Most Australian home insurance policies quietly change once your home has been empty for 60 days. The conditions sit deep inside Product Disclosure Statements that most homeowners never open. We read them — here's what they actually say, insurer by insurer, with page references.
Policy wording checked July 2026 · sources linked belowGeneral information only. This page summarises publicly available insurer documents as at July 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.
Every major policy treats a long-unoccupied home differently — a full exclusion at some insurers, an extra excess at others. The one constant: at around 60 days, something changes, and the insurer expects to hear from you 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. 68 (prepared 2 Aug 2022) 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 a $1,000 unoccupied excess 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 $1,000 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 for anything after the first 60 days of no one living there. |
PDS p. 31 · Key facts sheet |
Strip away the fine print and every home policy covers the same shape of thing: sudden, identifiable events — fire, storm, flood, theft, water escaping from a pipe. And every policy excludes the same shape of thing: the gradual — wear and tear, deterioration, mould, lack of maintenance. Insurers pay for misfortune, not neglect.
Here's why that matters more than the 60-day clause itself. Time converts covered events into excluded ones. A burst flexi-hose discovered within hours is a textbook water-damage claim. The same hose discovered on day 45 of a trip has become "gradual damage" with a mould problem attached — and policies also expect owners to prevent further loss and notify promptly, which an empty house cannot do.
The house didn't change. The discovery delay changed which side of the covered line the loss falls on. That's the real reason a weekly check matters: it keeps small problems inside the window where they're still sudden, small, and claimable.
Own an apartment? Strata building insurance generally has no 60-day clause — it's arranged by the owners corporation for the whole building. But the gradual-damage exclusions apply with full force, lot owners are typically responsible for water ingress into their own unit, and your contents policy may carry its own 60-day rule. Two policies to check before a long trip, not one.
Across every insurer we reviewed, the same pattern appears for trips past 60 days.
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; Allianz requires written agreement. A five-minute call, and only the owner can make it.
The conditions named in RACV's and NRMA's own wording: someone checking inside and outside at least once a week, mail cleared, lawns and garden kept. Documented visits also give you something to show an insurer that asks for proof.
Under RACV and NRMA wording, weekly inside-and-outside checks (with garden upkeep and stopped mail) are the stated conditions for keeping cover past 60 days — but their guidance also asks you to notify them before you go. The safe pattern is both together: the call before you fly, and the weekly care while you're away. Even then, claims remain subject to normal policy terms, which is why catching problems early matters as much as ticking boxes.
Generally no — occupancy means someone living or sleeping there. At AAMI, for example, only a nominated house-sitter actually living in the home ends the unoccupancy period. A weekly visitor serves a different purpose: at RACV and NRMA it satisfies the lived-in-state conditions in the exclusion; at AAMI it creates the documented record they can ask for at claim time. Same visit, different legal job depending on your insurer — which is why it's worth asking yours directly.
Alarms detect; they don't respond. No insurer's unoccupancy conditions we reviewed are satisfied by a security system — the wording asks for mail cleared, gardens kept 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.
Yes. The insurer phone call needs the policyholder, but the weekly care, reports and inspection log can go to anyone they nominate — including a son or daughter in another country. This service is built for exactly this situation.
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.