Home insurance and an unoccupied property are a bad fit by design, and the mismatch is written into every wording rather than hidden in it. A home policy prices a building somebody lives in. Once nobody does, the insurer is carrying a different risk, and the policy responds by narrowing rather than by cancelling. The owner's job is to make the switch deliberately instead of finding out afterwards.
Ask the existing insurer first
Some home insurers will extend cover over a period of unoccupancy by endorsement, with conditions and usually an additional premium. Others will not extend at all. It costs one telephone call to find out, and the answer decides whether you are buying a new policy or amending an old one. Get whatever is agreed in writing, because an extension agreed verbally and not recorded is an extension nobody can evidence at claim time.
What a specialist unoccupied policy adds
Cover written for the state the property is actually in, in three, six or twelve month terms. A peril list you can compare rather than infer. Conditions you can plan around, inspections, heating or drain down, post clearance. And an insurer who will not argue that the building was in a state they never priced. The premium is higher than the occupied equivalent and the certainty is worth the difference.
The reason the property is empty changes the product
Probate needs the policy in the executors' names and the insurer told about the death. A sale that has stalled needs a short term. A refurbishment needs a works policy. A tenant who has left needs either a short extension or unoccupied cover until the next tenancy. The same empty house is four different contracts depending on why it is empty.
Do not let the cover lapse between the two
The common failure is not buying the wrong policy, it is having no policy for a fortnight while deciding. Arrange the new cover to start the day the old one changes or ends. A building with no insurance at all is the one outcome worse than a building insured on narrow terms.
Questions people ask about home insurance unoccupied property
Will my home insurer cover an empty house?
Some will extend by endorsement with conditions, some will not extend at all. Ask before the unoccupancy period in your wording runs out, and get the answer in writing.
What is the unoccupancy period on home insurance?
Commonly thirty to sixty consecutive days. It is in the wording under unoccupancy, general conditions or exclusions.
Does the mortgage lender need to know?
The lender requires the building to be insured and a policy that has narrowed to a short peril list may not meet that requirement. Telling them is usually simpler than not.
Is it cheaper to cancel and start again?
Rarely, and mid term cancellation can leave a gap and a mark on your record. Amending or running the two policies back to back is almost always better.