Dwelling fire policy
A dwelling fire policy covers a residential structure the owner does not occupy.
It is the form insurers use once owner-occupancy ends, and it is narrower than a homeowners policy in ways that matter.
What it covers#
The structure, on named perils or broader terms depending on the form selected.
The owner's interest, not the occupant's.
Depending on the form and endorsements: other structures, and where the property is rented, loss of rental income.
What it does not#
The tenant's belongings. Those are the tenant's responsibility, through renter's insurance, which a lease can require and the owner's policy will not supply.
The breadth of homeowners liability. Coverage exists but is written for a different exposure.
Personal contents, in most forms, beyond limited coverage for items the owner keeps at the property for maintenance.
Why owner-occupancy matters so much#
Because it changes the risk in ways insurers price for.
An occupied house has someone noticing a leak on day one. A non-owner-occupied one may not, and a vacant one certainly does not.
That is why the policy form changes when occupancy does, and why continuing a homeowners policy on a house you have moved out of is a problem rather than a saving.
Where this catches people#
Estates. A parent dies and the family keeps the house. The homeowners policy continues renewing and taking premiums, and the property has passed the policy's vacancy period — commonly thirty or sixty days — after which coverage for vandalism, glass and water damage is restricted or excluded.
The policy looks live. It covers very little of what an empty house actually suffers.
Accidental landlords. An owner who moved and rented out the old house without telling the insurer has a policy written for a situation that no longer exists.
Between tenants. A gap long enough to trigger the vacancy provisions turns a covered rental into an uncovered vacant building, silently.
The practical rule#
Tell the insurer what the property actually is.
Occupied by the owner, occupied by a tenant, or empty. Each has a form written for it, and the premium difference is far smaller than the difference between a paid claim and a denied one.
For a personal representative dealing with an inherited house, establishing whether the property is genuinely insured is one of the first things worth doing — ahead of almost everything else, because the exposure runs from day one.