A home that stands empty — questions for your carrier
Take this into a call or a meeting with your own insurance carrier or broker and write down what they say. Every line below is a question. Nothing on this sheet states what any policy requires, covers or excludes, because that varies by carrier, by policy and by house.
This is not insurance advice, and it is not a summary of anybody's policy. Only your own carrier, broker and policy documents can determine what applies to your house. If any answer below matters to you, ask for it in writing from them rather than relying on a sheet from a house-management company.
The nine
How does this policy treat a period when nobody is living in the house?
Ask them to explain it in their own words, and ask whether any part of it changes after a particular length of time.
Why an absent owner asks: an absence of a season is a normal fact about a second home and an unusual one for a policy written around a primary residence.
Do the terms you use for an empty house — for example vacant
and unoccupied
— mean different things in this policy, and if so which one describes my house?
Ask which term they would apply to a furnished house that its owner returns to, and ask where that is defined in the document.
Why an absent owner asks: the words are used differently by different carriers, which is exactly why this is a question rather than a statement on our part.
Is there anything I am expected to do, or to have in place, while the house is unoccupied?
And if there is, ask whether it is a condition, a recommendation or a discount.
Why an absent owner asks: the difference between those three is the difference between a nice idea and a requirement.
Do you need to be told when the house will be empty, and for how long?
Ask who to tell, how, and whether it needs to be in writing.
Why an absent owner asks: a notification obligation is easy to satisfy and easy to overlook entirely.
Does a dated record of visits to the house make any difference to you — before or after a claim?
Ask what form would actually be useful to them: dated notes, photographs, readings, who attended.
Why an absent owner asks: if the answer is yes it is worth keeping properly; if the answer is no it is still worth keeping, for your own sake, and you will have stopped wondering.
What do you expect of me regarding water, heat and humidity while nobody is here?
Ask specifically about the water supply being left on or off, and about heat during a freeze.
Why an absent owner asks: these are the settings an owner controls, and they are the ones a house-management arrangement can actually confirm each visit.
Is there anything you expect of me before or during a storm?
Ask whether anything changes once a storm is named, and whether any of it has a deadline attached.
Why an absent owner asks: whatever the answer, it should be known in May rather than discovered in September. Note that nobody — including us — controls when the island permits access.
What documentation about work done on the house is worth keeping, and for how long?
Ask about invoices, provider details, warranties, and evidence of repairs and replacements.
Why an absent owner asks: it tells you what your house record should hold, which is a question you can answer once and benefit from for years.
If something happens while I am away, what do you want me — or whoever is at the house — to do first?
Ask who they want called, in what order, what should be photographed, and what should not be moved or repaired before somebody has seen it.
Why an absent owner asks: this is the single most useful answer on the sheet, and it is the one that has to be known in advance rather than looked up during.
Anything else they told me
What to do with the answers. Put them in the house record rather than in an email thread — they belong beside the documents and the provider history, because that is where whoever is looking after the house will need them. The record has a category for it.
Why there are no answers on this sheet. Homeowners insurance terms and conditions vary by carrier, by policy form and by state, and a general statement about what policies usually
say would be wrong for some readers in a way that could cost them money. We would rather publish nine good questions than one confident sentence.
Where to read more. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the Insurance Information Institute and the South Carolina Department of Insurance publish general consumer information about homeowners coverage. None of them, and certainly not us, can tell you what your own policy says.
Questions for your carrier · sheet v1.0 · questions only, no coverage statements · free, no email required
Vellamore · Kiawah Island, South Carolina
myvellamore.com · 843-619-2346