You’ve found your dream home and the deal is signed and sealed – find out how Home Insurance from Direct Line could help you to protect your investment by sorting out replacements or repairs should any damage or loss occur.
If you own a second home to use as a holiday let, then you may only get to visit at weekends or during the holidays. Or you could have purchased the property as a ‘buy-to-let’ venture either for use by other holidaymakers or for full-time tenants. (Direct Line insures second homes in the UK only and does not insure buy-to-let properties). In this case, you will probably see your second home property even less. But whoever is the main occupier of your second home it needs as much care as your main property and will require regular and routine maintenance and repair.
Doing it yourself
It’s important to visit your second home several times a year to ensure that everything is in good repair. If you are the sole user, then terms and conditions to your Direct Line Home Buildings Insurance or Contents Insurance will apply if your property is left unoccupied for more than 60 consecutive days. Routine maintenance should include checks on:
Make sure these are kept clear from debris, especially falling leaves.
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Plumbing, gas and heating
It is especially important to make regular checks on your plumbing, gas and heating pipes and units, including a certified gas and carbon monoxide check every year. Your Direct Line Home Insurance policy does cover you for water or oil escaping from any fixed water or heating installation or from any domestic appliance, but you do need to keep everything in a good state of repair. Check your policy document for more details.
Check for loose of missing tiles to stop water entering your home and avoid dangers to passers-by.
If the fire is in use, then sweep regularly and check for blockages.
Cracks or blistering could lead to damage of the structural fabric of your home and look unattractive if you want to rent it out – so touch up as often as you can.
These can also affect the structural fabric of your house, so keep creepers in trim to avoid a big clean-up job later.
Keep trees and branches trim in case they fall. Your Direct Line Home Insurance does cover for damage to your building caused by falling objects outside your home, and this includes trees and branches. But you are not covered if trees fall on gates, fences or hedges. Check your home insurance policy document for more details.
Ensure the locks on doors and windows of your home and outbuildings are secure and up to date. If you have Direct Line Home Contents Insurance then it is especially important to make sure the contents of your home are protected under the terms and conditions of your home insurance policy document.
Using an agent
If you do not live near your second home, then it can make absolute sense to hire an agent to take care of any maintenance and repair issues. This is especially the case for holiday homes both in the UK and abroad. An agent can take care of repairs, pass keys to tenants and check them in and out, handle inventories, change linen at weekends and sort other cleaning, arrange garden maintenance such as grass-cutting, advertise your property for new tenants, and deal with emergencies – for example, if your tenants get locked out and need a spare set of keys or a plumbing problem occurs.
There are lots of specialist holidaymaker agencies in the UK – such as www.holidayhomemanagement.com for holiday homeowners in popular South Devon or www.holidaylettings.co.uk to help you advertise your property – and most of them charge between 15 and 30 per cent of your takings. You could also sign up with a traditional estate agent in winter, when a six-month tenant could cover any shortfall in rentals by summer holidaymakers. Just make sure you leave enough time to give your property a once-over before the holiday season begins again. And remember, if you have Direct Line Home Buildings or Contents Insurance, terms and conditions will apply if you leave your property unoccupied for more than 60 consecutive – so make sure your agent is keeping an eye on this.
However you choose to maintain your home, at Direct Line we want to help make sure your investment stays adequately insured. So, if any details change – if you do any building work or add more contents – get in touch with us immediately so we can amend your policy. You can do this quickly and easily online.
You can also sign up for our Home Emergency Cover, Home Response 24 online. This gives you access to thousands of qualified tradesmen in case of home emergencies, and can be especially useful if you are not there to deal with matters yourself.
To find out how Direct Line can help you maintain your second home, call us for a quote today.
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