FAQ's: Your Holiday Home Insurance Questions Answered

Yes, the specialist insurance is tailored to protect you regardless of whether you holiday let your holiday home (or second home) commercially or use it just for family and friends. It’s essential that your insurance extends to cover holiday letting to protect both your property and guests. Read our guide to choosing insurance for holiday lets.

We insure holiday homes in:

• England, Scotland and Wales. Please note we do not cover properties located in Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
• Spain including the Balearics and Canaries.
• France
• Portugal including Madeira.

Only full-time residents of the UK and other parts of the British Isles are eligible.

The 'holiday home plus' policy wording negotiated by Schofields is extremely wide, with no unoccupancy restrictions.

We do not stipulate that your property must be inspected weekly, has specific security or exclude cover when it’s unoccupied.

There are no requirements to drain down, leave the heating on or turn off the water when the holiday home is unoccupied. Restrictions apply when the property is not furnished for normal habitation, and we expect you to take reasonable precautions to prevent loss or damage. Upon review of applications, Underwriters may apply terms.

The 'standard holiday home' cover is less comprehensive than 'holiday home plus'. After comparing the cover, you will have the option to choose the cover that best suits your requirements – 'plus or standard'.

The contents cover provided by the insurance is on a "new for old" basis and therefore the sum insured should reflect the cost of replacing carpets, furniture etc. by new. The sum insured on buildings should be the cost of rebuild, not the market value.

For further information on calculating the rebuild value of your buildings and contents read the following insurance guides.

• How to calculate buildings insurance rebuild cost
• How to calculate how much holiday home contents insurance you need

Each renewal we index link which means the sum insured will be adjusted yearly in line with the house rebuilding cost index.

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We cannot provide cover for properties which are your main UK residence whilst you are working or living abroad.

To clarify, we only provide cover for full-time residents of the UK with a second home in the UK, Spain, France and Portugal.

Customers can either pay for a renewal or new policy payment online, or over the telephone by calling 01204 394346.

Unfortunately, we don’t accept American Express and there is no additional charge for paying by credit or debit card.

To view or print the full terms and conditions download the sample policy wordings here:
Policy wording for UK holiday homes (PDF)
Policy wording for overseas holiday homes (PDF)

Note: holiday homes and second homes are covered under the same policy, regardless of whether your property is holiday let or used occasionally by family and friends.

Contents
The policy wording covers listed contingencies, such as fire, burst pipes, theft etc. For an additional premium, the standard cover on the contents of holiday homes can be extended to include other accidental loss or damage claims, for example, staining of carpets or breakage of furniture. This also covers accidental damage by holidaymakers.

The plus policy also covers malicious damage by guests and damage by domestic pets.

Buildings
For an additional premium, the standard buildings cover can be extended to include accidental loss or damage e.g. damage to a kitchen worktop.

For UK holiday homes the plus policy standard excess is £50 for each loss or damage claim. A £500 excess applies for escape of water claims, a £250 excess for storm, flood or weight of snow claims and a £1000 excess for subsidence, landslip or heave claims.

For Overseas holiday homes the standard excess is £50 for each loss or damage claim. A £250 excess applies for escape of water claims and storm, flood or weight of snow claims and a £300 excess for earthquake damage.

Other excesses apply, please refer to the policy wordings.

The policy includes public liability insurance of £5m, which covers liability claims arising from the usage of swimming pools. This is automatically included when you choose buildings or contents insurance and protects you in the event of an accident involving your swimming pool - for example, slips and trips or cuts from broken tiles.

Our scheme is arranged with certain Underwriters at Lloyd's of London, one of the world's leading insurers - exclusively for Schofields. Find out about Schofields Insurance.

Main residence insurance policies are not suitable for holiday homes and many 'so-called' holiday home policies provide inadequate cover due to their exclusions. These articles are a must-read for people buying a holiday home or existing owners who do not fully understand what their policy does or should cover.

Read our guides:

• Insuring a second home in the UK
• Everything you need to know about holiday let insurance

If you wish to cancel your policy, you will need to put your request in writing by post or email. After you cancel your policy, we will refund your premium as per the cancellation clause in the policy wording. The policy is subject to a £25 cancellation charge to cover the administrative cost of providing the insurance. If we pay any claim, in whole or in part, then no refund of premium will be allowed.

No

The plus policy provides wide theft cover, including theft by keyholders, guests and theft by non-forced entry.

Unforeseen incidents may prevent you from letting your holiday home. The plus policy covers the loss of pre-booked rentals if you cancel bookings due to insured perils.

Just follow the quick, easy steps in the holiday home insurance quotes. Once we receive your online application, we will review it and either confirm holding cover or request further information by e-mail, the same, or next working day. Once we confirm holding cover your policy document should be issued within 14 working days. Please note cover is not in force until you receive a confirmation e-mail.

If you are completing and need proof of insurance urgently, we can send you your schedule via email.

We are unable to offer quotations over the phone.

Follow these instructions to make an insurance claim.

Customers can contact us by post, telephone or e-mail. We aim to provide the highest levels of customer satisfaction and welcome any suggestions or feedback about our products, service or website.

If you wish to make a complaint, please refer to the policy wording for the complaints procedure.

Claims for third-party liability, i.e. claims from members of the public and holidaymakers are automatically covered for an indemnity of £5m any one occurrence, plus legal costs and expenses when legally liable. In litigious times this cover will protect you if for example a guest slips in the shower causing injury and decides to take legal action. This also extends to cover damage to neighbouring properties by the owner or tenant.

If you employ people, you have a legal responsibility to ensure they work in a safe environment. For UK properties the cover automatically provides an indemnity of £5m for employers’ liability claims for caretakers, cleaners or gardeners, directly employed. For overseas property the limit of liability is £1m.

21 days before your policy expires, we will send you a renewal invitation by post with details of how to renew and your premium. Policies are not automatically renewed. Please note we do not send out 'full policy documents' each year, just renewal invitations.

Policies can be renewed securely online or over the telephone by calling 01204 394346.

This covers the eviction of overstaying guests, property infringement, consumer, residential and tax protection.

This optional cover is only available for holiday homes in the UK. To find out more download the Insurance Product Information Document and policy wording.

To read our most popular guides on owning and letting a holiday home visit our knowledge centre. For the latest industry news and tips on running a holiday let, read our blog where you can also sign up for our newsletter. Also, follow Schofields on Twitter and Facebook.

Whether you are getting a quote or renewing your existing policy, the insurer gives their best price from the start. If you want to reduce the premium, you can increase the voluntary excess.

You must tell us if you are selling your holiday home and putting it on the market.