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Do you need to figure out how much buildings insurance you need? What about the amount of contents insurance? Our guide can help you make sure you’ve considered it all.
Whether you’re trying to ensure your home and/or its contents, then it’s certainly a good idea to know just how much you’re going to pay.
As a rule of thumb, building insurance protects the property itself, the outbuildings such as your barn, and any installed fixtures such as your kitchen and bathroom. If you’re renting, that will be covered by your landlord.
And if you want to move, your contents will be something you ‘d take with you.
How Much Buildings Insurance Do I Need?
When assessing how much buildings insurance you need, it is worth noting that you only need to ensure the cost of rebuilding your home and not its market value.
A common mistake is when homeowners extend their home but forget to increase the coverage of their buildings insurance policy. In the event of a claim, the payout can only be made on the part of your insured home – a potentially costly mistake.
You can find the cost of rebuilding your home on your home survey/buyer’s guide, or you can do so using the restoration calculator on the British Insurers’ Association website.
How Much Contents Insurance Do I Need?
Don’t make the mistake of underestimating the value of all your household belongings when buying content insurance.
Items like books, jewellery, clothes, gadgets, furniture, and even your curtains and carpets can easily be left out when you get covered by insurance.
Use our Content Insurance Calculator to determine exactly how much content you need to cover. You can add up to the value of your possessions by room and add up all of your contents.
Protecting Your Valuables
Just verify what’s included in your contract by talking to your insurer or looking for a small print.
Many home insurance plans cover some objects and cases at no extra expense, while others only cover them as supplementary benefits.
For example, ‘high-risk’ or ‘high-value’ items may need to be listed separately and protected with additional/extended coverage. They can include:
- Antiques
- Pictures & Works of Art
- Bikes & Sports Equipment
- Laptops & Computers
- Jewellery & Watches
- Digital Items
Home Insurance Extras
- Accidental damage – this protects you from DIY disasters or accidentally staining your new sofa.
- Legal coverage – provides you with legal liability protection in certain circumstances, such as being sued by someone who has been injured in your property.
- Home Emergency – cover for immediate maintenance due to domestic emergencies.
- Personal Property – covers items that you can take with you outside your home, such as your phone or laptop.
What Happens If I’m Under-Insured?
If your house is damaged by a horrific storm, for example, and the cost of rebuilding is £160,000, but your insurance is set at £150,000, that would mean you’re under-insured.
So your insurer is only going to pay £150,000 to rebuild, and you’re going to have to make up a shortfall of £10,000.
The same applies to the cover of your contents and valuables. If your laptop is stolen while you’re out and about, and you haven’t secured your personal belongings, the insurance isn’t going to cover you.
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If you happen to find out you are under insured before anything drastic happens, it’s always a good idea to get in contact with your insurer to see if you can up your compensation threshold, you may have to pay additional premium for this but at least if anything were to happen, you would be safe in the knowledge that you had everything organised and in place so everything you are unable to salvage can be paid for by your insurance company.
A Few of The Best Home Insurance Companies In The UK
If you are new to the UK or need some assistance finding the best home insurance provider then here is a useful list of 5 of the top companies you can gather quotes and information from.
- Direct Line – Advertises a lot on TV about how great their home insurance is, you’ve probably seen the advert by now!
- Churchill – A very famous insurance company, also popular for car insurance.
- Age Co – Formally age UK they provide home insurance for elderly customers.
- Barclays – A high street bank who offers insurance on almost anything to do with your home, life and business.
- M&S Bank – One of the biggest british brands still around and they offer both standard and premium home insurance.
We hope you found this article useful in figuring out how much insurance you need for your property in the UK. For all of your other UK property related queries, check out our other blogs where we delve into subjects like stamp duty and buy-to-let opportunities.