A holiday let insurance is a specialist policy that covers properties that are let to paying guests on a commercial, short-term basis.

Holiday let policies should offer cover for Property Owners’ Liability, loss of rent, accidental damage, malicious damage by tenants and periods when the property is unoccupied.

Most standard home insurance providers will not cover holiday lets as they consider them to be too great a risk.

Most likely. If your property is a second or holiday home, you need to check that your cover includes insurance for claims caused by paying guests in your property. 

A traditional holiday or second home insurance policy is usually designed to cover personal use of the property by yourself, friends, or family members. Cover for things like loss or rent, malicious damage by tenant, theft, alternative accommodation or property owners liability insurance may not be included. 

Standard home insurance policies cover things such as theft, flood, storm, escape of water, subsidence or fire. A specialist holiday let policy should offer cover for:

• Property owners liability including cover for accidental bodily injury and accidental damage to property.
• Accidental damage to contents cover caused by tenants (optional cover).
• Theft and malicious damage cover caused by tenants (optional cover).
• Alternative accommodation for your guest if your property cannot be lived in following damage
• Fire and escape of water damage caused by a paying guest (a standard household policy will typically exclude this).
• Replacement locks following theft of keys.
• Employers’ liability insurance which is a legal requirement if you employ staff such as a cleaner or gardener.
• Loss of rental income if the premises cannot be lived in as a result of an insured event and you have to cancel bookings.
• Optional legal expenses cover, an optional additional policy covering you against legal expenses incurred in defending yourself, or making claims against others.
• Optional home emergency cover, an optional additional policy providing 24 hr protection in the event of a problem with the property’s heating, plumbing, locks or electrics.

• Loss of rent receivable if your buildings cannot be lived in or access to them is denied as a result of an insured event.
• Ground rent 
• Professional accountant charges
• Automatic rent review an increase to reflect the revised rent receivable amount.
• How long can I claim for lost rental? When setting up your policy you can choose to be covered for 12, 18, 24 or 36 months loss of rental income. 
• How much loss of rental can I be covered for? When setting up your policy you can decide how much cover you need. The default is 20% of the buildings sum insured but you can change this as required. Please remember that the monthly maximum cover is the sum insured that you have selected, divided by the number of months cover you have selected. For example, a sum insured of £12,000 over 12 months would allow you to claim for up to £1,000 per month for 12 months. The same sum insured over 36 months would only allow you to claim up to £333.33 for up to 36 months.

This is purely down to personal choice.

Accidental Damage is included as standard on the buildings section of the Policy Powerhouse let property policy. It is optional cover on the contents section of the policy. Your policy schedule will confirm if this cover is included.

Contents should always be covered on a new for old basis. You should insure the contents for the amount it would cost if you were replacing them at today’s prices.

The Policy Powerhouse holiday let insurance automatically offers £10,000 of cover free of charge. You may select any amount up-to £100,000. Typically, the average value of possessions in a holiday let property is approximately £20,000.

The rebuild sum insured should represent how much it would cost to rebuild your holiday let (including any outbuildings) as they currently stand from scratch. 

Policy Powerhouse has taken away the worry of getting this amount right for the policyholder.

We use data from a variety of sources to estimate the rebuild cost of the property.

Rebuild costs don’t include the cost of land, so in most cases it will be less than the property’s market value.

Make sure the rebuild sum insured is enough to cover the cost of rebuilding your holiday let including outbuildings, swimming pools, hot tubs etc. The costs for debris removal and professional architect and engineers fees should also be included.

You may alter the rebuild sum insured up to £1,000,000. Failure to insure for the full reinstatement value could result in the claims settlement being reduced.

• Pay annually
  It’s often cheaper to pay the premium annually rather than paying monthly. Most insurers will charge interest or an admin fee if you opt to pay monthly.
• Buy a combined policy
  Buying buildings and contents insurance together from the same insurer will save you money compared to buying each separately.
• Increase your voluntary excess
  Opting to pay a higher voluntary excess can lower your insurance premium.
• Don’t over-insure
  Overestimating the rebuild cost of your property and the value of your contents will increase your premium, so ensure the figures are accurate as possible.

You can apply for Holiday Lets cover by accessing the portal available at:
www.policypowerhouse.com/holidaylets

Very little! Policy Powerhouse have taken the hassle out of arranging specialist holiday let cover by pre-populating a great deal of the questions asked using purchased data from market leading third party providers. The process Is simple and fast.

The policy is provided by Modus Underwriting Limited and Great Lakes Insurance SE. Great Lakes Insurance SE is part of the Munich Re Group which is one of the largest insurers worldwide.

A copy of the Policy Wording, IPID, Statement of Fact and Schedule are available under the ‘My Policy Documents’ section of the Policy Powerhouse portal.

A quotation is valid for 30 days from the date of issue.