So you finally got your place in the sun, it’s the ideal holiday retreat you always dreamed of and it gives you the chance to escape for a few glorious sunny weeks of each year. It’s an attractive idea, and the perfect way to pass the summer months, enjoying the sunshine and making the most of staying at your second home on your own terms without having to worry about bills, other guests and the other stresses of staying at a hotel.

But problems can arise when you view your home purely as a holiday retreat, and not pay too much mind to how it will fare through the winter months when it will most likely be standing empty and exposed to cold weather. A lot of second home owners fall into the trap of believing that their overseas property insurance will cover them for any problems that may arise throughout the whole year, but in fact many policies contain conditions that can leave the claim invalid if the property is damaged whilst unoccupied.

The most common trap that people fall into with second home insurance is not realising that their policy requires them to fulfil certain obligations for the claim to be valid. Often buried in the small print, common examples of these requirements are switching off and draining the water system every time you leave, visiting the property at least once every 30 days, or even performing weekly checks.

Failure to meet these conditions could leave your holiday home without cover if something happened, so the most important thing is to check your insurance policy, read the small print and make sure there are no catches. If you need to, upgrade your policy – some second home insurance companies like Schofields offer insurance for holiday homes that remains valid throughout the year without these requirements. 

Of course prevention is better than cure, and you should do everything in your power to protect your second home against the dangers it could face over the winter. Security is obviously very important, and you should make sure that no valuables are left in sight and that the house is secure. It’s a good idea to have a local neighbour or agent check on your holiday home regularly just to be sure nothing has gone wrong, and to catch it early if it has.

Another common problem that can arise in unattended holiday homes is that water pipes may freeze or burst during the winter. Last year hundreds of holiday owners were caught out by the unexpected cold weather, discovering that their homes had suffered water damage as they’d been left unprepared for the icy conditions. Many of these also found that they weren’t covered on their insurance. Prevention from disasters like this cannot be guaranteed but there are some precautions you could take that could make all the difference.

Firstly, don’t turn the heating off over the winter – yes it means you won’t have to worry about heating bills, but in temperatures below freezing the pipes could suffer serious damage, which would cost a lot more. All pipes in the house should be thoroughly insulated – including any in the loft space above any roof insulation you may have, which will stop heat reaching them from the rest of the house. Leave the water mains switched off to limit the amount of water that could leak out if a pipe did burst, and if you do discover a problem don’t try and deal witb it yourself, call an emergency plumber immediately!