Most Australian home insurance policies change once your home has been empty for around 60 days. The conditions sit deep inside Product Disclosure Statements that few homeowners ever open. We've read them, and this page sets out what each insurer says, with page references.
Policy wording checked July–August 2026 · sources linked belowGeneral information only. This page summarises publicly available insurer documents as at July–August 2026. It is not financial or insurance advice, and we are not licensed to advise on insurance. Policy wording changes and individual policies differ — always confirm the current requirements directly with your insurer and your own Product Disclosure Statement before travelling.
Each insurer handles a long-unoccupied home differently. Some exclude cover outright, others add an excess. What they share is the 60-day mark, and an expectation that you'll tell them before you leave.
| Insurer | Threshold | What the documents say | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| RACV Victoria's largest |
60 days | Exclusion, conditional The PDS general exclusions state cover doesn't apply where a home is left unoccupied for 60 consecutive days or more and not maintained in a lived-in state by keeping lawns mowed and the garden tidy, stopping regular mail and newspaper deliveries, and organising someone to check inside and outside at least once a week. RACV's guidance also asks owners to notify them before leaving and meet their unoccupancy acceptance criteria. |
PDS p. 76 (current edition, checked Aug 2026) RACV help page |
| NRMA | 60 days | Exclusion, conditional Identical lived-in-state conditions to RACV — weekly inside-and-outside checks, stopped mail, tidy lawns and garden — set out in the general exclusions, plus a stated duty to tell NRMA if the home will be unoccupied for 60 continuous days or more. |
PDS pp. 7 & 27 (prepared 10 Sep 2023) |
| Allianz also NAB-branded |
60 days | Exclusion, prior agreement The PDS states there's no cover if the home buildings are not lived in for more than 60 consecutive days unless the insurer's prior written agreement is obtained — and they may ask the owner to prove the home is lived in. Where cover for the period is agreed, extra terms and a $1,000 excess may apply. |
Allianz home insurance & current PDS via their documents index |
| AAMI | 60 days | Extra excess Cover continues, but an additional unoccupied excess (the amount is set out in the policy documents) applies on top of other excesses once the home hasn't been occupied for more than 60 continuous days — and the insurer may require proof of occupancy at claim time. The unoccupancy period ends when the owner, or a house-sitter they nominate, occupies the home. |
Contents PDS p. 17 (prepared 4 Oct 2024) AAMI's explainer |
| Budget Direct | 60 days hard stop 180 |
Tiered Full cover to 60 days. From day 61 to 180, cover continues only with security and safekeeping conditions plus an additional excess. Beyond 180 days unoccupied, no cover. Their definition of "unoccupied": no one sleeping or living there for more than two days. |
Budget Direct explainer |
| Honey | 60 days | Definition-based A home counts as unoccupied once no one has lived in it for more than 60 consecutive days without the insurer being told beforehand — or where someone stays on average less than one night a week. Their key facts sheet notes theft and vandalism aren't covered beyond the first 60 days of no one living there. |
PDS p. 31 · Key facts sheet |
Underneath the fine print, home policies cover sudden, identifiable events: fire, storm, flood, theft, water escaping from a pipe. What they exclude is anything gradual — wear and tear, deterioration, mould, lack of maintenance. An insurer will pay for an accident, but not for neglect.
This matters more than the 60-day clause itself, because time can turn a covered event into an excluded one. A burst flexi hose found within hours is a straightforward water-damage claim. Found on day 45 of a trip, it's six weeks of soaked floors and mould that an insurer may treat as gradual damage. Most policies also expect you to prevent further loss and report problems promptly, and nobody can do either from overseas.
In other words, a weekly check isn't just about ticking the 60-day box. It catches problems while they're still small and recent enough to claim.
Own an apartment? Strata building insurance generally has no 60-day clause, since it's arranged by the owners corporation for the whole building. But the gradual-damage exclusions still apply, lot owners are typically responsible for water getting into their own unit, and your contents policy may carry its own 60-day rule. So there are two policies to check before a long trip, not one.
Every insurer we reviewed points to the same two steps for trips past 60 days. The rest of the pre-trip jobs, from the water main to condensation, are in our empty-house checklist.
Tell them your dates and that the home will be unoccupied, and ask what their unoccupancy conditions are. RACV asks for this before you leave, NRMA states it as a duty, and Allianz requires written agreement. It's a five-minute call, and it has to come from the policyholder.
The conditions named in RACV's and NRMA's own wording: someone checking inside and outside at least once a week, regular mail and newspaper deliveries stopped, lawns and garden kept. Documented visits also give you something to show an insurer that asks for proof.
It depends on your insurer. As at August 2026, RACV and NRMA policy wording lists weekly inside-and-outside checks, garden upkeep and stopped mail as the conditions for keeping cover past 60 days, though their guidance also asks you to notify them before you go. The safest approach is to do both: call before you fly, and have weekly care running while you're away. Claims are still subject to the usual policy terms either way, so catching problems early counts for as much as ticking the boxes.
Generally no. Occupancy means someone living or sleeping there, and at AAMI, for example, only a nominated house-sitter actually living in the home ends the unoccupancy period. A weekly visitor does a different job. At RACV and NRMA, a weekly inside-and-outside check is one of the lived-in-state conditions listed in the exclusion, alongside stopped mail and garden upkeep. At AAMI, it builds the documented record they can ask for at claim time. The same visit means something different under each policy, which is why it's worth asking your own insurer directly. If you're deciding between a live-in sitter and a weekly check, we've compared the two here.
An alarm can tell you something's wrong, but it can't do anything about it. None of the unoccupancy conditions we reviewed are satisfied by a security system, because the wording asks for stopped mail, kept gardens and physical checks. Your camera can see a leak; it can't turn off the tap, and it can't clear the letterbox that tells the street no one's home. There's more on this in our guide to what your system can and can't do while you're overseas.
Yes. The insurer phone call needs to come from the policyholder, but the weekly care, reports and inspection log can go to anyone they nominate, including a son or daughter in another country. It's one of the situations we designed the reports around.
Checks inside and out, mail cleared, garden coordinated — every visit photo-logged with a timestamped report, compiled into an inspection log you can keep on file. Home care while you travel, across Carnegie and surrounds.