Vacant rental property insurance in Texas

Short answer. On the Texas Department of Insurance's standard dwelling form, once a rental has been vacant 60 days in a row, fire, lightning, and vandalism or malicious mischief (deliberate damage) are not covered. Freezing damage while the house is unoccupied is not covered, with no 60-day wait, unless you kept the heat on or shut off and drained the water.

Other policies set their own limit, sometimes shorter, and an endorsement may add the coverage back. Tell your insurance company or agent before a long gap between tenants or a renovation, and ask how the policy defines "vacant."

The 60-day vacancy clause

The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) has its own standard dwelling form, the Texas Dwelling Policy Form 3 (TDP-3, last revised in 2002). Insurers may still use it, but many now use their own approved forms (Ins. Code §2301.052), and surplus-lines insurers use theirs; we quote it because it is public. It says: "During the policy term, if an insured building is vacant for 60 consecutive days immediately before a loss, we will not be liable for a loss by the perils of fire and lightning or vandalism or malicious mischief. Coverage may be provided by endorsement to this policy" (TDP-3, Condition 17). An endorsement is a form attached to the policy that adds or changes coverage. How vandalism by a tenant is treated: Does Texas landlord insurance cover tenant damage?

TDI's homeowners guide lists a house left "vacant for 60 days or more" among the reasons a company may not renew a policy, and says "most companies stop your coverage if your house is vacant for that long" (TDI Home insurance guide).

Other insurers' forms are not bound to 60 days. In a 2003 order (No. 03-0110) adopting one insurer's own dwelling forms, TDI compared them with the TDP-3 and noted that the insurer's form "excepts loss from vandalism or malicious mischief if the dwelling is vacant for more than 30 days immediately before a loss" (TDI Order No. 03-0110). So "60 days" is a starting point, not a rule you can rely on without reading your own policy.

"Vacant" and "unoccupied" are not the same word

The TDP-3 itself uses two words. Its vacancy condition speaks of a building that is vacant. Its freezing exclusion applies "while the building is unoccupied." Under some policies a furnished house with nobody living in it may count as unoccupied without being vacant, and the two words can carry different consequences. Forms define them differently, or not at all. The practical advice comes from TDI: "Ask your insurance company or agent how the company defines vacancy and if it will pay claims on a vacant house. Also ask if the company offers coverage for a home that's vacant for an extended period of time" (TDI, Deploying?). That page is written for service members leaving a home, but the question is the same for a landlord between tenants.

Freezing in an empty house

The TDP-3 does not cover "loss caused by or resulting from freezing while the building is unoccupied unless you have used reasonable care to: (1) maintain heat in the building; or (2) shut off the water supply and drain plumbing, heating and air conditioning systems of water" (TDP-3, exclusion k). This is a separate rule from the 60-day vacancy condition: it applies while the building is unoccupied, and it has no waiting period.

Texas has seen how large freeze losses can get. In TDI's homeowners market data, water and freeze paid losses in 2021, the year of Winter Storm Uri, were about $4.75 billion, more than hail losses that year (TDI market overview, homeowners data, read September 29, 2026). Those figures are for homeowners policies, not rentals, but in an empty rental nobody is there to notice the heat has failed.

Between tenants in winter:

• keep the heat on at a sensible setting, or shut off the water and drain the lines;
• keep a record of what you did and when (a dated photo of the thermostat or the shut-off valve);
• arrange regular checks, and write down each visit.

For how a policy treats a burst pipe and other water damage, see Water damage and flood on a Texas rental.

Repairs and cleaning between tenants

Work between tenants brings its own gaps:

• Materials on site to repair or alter the house are part of the dwelling coverage on the TDP-3 ("materials and supplies located on or next to the described location used to construct, alter or repair the dwelling").
• Theft is narrower than many owners expect. The TDP-3 does not cover theft of property that is not "an integral part" of the structure, or theft "from a building in process of construction" (TDP-3, exclusion e). New appliances waiting in a garage may not be covered for theft.
• A major renovation can change the risk enough that the insurance company wants to know. Tell your agent before work starts, not after something happens.

If the house will be empty for a while

Options depend on the insurance company and how long the gap is:

• a vacancy permit (an endorsement that keeps coverage in force while the house is empty, for a set time) on your current policy, which the TDP-3 itself contemplates ("Coverage may be provided by endorsement");
• a policy written for vacant dwellings, which may come from a surplus-lines insurer if Texas-licensed insurers won't write it.

The Texas FAIR Plan is not a fix for a long vacancy: its dwelling policy excludes loss from every cause, not only fire or vandalism, once the dwelling has been vacant for more than 60 consecutive days, and it counts a house as vacant when neither you nor a tenant lives there (TFPA Dwelling Policy). It also lists vacant property among the reasons it may deny coverage (TFPA eligibility).

A long gap is worth raising with your agent early, and before the renewal rather than after it. If a nonrenewal notice does come, see Insurance not renewed or cancelled in Texas?

Filling the gap with short stays

Some owners list a house on a short-term rental site while looking for the next tenant. That may solve the vacancy question and raise a new one: a house rented by the night is a different risk from a leased one. TDI says landlord insurance "is mainly for traditional, long-term leases, and may not be appropriate for short-term rentals" (TDI). Tell your agent how the home is rented before the first guest arrives. See Short-term rental insurance in Texas.

Lost rent is not vacancy cover

An empty month between tenants is not a covered loss. Loss of rent coverage pays when a covered loss, such as a fire, makes the house unlivable, not when it simply isn't rented. See Loss of rent coverage for Texas landlords.

A short checklist

• Do you know your policy's vacancy period, and how it defines "vacant"?
• Has the insurance company been told about a long gap or a renovation? (The standard form's limit is 60 days; at least one insurer's form has used 30.)
• In cold weather: heat on, or water off and lines drained, with a record of it?
• Are new appliances and materials stored somewhere secure?
• If the house will be rented short-term in the meantime, does the insurance company know?

AIV Insurance is an independent insurance agency in Texas. We can read your policy's vacancy and freezing wording with you and tell you what to ask the insurance company. We are not an insurance company, and your policy decides what is covered. Reach us through the contact page.