Home and contents insurance

How Do I Cover My Home and it's Contents?

Home insurance is comprised of two parts: buildings insurance and contents insurance. Contents insurance is ideal for those who want to protect their possessions in the event of damage from natural disasters or theft and is particularly important if you have valuables such as expensive jewellery, antiques or collections. If you want to protect the fixtures and fittings of your home, however, you will need to buy a buildings insurance policy.

Buildings insurance is compulsory if you have a mortgaged house, yet many homeowners who do not have a mortgage have bought buildings insurance policies. If your house is so badly damaged in the event of a disaster that you must pay to rebuild it from the ground up, buildings insurance will cover the costs of all repairs. However, the event which caused damage to your home had to have been out of your control. Storms, floods, explosions, smoke damage, fires, subsidence, burst pipes or water leakage, or even vandalism that cause damage to your home’s fixtures and fittings are typically covered under buildings home insurance policies. Mortgage companies will usually insist that you buy this policy because they want to protect their own investment in your house and want to recover their losses if such an event should occur.

Buildings insurance generally includes unlimited cover, meaning you will automatically receive money or replacements if any damage occurs to your home. The insurance company will not take cost into consideration and you will receive money to replace or repair your home. However, the type of damage will play a huge role in determining if you receive a payout at all. Insurance companies usually cover events such as shock caused to the house by aircraft, vehicles or animals; broken glass or sanitary fittings; falling branches or trees; landslip, drag or subsidence; floods or storms; fires; explosions or lightning; and damage caused from leaking oil or water.

It is also important to know what fixtures are covered under this type of insurance, although most structural fittings will be covered. This means that the insurance company will either pay to have them repaired, replace them if they are unable to be repaired, or give you the money to buy similar pieces yourself. Typical fixtures that are protected with a buildings insurance policy include cables and pipes; decorations within your house such as paint and wallpaper; permanent fixtures including fitted wardrobes or kitchen sets; footpaths, hedges, fences and gates that are within the boundaries of your property; and the structure of your house including the roof, walls and ceiling.

Buying home and contents insurance may be one of the biggest decisions with which you are faced. Protecting the structural integrity of your home in the event of damage may provide you and your family with peace of mind, so it is important to know what type of insurance covers your belongings and possessions and what type of insurance covers your home and property.