What insurance do you need for a holiday let or Airbnb?

Across the UK, holiday-let insurance is mostly a contract and lender issue, not a universal statutory duty. In England and Northern Ireland there is no general statute requiring holiday-let insurance; Scotland has national short-term-let licence insurance conditions, and Wales has a public-liability insurance standard enacted but not generally in force until 4 March 2030 unless commenced earlier.

Does normal landlord insurance cover a holiday let or Airbnb?

Normal landlord insurance usually does not cover a holiday let or Airbnb unless the insurer has expressly accepted short-term letting use, because a standard buy-to-let policy is priced for longer residential occupation, not revolving paying guests. Alan Boswell’s market guidance is blunt: “Most standard buy-to-let insurance policies exclude cover for short stay Airbnb lets, and most also exclude cover for malicious damage or theft by people who are lawfully on the property, such as renters and their guests.” A furnished holiday let also needs to be disclosed accurately, because the Consumer Insurance Act 2012 says: “It is the duty of the consumer to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation to the insurer.” That is the practical answer to whether you need landlord insurance for an Airbnb: you need a policy that names or accepts short-term holiday letting, Airbnb-style hosting or paying guest occupation, not just ordinary residential letting.

What insurance do you need for a holiday let or Airbnb?

For a holiday let or Airbnb, the practical core is buildings insurance, contents insurance, public liability, and cover for loss of rent or alternative accommodation where needed; in Scotland, a licensed short-term let must have valid buildings insurance for the licence term and valid public liability insurance for each let. The Scottish mandatory condition requires “valid buildings insurance for the duration of the licence,” while Great Britain and Northern Ireland add a separate hard legal duty if the host employs a cleaner, gardener or other worker: employers’ liability insurance. In Great Britain, the Act says every employer carrying on business “shall insure, and maintain insurance,” and the minimum is “not less than £5 million”; Northern Ireland has a parallel duty to “insure, and maintain insurance” for employees there. Failure is not a fixed tariff but can reach the familiar figure: GOV.UK states, “You can be fined £2,500 every day you are not properly insured.” Abodient can store policy documents against each property and surface expired compliance items across a portfolio, which matters most for short lets because the legal requirement depends on nation, licence status and whether staff are employed.

Do you need public liability insurance for a holiday let?

Scotland requires public liability insurance for licensed short-term lets, but Scotland’s national law does not require £5 million: that figure was in a 2021 draft and appears in some council practice, not in SSI 2022/32 itself. The enacted Scottish condition requires “valid public liability insurance for the duration of each short-term let agreement,” with no national minimum sum. Perth & Kinross’s form still says public liability insurance “must be at least £5 million,” but that is a local application requirement rather than the Scottish national floor. In Wales, the coming visitor-accommodation rule says “a public liability insurance policy is in place” for third-party liabilities, but the same Act says the remaining provisions come into force on “4 March 2030 if they have not come into force before that day.” England has no general holiday-let public-liability insurance statute, although occupiers still owe visitors a duty to take reasonable care; Northern Ireland’s tourism guidance says public liability insurance “is not required by law for most businesses” and is not part of Tourism Order inspection criteria.

Does Airbnb's own cover count as insurance?

Airbnb’s own cover partly counts as insurance in the UK only for its host liability insurance; Airbnb’s host damage protection is expressly not insurance and should not be treated as a replacement for a holiday-let policy. Airbnb says: “The Host Damage Protection guarantee is not insurance or an offer to insure and does not take the place of insurance obtained or obtainable by you.” By contrast, Airbnb’s UK host liability insurance is real regulated cover: “If you’re hosting in the UK, the Host liability insurance policy and Experiences & Services liability insurance policy are underwritten by Zurich Insurance Company Ltd and are arranged and concluded at no additional cost for UK hosts by Airbnb UK Services Limited – an appointed representative of Aon UK Limited, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.” Airbnb also separates the regulated and non-regulated parts of AirCover, saying the liability policies are FCA-regulated but “the remaining products and services are not regulated products.” For a short-term rental, platform cover is therefore a backstop, not a complete host insurance programme.

Are you covered if an Airbnb booking is cancelled?

You are not automatically covered if an Airbnb booking is cancelled; cancellation payment depends on Airbnb’s cancellation rules or on a separate policy extension, and AirCover liability cover does not pay merely because a guest cancels or fails to arrive. Airbnb’s host liability wording says: “There must be an actual Airbnb Stay in order for the coverage to apply; canceled Airbnb Stays and no-show situations are not entitled to coverage.” Specialist holiday-let insurance can cover lost income, but usually only where an insured event makes the property unusable, not where the guest changes plans. Pikl’s policy wording, for example, says it will pay platform cancellation charges for later valid bookings where the insured property is “not being habitable following an insured incident.” That distinction matters: a fire, flood or insured escape of water can be an insurance claim; a guest’s walk-away cancellation is normally a platform-contract issue unless you bought a specific cancellation or loss-of-income extension that says otherwise.

Is a holiday let covered while it is standing empty out of season?

A holiday let is covered while empty out of season only if the policy’s unoccupancy conditions are met; do not confuse a policy’s definition of unoccupied with the separate maximum number of empty days it allows. Airbnb’s own cover is not year-round empty-property insurance, because Airbnb says AirCover protects hosts “while you’re hosting an Airbnb stay, experience or service” and is “not a substitute for personal insurance.” Market policies then split in two ways. One wording defines “unoccupied” very tightly: “Unoccupied means when your home has not been slept in overnight for a period in excess of 48 consecutive hours.” That 48-hour trigger is not the same as the common holiday-home allowance of about 60 days at a time; Pikl says: “Holiday homes can typically be left empty at any one time for no more than 60 days as standard through Pikl.” In Scotland, licensed short-term lets also need buildings insurance for “the duration of the licence,” so the empty winter period still has to sit inside valid cover.

Who provides the best holiday let insurance?

There is no legally defined best holiday-let insurer in the UK; the best provider is the one whose policy matches your nation, licence status, guest use, empty-period pattern, staff arrangements, mortgage requirements and required liability limit. Scotland’s short-term-let rules require valid buildings and public-liability cover, but they do not name an insurer, and the wider UK rule for insurance distribution is authorisation rather than ranking: “You need authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to advise on, arrange or sell general insurance products.” Brokers are often useful for holiday lets because the decisive exclusions are narrow: Airbnb or Booking.com use, guest damage, theft by guests, hot tubs, pets, wood burners, long empty periods and loss-of-rent wording. Published brands market different strengths: Schofields says it has protected holiday homes since 1984 and has “a Feefo service rating of 5 out of 5,” Pikl says it “specialises in cover for holiday lets and short-term rentals,” and Intelligent Insurance markets a “Defaqto 5-star rating.” Compare the wording before the rating.

Last reviewed September 2026.

Sources

• Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012 s.2 — “It is the duty of the consumer to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation to the insurer.” Source
• Alan Boswell, Airbnb and buy-to-let insurance — “Most standard buy-to-let insurance policies exclude cover for short stay Airbnb lets, and most also exclude cover for malicious damage or theft by people who are lawfully on the property, such as renters and their guests.” Source
• Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022, schedule 3 — “(a)valid buildings insurance for the duration of the licence, and” Source
• Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969 s.1 — “Except as otherwise provided by this Act, every employer carrying on any business in Great Britain shall insure, and maintain insurance, under one or more approved policies with an authorised insurer or insurers against liability for bodily injury or disease sustained by his employees, and arising out of and in the course of their employment in Great Britain in that business, but except in so far as regulations otherwise provide not including injury or disease suffered or contracted outside Great Britain.” Source
• Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Regulations 1998 reg.3 — “Subject to paragraph (2) below, the amount for which an employer is required by the 1969 Act to insure and maintain insurance in respect of relevant employees under one or more policies of insurance shall be, or shall in aggregate be not less than £5 million in respect of–” Source
• GOV.UK, Employers’ liability insurance — “You can be fined £2,500 every day you are not properly insured.” Source
• Employers’ Liability (Defective Equipment and Compulsory Insurance) (Northern Ireland) Order 1972 art.5 — “Except as otherwise provided by this Part, every employer carrying on any business in Northern Ireland shall insure, and maintain insurance, under one or more approved policies with an authorised insurer or insurers against liability for personal injury suffered by his employees, and arising out of and in the course of their employment in Northern Ireland in that business but, except in so far as regulations otherwise provide, not including personal injury suffered outside Northern Ireland.” Source
• Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022, schedule 3 — “(b)valid public liability insurance for the duration of each short-term let agreement.” Source
• Scottish Government short-term lets licensing update letter — “The consultation draft Licensing Order requires public liability insurance providing cover of not less than £5 million.” Source
• Perth & Kinross Council short-term let information and guidance — “You will be required to insert the name of your provider together with the expiry date of your public liability insurance (must be at least £5 million) and buildings insurance within the application form.” Source
• Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Act 2026 s.13 — “The insurance standard is that a public liability insurance policy is in place in relation to liabilities to third parties arising from or in connection with the provision of regulated visitor accommodation at the premises.” Source
• Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Act 2026 s.61 — “the remaining provisions of this Act come into force on 4 March 2030 if they have not come into force before that day.” Source
• Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 s.2 — “The common duty of care is a duty to take such care as in all the circumstances of the case is reasonable to see that the visitor will be reasonably safe in using the premises for the purposes for which he is invited or permitted by the occupier to be there.” Source
• Tourism Northern Ireland, public liability insurance — “Public liability insurance is not required by law for most businesses, it is not included in the Tourism Order 1992 and not part of the inspection criteria.” Source
• Airbnb, Host Damage Protection — “The Host Damage Protection guarantee is not insurance or an offer to insure and does not take the place of insurance obtained or obtainable by you.” Source
• Airbnb, AirCover for Hosts — “If you’re hosting in the UK, the Host liability insurance policy and Experiences & Services liability insurance policy are underwritten by Zurich Insurance Company Ltd and are arranged and concluded at no additional cost for UK hosts by Airbnb UK Services Limited – an appointed representative of Aon UK Limited, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.” Source
• Airbnb, AirCover for Hosts — “The Host liability and Experiences & Services liability policies within Aircover for Hosts are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority; the remaining products and services are not regulated products arranged by Airbnb UK Services Limited.” Source
• Airbnb, Host liability insurance — “There must be an actual Airbnb Stay in order for the coverage to apply; canceled Airbnb Stays and no-show situations are not entitled to coverage.” Source
• Pikl property host policy wording — “We will also pay any cancellation charge, fee or penalty applied by a booking Platform for subsequent cancellations of Valid Bookings as a result of the Insured Property not being habitable following an insured incident.” Source
• Airbnb, AirCover for Hosts — “While AirCover for Hosts protects you while you’re hosting an Airbnb stay, experience or service, it’s not a substitute for personal insurance.” Source
• My Holiday Home Insurance policy wording — “Unoccupied means when your home has not been slept in overnight for a period in excess of 48 consecutive hours.” Source
• Pikl holiday-let insurance — “Holiday homes can typically be left empty at any one time for no more than 60 days as standard through Pikl.” Source
• GOV.UK, authorisation to advise on or arrange general insurance — “You need authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to advise on, arrange or sell general insurance products.” Source
• Schofields holiday-home insurance — “Whether you're looking for holiday home insurance in the UK or in Europe for personal use, or holiday let insurance for your second home, Schofields has been helping to financially protect holiday homes since 1984 and has a Feefo service rating of 5 out of 5.” Source
• Pikl holiday-let insurance — “Founded in 2016, Pikl is an insurance company that specialises in cover for holiday lets and short-term rentals.” Source
• Intelligent Insurance holiday-home insurance — “With our Defaqto 5-star rating and excellent customer service, your holiday home will be in safe hands.” Source