The “Almost” Complete Guide To UK Home Insurance

by Chris Rowlands

One thing I can say with regards to home insurance is; if you are planning on buying a house you should deem it a necessity. In fact many mortgage providers can and will insist that you have building cover before lending you any money.

With that in mind, let’s have a look at what home insurance is and why you as a prospective home owner should have it.

Home insurance is a policy designed to cover your property (including its structure), its contents and many varying aspects, such as; your Garden contents, accidental damage to property or items and many other varying eventualities.

When looking for a policy you should consider several factors, including:

• the value of your property
• replacement cost of your contents
• the level of cover you require, etc. 

If you have any particularly valuable items such as jewellery, you may need to add a “bolt on” for this or look for a policy with a high level of coverage for individual items. 

When applying for home insurance there are certain things the prospective company will ask of you in return. 

It is quite the norm for the policy issuer to ask that all bolts and locks on windows and doors should be used (they may even ask you to install extra locks on particular windows or doors). 

If you have an alarm and have informed the company as to this fact, they will ask that this is set each and every time you leave the property. Failure to do any of the above could result in your policy being classed as void. This is because more often than not you will have received a reduction in premium price as a result of them. 

You must always remember when applying for an insurance policy that it boils down to an assessment of risk. If you are perceived as a high risk your premium price will increase and vice versa. Making yourself as risk free as possible will help you snag a cheaper premium.

Way’s to reduce your home insurance and indeed greatly increase your own safety include:

• installing security lights
• making sure all outside access to the property is inaccessible and locked (where possible)
• windows and doors are secure (installing add on bolts where necessary)
• adding an alarm acts as both a visual deterrent and a means of securing your property
• install smoke alarms throughout the house (this could prove invaluable in the event of a fire) and any other way you can think to secure your property. 

Of course, any or all of these things will reduce your premium so the more you can do, the cheaper you should be able to make your insurance. 

There are a few specific eventualities I would advise you to make provision for; weddings for starters tend to on average increase the contents value of a property by £3000 or more. This can leave a large hole in your contents cover and you should check this with your policy issuer. 

As previously mentioned, you may find you have garden contents cover. This is not always a standard policy feature so should be checked if you are intending on adding or storing expensive items in your garden. If you have expensive portable items, it may be worth enquiring as to whether these are covered on your policy or if you should take out a “bolt on” or increase your cover to protect these.

Finally, with the weather year by year edging towards the extreme in this country, don’t forget to check that destructive acts of nature such as flood damage, wind/storm damage are covered on your policy. You may want to find out the total funding that will be given for the cost of a total rebuild should your property need it. This varies with each and every company.

Search around to find the best value for money, the cheapest policy is not always the best policy to go for as it may lack certain vital aspects of cover.

Receive quotes from a wide range of sources to ensure you get a good spread and can choose the appropriate cover for your requirements. Use of a price comparison site is recommended as this will return home insurance quotes from a variety of sources and may in the process save you money.

Remember, this guide is just that, a “guide”. It should be taken as some advice to get you along the right track but you should always enquire as to anything your unsure of and seek professional advice should you need it. 

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