Letting, renovation or vacancy can affect your buildings insurance. However, a rejection can only be assessed once it is clear what change took place, what the policy says about it and what you told the insurer or your adviser. Ask for the exact clause and check the actual situation on the date of the loss. Not every change has the same consequences under every policy.
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Written by Onur Arslan, attorney at Arslan Advocaten. Registered in the Netherlands Bar’s register of specialist areas for employment law and personal injury. Last updated: 22 September 2026.
A home can be used differently for a while without you regarding that as a major risk. You move in with your partner and let your old house, a renovation overruns, or a parent moves into a care home. The insurance may apply different conditions to those situations than to normal occupation.
Why does the use of the home make a difference?
The insurer assesses a risk on the basis of the situation disclosed to it. Day-to-day occupation, long-term vacancy, letting rooms and a major renovation can each involve different risks. The policy may therefore contain a duty to notify, limited cover or additional conditions.
Do not look only at a general provision on ‘change of risk’. The policy schedule may contain a specific clause that takes precedence over, or supplements, the general terms and conditions. Use the terms that apply to the relevant period, including endorsements and confirmed amendments.
Vacant does not always mean unfurnished
A home may still be furnished while in fact nobody lives there. The policy may use terms such as unoccupied, not in use or vacant. Those terms must be interpreted in light of the wording and the circumstances.
Gather information about actual occupation, visits, supervision and how long the situation lasted. Registration at the address is not necessarily the only relevant evidence. A for-sale sign does not, in itself, say everything about day-to-day occupation either.
How this works out in practice is shown by Kifid ruling 2024-0504 of 18 June 2024 (Kifid is the Dutch Financial Services Complaints Tribunal). In that case, an unoccupied home was up for sale. The authorised agent placed a vacancy clause on the policy schedule, which limited cover during the vacancy to damage caused by fire and storm. Burglars then broke in and stole the copper pipes. Because of the clause, that burglary damage fell outside the cover. The request to remove the clause (after all, the home was fully furnished) was refused: according to the authorised agent, a home is vacant as soon as it is no longer lived in. Furnished is therefore not the same as occupied.
The consumers blamed their intermediary and the insurer for not warning them about this. Kifid held that the insurer was not at fault, because it had no advisory role. The intermediary had, however, breached his duty of care under Article 7:401 of the Dutch Civil Code (BW): he knew that the home was unoccupied and should have informed them about the limited cover. Even so, the claim for € 19,000 was rejected: the committee did not consider it plausible that the consumers would have taken concrete measures had they been properly informed, and the insurer confirmed that the claim would also have been rejected had it been reported earlier.
Two lessons. First: a vacancy clause can reduce cover to fire and storm only, whereas burglary and water damage are precisely the greatest risks for an empty house. Second: a negligent adviser only results in compensation if you can show it is plausible that, if properly informed, you would have acted differently. Do not automatically apply the outcome to a different policy or cause of loss.
Letting to a single tenant, letting rooms or holiday letting
Report a change in letting in concrete terms. State who uses which part, for how long, whether you continue to live there yourself and whether the letting is for tourist or business purposes. Ask for written confirmation of the cover, any premium adjustment and any special conditions.
Consent from your mortgage lender or the municipality is not automatically consent from the insurer. Conversely, insurance cover does not replace any other consent that is required. Keep the separate decisions for that reason.
If damage is caused by a tenant, both your own cover and any liability of the tenant must be examined. It is not self-evident that the insurer may reject the claim merely because someone else was using the property; the agreed use and the policy terms are decisive.
Alterations and renovation
A small painting job is not the same as a renovation in which the roof and façade are opened up. Tell the insurer what work is being carried out, whether the house remains habitable, what security is in place and how long the project will last. Also ask what you must do if the schedule changes.
Check which damage is covered by the buildings insurance and whether there is a CAR policy (Construction All Risks, a separate construction insurance covering damage during building or renovation work) or other construction cover. A contractor’s liability insurance is not automatically full insurance for all damage to your home.
Keep the contract with the contractor, the construction schedule, photographs and agreements on hot work that poses a fire risk. If damage occurs, those documents can help to establish whether it is an insured event, a workmanship error or a restriction that applies during the construction period.
Letting, vacancy or renovation: what do you report, and what do you ask for in return?
The three situations are often lumped together, but each has its own duty to notify and its own risk. Go through the row that applies to you.
| Situation | What do you report? | What confirmation do you ask for in return? | What usually goes wrong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Letting to a single tenant | Start date, tenancy agreement, number of occupants, whether it concerns permanent occupation | Written confirmation that cover continues unchanged, with any clause and premium adjustment shown on the policy schedule | The letting is reported to the adviser but never appears on the policy schedule |
| Letting rooms | Number of rooms and occupants, shared facilities, any permit | Confirmation that letting rooms is permitted under the policy; if not, an amended or separate insurance | Letting rooms often falls outside a standard home insurance policy |
| Holiday letting or short stay | Frequency, platform, who stays there and for how long | Express confirmation that this use is covered | The owner does not regard occasional letting as “letting”, but the insurer does |
| Vacancy (no longer occupied) | From what date nobody has lived there, whether there is supervision, whether the home is for sale and whether furniture remains | Confirmation of which cover continues to apply; watch out for a vacancy clause limiting cover to fire and storm | “There is still a full set of contents” is read as occupied, but it is not |
| Alterations or renovation | Nature of the work, whether the house remains habitable, duration of the project, security, hot work posing a fire risk | Confirmation of which damage remains covered by the buildings insurance and whether a CAR policy is needed | Only the contractor is insured; damage to the existing structure falls outside the contractor’s liability |
| Change in the schedule | New completion date, overrun, temporary vacancy between two phases | Confirmation that the earlier undertaking also applies to the new period | An undertaking for “three months” silently lapses if the work overruns |
What if you did not report the change?
Ask which duty to notify was breached, within what period notification was required under the policy and what consequences are attached to that. Also have it assessed how the insurer would have acted had it been notified in time. Would it have continued, amended or terminated the insurance?
There is no general rule that every unreported change justifies a full rejection. Nor is it always required that the change was the direct cause of the damage. The legal nature of the clause and the specific circumstances make a difference. Have an argument based on ‘no causal link’ legally assessed, rather than using it as a standard argument.
If the different use already existed when you applied for the insurance, the dispute may concern the duty of disclosure when the insurance was taken out. That is a different starting point from a change during the term of the policy. See claim rejected for non-disclosure.
You did tell your adviser
Find the e-mail, call confirmation or amendment request. Ask what the adviser did next and what response was received from the insurer. The adviser’s role and authority may be relevant to the question of to whom a notification is legally deemed to have been made.
An advisory error can give rise to a separate claim for damages, but the consequences must then also be proven. What suitable cover was available, and would you have chosen it? Read more about the liability of an insurance adviser.
Challenging a rejection in a targeted way
Draw up a timeline of the change, the notification, the response, any new policy and the damage. Set the exact policy definitions alongside it. Then substantiate which part of the rejection you believe is factually or legally incorrect.
Also ask whether other items of loss are covered. A restriction during vacancy may, for example, differ by cause. Do not let the insurer merely attach a general label; ask it to state which provision is being applied to which item of loss.
Keep an eye on two time limits. First, the complaints route: go through the insurer’s internal complaints procedure and ask for a final position. Only then can you turn to Kifid, if you are a consumer and the insurer is a member; the admission requirements and the filing deadline are set out in the applicable rules of the Kifid Disputes Committee. Second, the limitation period: under Article 7:942 of the Dutch Civil Code, your claim against the insurer becomes time-barred three years after the day following the day on which you became aware that it was due and payable. If the insurer rejects your claim unequivocally, a new three-year period begins on the following day. Note that date in your diary: an ongoing complaints procedure does not automatically interrupt the limitation period.
A change in the use of the property
Vacancy, letting, renovation and other business use may fall under different notification and cover provisions. Ask which change the insurer says should have been reported, and from what moment. A short absence is not automatically the same situation as structural vacancy.
Keep messages to your adviser or insurer and any consent you received. Also investigate what acceptance decision would have been made had the change been reported correctly. An error by the intermediary and the scope of the policy cover are separate questions.
Also read about cover errors by your adviser and water damage.
Frequently asked questions about a change in the use of your home
Do I have to report a short holiday as vacancy?
Not every temporary stay elsewhere is the same as vacancy within the meaning of the policy. Check the definitions and time limits. In the case of a longer absence, ask in writing which conditions apply.
Is my home insured if there is still furniture in it?
That does not follow solely from the presence of furniture. The policy may focus on actual occupation or use. Gather evidence of the situation and read the applicable definition.
Is a notification by telephone sufficient?
It may be relevant, but proving it can lead to disputes. Confirm the conversation in writing and, where necessary, ask for an amended policy schedule or an express confirmation of cover.
Does the contractor’s insurance cover all renovation damage?
No. That depends on liability and on the contractor’s policy. Your own buildings or construction insurance may play a different role. Check the cover before the work starts.
May the insurer add a clause afterwards?
A later clause does not in itself make clear what cover applied on the earlier date of loss. Have the original terms, the power to amend and the effective date assessed.
What if the home is temporarily unoccupied after a death?
Report the actual situation and ask what cover and obligations apply for continuing the policy. Arrange supervision and record contact details. Do not assume that paying the premium alone preserves all existing cover.
Have your policy and your notification compared
Is your buildings insurer refusing to pay after letting, vacancy or a renovation? Contact Arslan Advocaten. In the event of fire, you can also use the article on rejected fire damage claims to organise your claim file.
Legally reviewed by Onur Arslan, attorney at Arslan Advocaten. Reviewed on 13 September 2026.
