Your home is probably the most expensive purchase you'll ever make, and home insurance gives you peace of mind that if something goes wrong, you’ll be able to fix it. But it’s important to understand what your policy will and won’t cover.
There are two types of home insurance: buildings and contents cover. Naturally, buildings insurance covers the building itself: the actual structure of your home, or the roof, walls, and windows and other permanent parts of the house like your kitchen and bathroom.
Contents insurance covers the things inside your home, like your television and jewellery.
You can choose to have either type of home insurance without the other, but if you’re a homeowner, you probably have both. If you’re a tenant, buildings insurance will be your landlord’s responsibility.
What’s usually covered
Home insurance is designed to protect your house from big events like fires, storms and floods. Any damage caused by a significant event like these would be covered – however, normal wear and tear isn’t.
So, for example, imagine there’s a major storm in your area. If your home is damaged due to high winds, but your roof needed maintenance work, it’s not covered because the winds would have highlighted the existing damage.
But, if the high winds made a tree fall on your roof, then your roof repairs would be covered.
You can also cover your building for accidental damage, like putting your foot through the ceiling or drilling into a water pipe. This is typically an optional extra to your policy – meaning you may need to pay a higher premium for this cover.
Similarly, your contents insurance would normally pay if, for example, your television was damaged by a water leak, but not if it just stopped working. This would be considered a ‘breakdown’.
You can also cover items such as your television if you accidentally knock it over, but this would be considered accidental damage. As with buildings, this is typically an add-on to your policy – meaning you will pay a higher premium for this cover.
Single Item Limits
While your contents insurance will include most things in your home, like a phone or painting, most policies have a Single Item Limit for items considered valuable.
A Single Item Limit is that maximum an insurer will pay for one item. If the value exceeds a set value, then you need to register the item individually. Each insurer will have a different list of things that are considered valuable, but they usually include jewellery and watches.
Your belongings can also be covered when you’re away from home. For example, your mobile phone and jewellery can be covered if it was damaged or stolen while you were out and about. You would normally need to select and pay extra for this cover.
There is often a Single Item Limit for these items too, so you may have to list them if they are over a certain value likely between £1,500-2,000. If you have anything more valuable than that, let your insurer know so it can be added to the policy, though this may affect your premium.
Add ons
There are a few more things you may want to include on your policy – these may be available as add-ons:
