurance it most likely will have a higher premium than owner-occupied homeowners insurance.  Again, this is because thieves are more likely to break into a home if they know that no one lives there at the current time.
• Although some insurance brokers will not carry unoccupied property insurance you can seek out an insurance company that does provide this coverage for you.  The coverage itself should be the same as your regular owner-occupied homeowners insurance and an umbrella policy should be purchased for liability protection.  Note that some insurance companies may offer savings for protections in the home such as alarm systems.  However, insurance companies that do not offer unoccupied property insurance feel that the risks of claims being made are much higher when there is no one at the premises.

Getting Financial Help

Yet, it simply is not worth taking the risk of not bothering to get the unoccupied property insurance.  It may mean a little shopping around and making some inquiries to get the vacant property insurance that you need, but if something goes wrong it become invaluable.  As always, a qualified professional should be contacted whenever an investor needs financial help and it is integral that a consumer contacts a qualified professional or his insurance agent with any questions that he may have.