Vacant home insurance in Texas — what happens when a house sits empty

A house can end up empty for many reasons, such as an estate in probate, a slow sale, a long renovation or a gap between tenants. This guide walks through what the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) has published about vacancy and home insurance, and which questions to put to your insurance company.

The short version. For a vacant house in Texas, TDI's Home insurance guide lists a house vacant for 60 days or more among the reasons a company may nonrenew a policy. It says there that most companies stop your coverage if your house is vacant that long, though they usually don't stop liability coverage. The guide adds that coverages vary by company and refers to the number of days specified by your policy.

Here's what we'll cover: what TDI says vacancy can do to the coverage you already have, how liability coverage is treated, where vacancy appears among TDI's nonrenewal reasons, how TDI lists occupancy in underwriting, what TDI says about policies for vacant or unoccupied houses, the inherited house, and what TDI says about the Texas FAIR Plan. What any specific policy does depends on that policy's terms.

What TDI says about vacancy and your coverage

A Texas home insurance policy can treat a vacant house differently from a lived-in one, and the policy sets the number of days. TDI's Home insurance guide has a table of common risks that most policies do and don't cover, notes that coverages vary by company, and includes this entry among the risks most policies don't cover: "Losses that occur if your house is vacant for the number of days specified by your policy".

That table entry gives no figure for the number of days. The guide suggests reading your policy or talking to your agent to be sure of your exact coverages, so the vacancy provision in your own policy is the place to look for the number that applies to your house.

What TDI says about liability coverage in a vacant house

Liability coverage on a vacant house in Texas may continue even when other coverage stops. The Home insurance guide makes the point in its list of reasons a company may nonrenew a policy. Under the reason that your house is vacant for 60 days or more, it says: "Most companies stop your coverage if your house is vacant for that long. They usually don't stop your liability coverage, though."

The same entry goes on to suggest that if you plan to be out of your house for an extended time, you talk to your company to make sure your coverage continues.

The guide describes personal liability coverage as paying medical bills, lost wages and other costs for people you are responsible for injuring, and as paying if you are responsible for damaging someone else's property. So a home policy has a property side and a liability side. That gives you two separate questions for your insurance company: what happens to coverage for the building, and what happens to liability coverage, once the house is vacant.

Sixty days again — this time at renewal

Vacancy for 60 days or more is one of the reasons TDI lists for why a company might not renew a Texas home insurance policy. On its page Was your home insurance canceled or not renewed?, TDI's list of reasons a company might not renew includes: "Your house is vacant for 60 days or more."

The page covers home insurance nonrenewal in general, and it gives notice periods that depend on when the policy was bought or renewed. In TDI's words about the company: "It must give you 60 days' notice of a nonrenewal if you bought or renewed your policy in 2024." The page says the notice is 30 days if you bought or renewed your policy in 2023 or earlier, and that a company must give you 10 days' notice before it cancels a policy.

On reasons, the page says your company must give you the reason for a nonrenewal if you ask. It adds that if you were declined a policy, or your policy was canceled or not renewed, after Jan. 1, 2026, the company must give you a written statement of why.

The page suggests that if your policy is nonrenewed or canceled you start shopping around and have a new policy in place before the current one expires. Home insurance non-renewal in Texas covers that process in more detail.

How TDI lists vacant, unoccupied, seasonal and leased homes

Occupancy is one of the things TDI says most home insurance companies consider during underwriting. On its page Auto and home policy underwriting, under the item on your home's occupancy, TDI says: "Companies might limit the types of policies they sell for houses that are vacant, unoccupied, leased, secondary, seasonal, or rented for short-term home-sharing."

TDI lists vacant and unoccupied as separate items there, as it does secondary and seasonal. The page does not define any of these words. A policy may use its own definitions.

For a house sitting furnished through a long probate or sale, the practical questions are whether the company's policy treats it as vacant and from what date. You can ask the company both questions and ask for the answer in writing.

What TDI says about policies for vacant or unoccupied houses

For a vacant or unoccupied house in Texas, TDI's underwriting page says companies might limit the types of policies they sell, and that each company has different underwriting rules that determine who it will sell a policy to. TDI's pages cited here do not say what any vacant-home policy covers.

For that reason, the place to learn what a particular policy covers on a vacant house is that policy's own documents.

Timing can matter with a newly issued policy as well. The underwriting page says: "When you are issued a policy, a company has 60 days to do more underwriting research." It adds that the company could cancel your policy or change your premium depending on what it finds, and that it must give you 10 days' notice if it cancels. The Home insurance guide says a company may cancel a policy in the first 60 days if it learns about a risk you didn't tell it about that wasn't part of a previous claim, or if it doesn't accept a copy of a required inspection report before the policy starts. Describing the occupancy of the house accurately when you apply keeps the application in line with what the company may later look at.

The inherited house

An inherited house in Texas can sit empty while an estate is settled, and the home insurance questions are the same ones TDI raises for any vacant house. The Home insurance guide speaks to homeowners in general, with no section on estates, when it suggests talking to your company if you plan to be out of your house for an extended time.

Steps you can take when a house passes to an estate:

Tell the insurance company. Let it know that the owner has died and that nobody is living in the house.
Ask about dates. Ask what day the company treats as the start of any vacancy period under the policy, and what coverage is affected on which day. A vacancy period may have started when the house emptied.
Ask about a new policy. The owner and the occupancy have both changed, so ask whether the existing policy can continue or whether a new application is needed.

These are our suggestions for organizing the conversation with the company. The policy and the company's answers decide what applies.

When companies won't write it

If you can't find a company to insure a vacant house, TDI describes the Texas FAIR Plan Association as a possible route, with conditions. The Home insurance guide, which covers home insurance in general, says the FAIR Plan sells basic home insurance and sets out who can get it: "You can get FAIR Plan coverage if you can't find a Texas-licensed company to insure you and at least two companies have turned you down."

The guide also says you might be able to get coverage through a surplus lines insurance company, and that FAIR Plan and surplus lines coverage is more expensive than coverage from a standard insurance company. TDI's canceled or not renewed page puts the FAIR Plan condition as at least two companies refusing to insure your home, and calls the FAIR Plan the state's homeowner insurance provider of last resort. Neither TDI page says how the FAIR Plan treats a vacant house, so that is a question for the FAIR Plan or your agent. Our guide on whether the Texas FAIR Plan is worth it has more background.

Before that point, TDI's underwriting page notes that each company has different underwriting rules. One company's answer on a vacant or unoccupied house reflects that company's rules.

What to do with all this

Sorting out home insurance on a vacant house in Texas starts with your own policy and a conversation with your insurance company. These are steps you can take, with TDI's pages cited only for the facts inside them.

Talk to the company early. The Home insurance guide suggests talking to your company if you plan to be out of your house for an extended time, to make sure your coverage continues.
Find the vacancy provision in your policy. Look for the number of days and what coverage it affects.
Ask whether liability coverage continues. In its list of reasons a company may nonrenew a policy, TDI's guide says companies usually don't stop liability coverage on a house vacant for 60 days or more. Ask your company what your policy does, and ask for the answer in writing.
Ask about the start date. Ask the company what day it treats as the day the house became vacant.
Keep up the house. Collecting mail, cutting the lawn and checking locks are ordinary upkeep for a house nobody is living in.
If a nonrenewal notice arrives, ask for the reason. TDI's canceled or not renewed page says the company must give you the reason for a nonrenewal if you ask, and suggests having a new policy in place before the current one expires.

Key facts

TDI's Home insurance guide says coverages vary by company and lists losses that occur after a house has been vacant for the number of days specified by your policy among the risks most policies don't cover.
In its list of reasons a company may nonrenew a policy, the same guide says most companies stop your coverage if your house is vacant for 60 days or more, and that they usually don't stop your liability coverage.
Was your home insurance canceled or not renewed?, a TDI page, lists a house being vacant for 60 days or more among the reasons a company might not renew a policy.
That nonrenewal page gives nonrenewal notice periods of 60 days if you bought or renewed your policy in 2024 and 30 days if you bought or renewed in 2023 or earlier, and 10 days' notice before a cancellation. It also says a company must give a written statement of its reasons if you were declined, canceled or not renewed after Jan. 1, 2026.
TDI's Auto and home policy underwriting page says companies might limit the types of policies they sell for houses that are vacant, unoccupied, leased, secondary, seasonal, or rented for short-term home-sharing.
That underwriting page also says a company has 60 days after issuing a policy to do more underwriting research, could cancel the policy or change the premium depending on what it finds, and must give 10 days' notice if it cancels.
On the Texas FAIR Plan, the Home insurance guide says you can get coverage if you can't find a Texas-licensed company to insure you and at least two companies have turned you down, and that FAIR Plan coverage is more expensive than coverage from a standard insurance company.

Sources: Texas Department of Insurance, Home insurance guide, Was your home insurance canceled or not renewed? and Auto and home policy underwriting. This page is general information, not legal advice.

Take the next step

Before a house sits empty, read the vacancy provision in your policy, note the date the house emptied, and ask your insurance company what coverage continues. If you want the background first, home insurance non-renewal in Texas covers what to do with a notice, how to choose home insurance in Texas covers sizing coverage, and independent agency vs. direct explains how comparing several carriers at once works.

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