If the property will stand empty for a lot of time as you will be using it as a second or holiday home, then the insurer will need to know for how long and how often this is likely to be. However, if you intend to use the property as a holiday let, then you will need a different type of insurance – landlord insurance. Landlords insurance is used where people have buy-to-let properties and, as more people invest in properties to let, the need for this type of insurance is growing.

If renting out the property then consideration should also be given as to taking out insurance against the possibility of losing rent from the property. If you are doing this then the majority of time you will be classed as a landlord and this makes a big difference too, if you are classed as a landlord then you will need cover as one. There is a lot more of course to holiday home insurance, these are just the very basics.

The biggest reason why it costs more to insure a second home is the fact that you are not residing in it and as such for a large part of the time it is standing empty, which means there is more chance of it getting broken into. Before you buy a holiday home insurance, you need to take an inventory of the things that you want to be covered by the policy. A comprehensive insurance policy should be able to protect your building and the contents of that building.

Holiday home insurance entails the buying of an insurance cover that will be able to meet both your family and individual needs. The insurance should also be pocket friendly to you. You should go for quality insurance and not quantity insurance in terms of the number of people who have taken their insurance cover with the company.

David Ball has many years experience advising on holiday home insurance, with his breadth of knowledge his organisation is a leader in the holiday home insurance field.