With expected changes in legislation affecting second homes, many holiday home owners are now exploring the possibility of letting out  their property as a self catering holiday let on a full or limited basis.  Running a self catering holiday let is defined as  a business and so you will need to have a commercial self catering insurance in place for your holiday let. 

There has been a surge of interest over recent years in those keen to move into the holiday let sector, however most insurers / providers of insurance have little experience in this sector and in truth do not know or realise the difference in the types of cover required to protect their clients properly.  In our view , with over 35 years of experience in this specialist sector, second home insurances are only suitable for properties that are not let, and only used by friends and family.

These are the typical key differences:

(no two insurance policies provide the same cover so the comments about holiday home insurances are generic):

Now let’s explain some of these headings.

Loss of income – as you are running a business if there is damage to your property and you are unable to let it out you are losing income (do not confuse with the inferior loss of rent)

Locks and bolts security – for an holiday home the insurer will not pay theft and malicious damage claims if the cause was contributed by a lack of security.  With a self catering insurance not only is there no minimum standard of security (key safes are not an issue) but your loss of income would also be covered.

Damage by paying guests – accidental damage and malicious damage by paying guests is covered by the self catering insurance.

Damage by domestic pets – whether your pets or the pets brought to your property by your guests, the self catering policy includes cover

Unoccupancy – your self catering property will not be fully occupied throughout the year.  The holiday home policy will severely restrict cover after a certain period eg no cover for escape of water, whilst the self catering policy provides full cover at all times subject to regular inspection and winter heating

About JL Morris specialist insurance brokers

We have arranged and managed self catering insurance policies throughout the UK for over 35 years and we have close connections with many self catering property associations. Our holiday let insurance is extremely popular throughout the UK, covering holiday lets across the South Coast of England, Cornwall, Devon, Cotswolds, Norfolk,  and other popular UK destinations. From town houses to chalets and cottages we can cover the full range of insurance for holiday rental properties.

Our ALLIANZ underwritten policy is for commercially let holiday homes and provides very wide cover as standard.

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David J Morris ACII                                                       www.selfcateringinsurance.co.uk

Chartered Insurance Broker                                                               info@jlmorris.co.uk

J L Morris (Insurance Brokers) Limited                                                        01202 642840