A vacant home is a house with no one living in it and, usually, no furniture inside. This happens more often than people expect. An owner passes away and the family needs time to settle the estate. A landlord loses a tenant and has not found a new one yet. A house goes up for sale and the seller has already moved out. In every one of these cases, the home is sitting empty, and that changes how insurance works.
Why insurers treat vacant homes differently
An empty home is harder to keep an eye on. Small problems like a slow leak, a break-in, or a fire can go unnoticed for much longer than they would in a home where someone is present every day. Because of that added risk, many standard homeowners policies reduce coverage or stop covering certain losses once a home has been vacant for a set number of days, often 30 to 60. A vacant home insurance policy is built specifically to cover a home in this situation, so you are not left with a gap.
Common reasons a home sits vacant
Vacant home insurance is not just for a single situation. Owners request it for a range of reasons, including:
- The home is between tenants or renters
- The owner passed away and the estate is being settled
- The home is listed for sale
- The home is under renovation
- The home is waiting for a planned demolition
General liability only, or a full property package
When you request a quote, you can choose general liability coverage on its own, which responds to third-party injury or property damage claims tied to the home, such as a visitor getting hurt on the property. Or you can choose general liability plus a property package, which adds coverage for the building itself. If you go with the property package, we will ask a few more questions, like the estimated cost to rebuild the home and the year it was built.
What we ask on the quote form
Because the home is empty, we ask a few questions that would not come up on a normal homeowners application. We want to know why the home is vacant, how long it has been empty, and whether it is currently insured. We also ask about any claims in the last five years. Since no one lives at the property, we ask for a separate mailing address so you can receive policy documents and billing. If a property manager oversees the home while it is empty, you can tell us, and we will ask for their name and address so they can potentially be added to the policy as an additional insured.
Other vacant property coverage
If your situation involves more than one type of property, or a different kind of vacant space, take a look at our pages on vacant land insurance, vacant commercial building insurance, and vacant condo insurance. When you are ready, the quote form only takes a few minutes and someone will follow up to help.