Be Sure that Your Unoccupied Home is Insured

Most homeowners are careful to protect their most valuable asset with homeowners' insurance. However, many homeowners are not aware that their insurance policy may not cover their home if it is vacant for an extended period of time.

Under the terms of many policies, homeowners' insurance is canceled if the property is unoccupied for 30 to 60 days consecutively. Therefore, your policy could terminate without notice for any number of reasons: if you take a vacation of a month or more; are away on a lengthy business trip; have an accident or illness that puts you in the hospital and/or a nursing or rehabilitation facility for an extended period; or purchase and move into a new home, leaving your previous home vacant while it is on the market.

The insurance company's rationale for terminating insurance coverage on vacant homes is straightforward. They consider the risk of a claim as a result of vandalism, theft, or damage from water, insects, animals, fire, or weather to be far higher when a home is empty than when it is occupied.

If you anticipate that your home will be vacant for 30 days or more, there are a number of steps that you can take to protect it while it is unoccupied.

1. Check the details of your homeowners' insurance policy with regard to unoccupied property so that you don't inadvertently lose coverage.

2. If you determine that your policy is likely to terminate while you are away, call your insurance agent ahead of time and find out if there is any way to continue your coverage while your home is vacant, even if you must pay more.

3. Consider finding a house sitter who can stay in your home. Check with your insurance agent, but, chances are, as long as someone is staying in your home, it will be classified as "occupied" and your insurance will remain in force.

4. If you are unable to continue your existing insurance or to obtain a policy from your regular insurance company, check out companies that specialize in underwriting insurance for unoccupied homes. Such insurance likely will be more expensive, and it may provide more limited coverage than your current policy, but at least it will offer some measure of protection.

5. Even if you are able to obtain coverage for your vacant home, take sensible steps to protect it while it is unoccupied. Be sure that doors and windows are locked and that locks are strong and secure. Set your security system if you have one. And be sure that you don't advertise that your home is vacant: discontinue newspaper and mail delivery or have someone retrieve papers and mail while you are gone, have the lawn mowed and maintained, and set timers so that lights (and perhaps television sets or radios) come on at night.

Sources:

Kat Zeman, articles.moneycentral.msn.com, Homeowners insurance on vacant houses can vanish

Groshan Fabiola, ezinearticles.com, Learn About Insuring Vacant Homes

www.insure.com, Insure.com - Vacant homes can be tough to insure