Holiday Home Insurance Ireland
Owning a holiday home is a dream that is much more easily realised for many today. It’s often the outcome of hard work and determined planning, so protecting this investment in your lifestyle is incredibly important. To protect it, ensure you have adequate holiday home insurance in Ireland.
This type of cover is designed specifically for this type of property and takes into account the frequent, lengthy periods when a holiday home can be unoccupied.
What Is Holiday Home Insurance?
The main difference between standard home insurance and holiday home insurance in Ireland is that holiday home insurance is designed for properties that might be vacant for more than 30 days.
Normally, under standard home insurance, if a home is vacant for 30 days or more, many of the policy’s protections lapse. With holiday homes, long absences are expected and are factored into the pricing, planning, and execution of this type of insurance.
Second Home Insurance
Second home insurance is essentially the same as holiday home insurance. It exists to provide insurance coverage for a second home with all the same assurances built in, but with expected variations in occupancy/vacancy rates due to its holiday-home use.
Types of Holiday Homes and Second Properties
A holiday home by the sea is a dream for most people. It’s scenic, close to nature and often located in a dramatic setting. In summertime, this creates an idyllic setting for holidays, but in other seasons, it can bring dramatic weather as well.
Storms can buffet your property, lifting shingles or loosening windows, water can find its way into your home, while flooding remains a constant peril. All of these weather fluctuations should be considered when choosing your level of seaside holiday home insurance protection. How close to the sea your holiday home is situated can help you decide whether you need to take out full building and contents insurance or building-only or contents-only insurance.
Choosing rural holiday cottage insurance is crucial, as your perfect retreat will likely be in an isolated, quiet area. This is ideal for holiday breaks, but also creates conditions for easy break-ins and malicious property damage. With few close neighbours and irregular security protection, a rural holiday home is an easy target.
Fire is also a threat in holiday homes such as these. Being isolated, neighbours will likely not spot a fire in an unoccupied property in time to prevent it from making significant damage. Also, as many popular rural homes tend to be older or with architectural styles such as thatch that are fire risks, securing adequate cover for your rural holiday home insurance is vital.
If your holiday property is an apartment, then strong insurance is a must. Unfortunately, urban areas can be prone to higher crime levels and an apartment property that is vacant for long periods can become a target of thieves or others intent on causing malicious damage.
Fire can also be a strong consideration, as an apartment, by definition, comes with close neighbouring properties, any of which could cause an accident that quickly spreads throughout the building. City apartment insurance can also cover damage to doors and locks, as well as liability to cover any guests that you might choose to allow to stay in your city apartment property. Generally, once you buy a city apartment, you will find many friends and family eager to take advantage of its central location. You should carefully consider whether you are adequately covered for potential liability costs under your apartment insurance. Even minor accidents that a guest or tradesperson might experience can add up to high costs that you could be liable for.
Rental property insurance is slightly different from holiday home insurance, as you are renting your property for business purposes. The issues around liability become even more pronounced when you don’t know the occupants personally and you have multiple short-term guests.
Most insurance providers offer an Airbnb-style insurance policy for this situation. In this case, a clear definition must be made as to whether your property is solely a short-term rental property or a combination of personal holiday use and rental.
What Does Holiday Home and Second Home Insurance Cover?
There are three insurance scenarios that you should consider for your holiday home insurance policy: Buildings-only insurance, contents-only insurance or a combined buildings and contents insurance approach.
For many people, the building itself is the primary concern when considering holiday home insurance in Ireland. The contents of the holiday home are sometimes minimal or of a low enough value that the owner feels they can be easily replaced. For these reasons, they may choose to take out building-only insurance cover.
This type of cover will insure against fire, flood, storm damage, theft and malicious damage to the building’s structure. It is solely focused on protecting the building itself and does not cover its contents. Any personal possessions lost or damaged in fire, flood or theft (or other possible scenarios) are not covered by this kind of insurance policy.
Subsidence is an important inclusion of may holiday home insurance policies. If your property is in a location where this is a threat – such as a seaside, forest, or riverside location – make sure protection against the cost of preventing or reversing subsidence is included.
Another type of holiday home insurance customer might choose to take contents-only insurance. This might be because they are secure in their belief that the holiday home is situated in a safe place, far from flood threats or is suitably well-built to withstand storms or break-ins.
With a contents-only holiday home insurance policy, the homeowner is confident that their personal possessions and larger items, such as furniture, kitchen appliances, and audio-visual equipment, will be covered in the event of theft, accident or malicious damage.
Some providers also offer cover for glass breakage, including mirrors, windows, glass-top tables, and even ceramic hobs. If you have particularly high-value audio-visual equipment, it can be a good idea to consider specific cover for it.
Combined building and contents insurance for holiday homes is the safest and usually most popular option. It protects the structural integrity of the building in the case of fire, flood or accident, as well as covering the garden landscape and any sheds, seating or paving that may be part of it. The building is valued to allow for a complete rebuild if required, as well as any necessary repairs to its parts.
The contents of the house are similarly covered, allowing for replacement on a new-for-old basis and the repair of internal fixtures and fittings. Replacement door locks are also a popular inclusion.
Additional Cover Options for Holiday Homes
This popular add-on covers accidental damage to the property or its contents, including damage caused by the homeowner. Items or structural damage can be repaired or replaced on a new-for-old basis.
This cover offers 24/7 assistance and can be particularly helpful when the owner is absent or doesn’t know where to get help locally. Home emergency cover can help find a reputable tradesperson or provide help after sudden incidents.
If you choose to rent your home as a holiday rental business, you will come to rely on the rental income it provides. Loss of rental income cover is a popular add-on to protect your income in the aftermath of accidents or damage that makes the home unsuitable for letting.
Holiday homes invariably attract guests. You may also have tradespeople on your property. Public liability cover ensures that you are protected against costs in the case of someone being injured while on your property that might lead to legal action.
Unoccupied property coverage extends the time your home can be unoccupied while still protected. In a standard first home insurance policy, this is limited to 30 days. The unoccupied property cover can extend the absence period for up to 12 months.
Holiday Home Insurance Cost
The range in holiday home insurance costs in Ireland can be from around €200 to €500 per year.
Factors that affect the cost of holiday home insurance
Factors that determine pricing include the type of insurance cover, the provider and the type of property and its location.
How to reduce the cost of holiday home insurance
Enhanced security measures, such as external lighting, alarms and gates can have a significant impact on your holiday home cover. Providers also offer significant discounts for booking your policy directly and for using their online services.
Unoccupied or Part-Time Occupancy Home Cover
This type of cover is designed for those who don’t spend long periods in their second home. Known as unoccupied or part-time occupancy cover, it focuses on protecting properties left vacant for extended periods. Unlike standard home insurance policies, which are limited to absences of up to 30 days, this type of policy allows much longer periods.
Who Provides Irish Holiday Home Insurance?
There are many insurance providers offering Irish holiday home insurance. They include Redclick Insurance, 123.ie, Out Insurance, Allianz Ireland, Chill Insurance, An Post Insurance, Zurich, and Aviva.
Holiday Home and Second Home Insurance FAQ
No, standard home insurance, while appearing similar, will not cover the range of absences a typical holiday home requires. Second property home insurance also includes specified storm damage cover, as well as emergency features designed for homes in exposed or isolated places or for owners unfamiliar with the locality.
Yes, holiday home insurance can be more expensive because of the frequency of long absences from the property. During these periods, there is a greater likelihood that small issues, such as leaks, will become more damaging if not discovered quickly. The property’s location, particularly in sea-facing areas prone to storms, is also a factor, while quiet homes in rural areas can be attractive to criminal activity, such as burglary.
Yes, it’s possible to get holiday home cover for a property located abroad, particularly if it’s located in the European Union. Not all providers cover this, but some do, and the level of cover and the premium are determined largely by the location and type of the overseas property.
To figure out the sum, you should insure your holiday home for, you should work out the value of rebuilding your holiday home entirely. This is not the value of how much it would be worth in the property market if you were selling. It’s the value of the cost of rebuilding (labour and materials) in your holiday home’s current location.
