http://www.zihala.com/peace-sign/
Things to consider when letting your holiday home
If you own a second home abroad, you can get an easy extra income by letting it out when you’re not using it, as well as giving you the peace of mind that your property is not just lying empty and vulnerable in your absence. Unfortunately it isn’t quite as simple as that and there are all sorts of risks involved in letting your holiday home to people you don’t know. After all, you have a lot of money invested in your place in the sun, and letting, although the benefits are clear, increases the risk to your property and possessions. But it is a problem easily solved, all you need to do is make sure that your second home insurance policy covers you for the type of problems that could arise from letting your holiday home.
A lot of insurance policies for holiday homes do not include cover people other than family and friends, so make sure you get a specialist holiday let insurance policy, which will allow you to rent the property to other tenants. Of course the risks of allowing strangers into your holiday home are obvious, so making sure you have a policy which covers accidental damage to the house and its contents will help reassure you that you are protected for any eventuality. You should also consider the potential loss of rental income if something happened to the property – some policies will not only cover this cost but also provide alternative accommodation for you and your tenants in the event that the property is uninhabitable.
When you’re choosing your insurance policy the main thing to remember is to make sure you always read the small print thoroughly. You might find that house insurance in Spain, Italy and other popular holiday destinations is cheaper to buy from the country in question, but these European policies for holiday homes are often a lot more limited than UK policies in the cover they offer. For instance some countries do not insure property against damage caused by a guest or tenant as standard, and assume that visitors will be aware they should have their own ‘liability insurance’ policy. This type of insurance could put off potential visitors from the UK as it would mean them paying more for their holiday, not to mention the risk to you as you’d be relying on the tenant to have insurance, and if they didn’t you wouldn’t be covered. The easiest solution is to take out a second home policy based in the UK, where public liability insurance is included in the premium as standard.
One mistake that often arises when people don’t read the small print thoroughly is that they accidentally sign a policy that requires them to visit the property once a week to perform regular checks. Failure to do this would mean the policy was invalid but obviously when your second home is hundreds of miles away this is just not possible. Fortunately not all insurance policies have requirements like this, so shop around for the best deal but remember that it is still advisable to have the property checked regularly (by an agent or reliable trustworthy neighbour) for your peace of mind and in case anything does go wrong while you are away.
POSER! – The history and evolution of the “Peace Sign”