Protecting the home you love
Statistically one in three of us is likely to be burgled in a lifetime, and millions of properties likely to be flooded, home insurance should be taken seriously and perhaps should indeed be a necessity. It is interesting to note that many mortgage lenders will in fact insist that you have building cover before they themselves will lend you any money.
Types of home insurance
There are two predominant types of home insurance, a version which covers the structure of your home or building and another one which deals with the interiors. Although we recommend both some people will advocate potentially for one or the other depending on an emotional connection.
Building Insurance
Building insurance covers the cost of repairing or rebuilding your home if it is damaged by storm, floods, fire, lightening, or subsidence for example. You will not be covered for general wear and tear that happens to a building over time and you are unlikely to be covered for properties left unoccupied for more than 60 continuous days.
It is a legal requirement if you own your home to take out building insurance. As well as being a legal requirement it offers you the opportunity to save a fortune potentially in the long run.
Please take the time to ready your policy document as there are often nuanced elements you may want to get to grips with before an incident potentially occurs, as well as check that the company is FCA regulated.
Contents Insurance
Contents insurance covers your possessions for potential loss or damage but alike building insurance you will not be covered for general wear and tear of an item. It can be useful to keep regular and well documented photographs of the items you either wish to have covered by contents insurance or those which are insured already.
Contents insurance also does usually not cover contents in properties that have been left unoccupied for more than 60 days.
Most people consider it vital to take out contents insurance in case your home is burgled or if there is a fire or flood. As can be seen in the beginning of this article most people will advocate for this type of insurance because of their emotional connection to the contents of their home.
It is important to remember that items are indeed replaceable and you can also choose to get cover in case you lose items outside of your home.
However the disadvantages of this type of cover are that there is probably an excess on every claim and with every claim your premium will continue to rise. Furthermore, some items are only insured up to a certain limit.
Additional cover for your home
Home insurance does indeed cover a wide range of rusks but for an addition to your premium you maybe able to extend your policy to provide you with wider cover. Always check your policy to see what is included however before you add on these extensions
- Accidental damage to your structure and contents: for example, putting your foot through the ceiling, spillages around the home, and damage to items while away from the home
- Legal expenses cover: this usually gives you access to legal advice, and cover the legal costs of claiming compensation following an accident that was not your fault, as well as the cost of taking or defending other specified legal action, such as employment or neighbour disputes
- Cover away from your home: sometimes known as ‘all-risks’, you can cover loss of or damage to your possessions while away from your home, up to a set limit, You may need to list separately specified items such as jewellery, laptops and bikes that maybe more likely to be damaged or stolen
- Home emergency assistance: this covers the cost of calling a tradesman out to deal with an emergency, such as being locked out of your home or a broken boiler. It will cover the repairs and labour, and may include overnight accommodation if you cannot stay in your home as a result.