Holiday Let Liability Insurance

Public Liability Insurance for a Holiday Let 

If you own a holiday home that you rent out to holidaymakers you could earn a great income, particularly if the holiday property is in a sought-after location.  

However, if one of the visitors to your holiday let is ever injured or their property is damaged you could face a public liability claim, which would wipe out all of your rental income (and then some) – unless you had the right public liability insurance for a holiday let. This coverage may not automatically be covered by standard holiday home insurance.

Compare public liability insurance for a holiday let now 

Do you need public liability insurance for a holiday let?

No, public liability insurance isn’t a legal requirement in the UK, no matter what type of business you’re running. However, some holiday letting platforms may insist you have this type of insurance in place before you can list your holiday rental on their site, so it’s worth double-checking this. 

What about Airbnb, does it require this type of insurance? 

Yes, Airbnb does require its hosts to have public liability insurance – but it provides this type of policy to all of its hosts free of charge, so you won’t need to take out a separate public liability insurance for holiday lets if you only list your holiday home on Airbnb and nowhere else. 

If I do rent my holiday home elsewhere, what coverage level should I opt for? 

You have a couple of choices when it comes to the amount of cover. Most insurance companies will offer you one of four levels of coverage when you’re taking out holiday let public liability insurance. Of course the higher you go the more your premium will be, but you will have to assess which one of the following best suits your needs: 

• £1 Million Public Liability Insurance
• £2 million of coverage 
• £5 million of coverage 
• £10 Million Public Liability Insurance

The two most popular coverage levels are £2 million and £5 million, and in most cases, one of those coverage levels should be enough for your holiday home. 

What types of risks does public liability insurance for a holiday let protect me against? 

Public liability insurance for a holiday let will cover holiday homeowners against a number of different “insurable events”. The following are typically incidents that might result in a public liability claim which would be considered an ‘insurable event’ and will usually be covered by your PLI for a holiday let: 

• A member of the public getting injured in your holiday home 
• A member of the public’s vehicle or property getting damaged while they’re visiting your holiday home 
• A member of the public’s valuables or belongings getting damaged, lost or stolen 

It’s worth noting that the public liability claim will generally only be paid out for one of these claims if you’re somehow liable for the incident occurring. 

What won’t be covered by my holiday home public liability insurance? 

In addition to what the policy covers, there will be a list of “exclusions”, which are things that specifically won’t be covered. 

Most of the exclusions will relate to deliberate damage or injury – if the incident happens intentionally, rather than accidentally, the insurance is unlikely to cover it. 

Accidents that occur because people have consumed alcohol or taken drugs generally won’t be covered either. 

Finally, incidents that occur to your own staff rather than members of the public usually won’t be covered. 

Oh, so if my holiday home has a live-in cleaner, maid or cook they won’t be covered? 

No, your maid or cook will not be included in this type of cover. Public liability insurance is only intended to protect your holiday home business from liability claims you might face from members of the public. This can include paying guests and their visitors, other people who might visit the property for one reason or another, postal workers, couriers and delivery drivers. 

Your live-in cleaner, maid or cook, on the other hand, will be classified as an employee of your holiday home business, which means they won’t fall into this classification as a member of the public. 

You’ll need employers’ liability insurance to cover you for these liability claims from employees, and in fact, this type of policy is mandatory if you do employ staff. 

Will this type of policy cover me for legal fees? 

It’s worth double-checking your policy’s small print, but In most cases, your legal fees should be covered (at least in part) if you’re ever sued by a guest at your holiday home or another member of the public and you are held liable for the “insurable event”. 

There are likely to be a few insurance companies that will charge you an additional fee to cover your legal costs in the event of a claim. They would typically consider it an add-on to give you the option to have a reduced premium. Most of the time, however, legal costs are included in a standard PLI insurance. Be sure to ask about the exclusions when signing your insurance policy. 

How much does public liability insurance for holiday lets usually cost? 

The cost of a public liability insurance policy for a holiday let can vary quite a bit from one holiday home to the next, and from one insurer to the next because insurance providers will take a lot of risk factors into account when they’re calculating your insurance premium, and each provider will also give a slightly different weighting to each risk factor. 

The location of your holiday home, the crime rate in that location, the size of the holiday home, the number of guests it is rented out to and how often you rent it out to paying guests can all influence the premium you pay for your public liability insurance policy. 

In addition, the coverage level you opt for is likely to affect your premium as well, with £10 million of coverage generally costing a bit more than £1 million.  

With that in mind, the best plan is to compare public liability insurance quotes from numerous insurance providers, and then go with the one that offers the best policy at the best price. 

If I’m only renting out my holiday home for a short period can I take out temporary holiday home liability insurance? 

Yes, if you aren’t intending to rent out your holiday home throughout the year you might decide that a temporary public liability insurance policy will meet your needs. 

However, if there is any possibility that you might rent the property out for a second time within the next 12 months it would be good to look into an annual policy as this will likely be cheaper than two separate short-term policies.

Cheapest public liability insurance for holiday let

The cheapest public liability insurance for holiday lets will depend on your property and the insurer. Comparing holiday home insurance policies is the easiest way of getting the cheapest holiday let insurance available to you.