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Home guard Buildings and contents insurance protects your home if the worst comes to the worst. The Complete Guide tells you where to go to get peace of mind What is covered? All house contents insurance policies cover: everything in your home including furniture, clothing, kitchen equipment, TVs, videos, DVDs and hi-fi equipment, computers and valuables up to a certain limit.

Most contents policies include:
Accidental breakage of mirrors, glass tops to furniture, ceramic hobs and fixed glass in furniture.

Some contents policies include:
Accidental damage to televisions, electrical equipment, computers and audio equipment.

Your buildings policy will cover:
The structure of your home as well as the permanent fixtures and fittings such as baths and toilets, fitted kitchens and cupboards.

Most buildings policies cover:
Garages, greenhouses and garden sheds.

Some buildings policies cover:
Boundary walls, fences, gates, paths and swimming pools.

Both policies may include:
Alternative accommodation if your home is damaged and you cannot live in it. Some policies may provide cover if a person, or their property, is damaged while in your home. Underground pipes and cables may also be covered against damage, but not wear and tear.

Your home and its contents are covered against risks including, fire, theft, water leaking from tanks, pipes, washing machines, falling trees, explosions and earthquakes, and aircraft and things falling from them.

What’s not covered?

Common house insurance exclusions include:
Theft (unless there is forced entry.
Wear and tear to your contents.

Cover may be restricted if you leave your house unoccupied for long periods.

There are usually limits on the amount you can claim for valuables.

You will usually have to pay the first part of any claim you make on either policy – known as the excess. Excess may apply to only certain claims, or to all claims, depending on your policy.

Home buildings policies normally have a high excess that applies to laims for subsidence. This is normally £1,000.

Damage from war and radioactive contamination from nuclear fuel or nuclear waste, and terrorist attacks are not covered by any insurance policy.

Accidental damage Most policies provide some accidental damage cover, but if you were to spill a tin of paint on your new sofa, for example, that wouldn’t be covered in a standard policy. “For this to be covered you would need to add an accidental damage extension,” says Liz Kennet of Norwich Union. It charges between 16p and 40p per £100 worth of cover depending on where you live.

CD collections Simon Ziviani of Direct Line estimates that a metre-long shelf can hold around 100 CDs, which would cost around £1,500 to replace if they were stolen. “We don’t ask people for a list of CDs at application,” explains Claire Allen at More Than, “although it does make sense for people to keep track of which CDs they have as they may need a list for reference in the event that they need to make a claim.”

Taking a lodger If you are strapped for cash and have a spare room, you could take in a lodger. If you do you must tell your insurance company. “Your lodger will need to arrange their own contents insurance,” says Simon Ziviani, press spokesperson for Direct Line. Liz Kennet of Norwich Union points out that if your lodger steals from you, that won’t be covered. Only theft by forceable entry is covered by house insurance. Your policy may limit you to

Policy choices

Your house contents policy will usually be on a new-for-old basis. This means that the insurer either pays the full cost of repairing damaged items, or pays to replace them with equivalent new items if they are stolen or destroyed.

Some policies are indemnity-only, which means that the insurer will deduct an amount for wear and tear from any payout.

Some insurers base your premium on the sum insured, others by the number of bedrooms you have in your home. Bedroom-rated policies will limit the amount they will pay out to around £250,000. A traditional sum-insured policy may work out cheaper if you don’t have a great many possessions.

Extensions to your cover

You can usually pay for extra accidental damage cover or all-risks cover to cover all your home contents. Cover can be extended to pay for the contents

of your freezer, money and credit cards. Bicycles will not be insured as standard. You need to arrange separate cover and will need to keep them locked in a shed or garage.

If you have valuables such as jewellery you will have to arrange for an extension to your cover, as your standard policy will impose a limit on the amount you can claim.

How your premium is worked out

The cost of home insurance varies by as much as 314 per cent depending where you live, according to a survey by AA Insurance Services. The cheapest premium for both buildings and contents insurance is around £200 in Northern Ireland, while south London tops the rankings at around £700. These are premiums for a three-bed semi-detached house. “Postcode has an important bearing on the cost of contents insurance,” says Neale Phillips, director of AA Insurance Services. “In areas of higher crime levels, such as densely populated cities, cover will always be more expensive.”

If you work away from home a lot, that can push your contents premium up because your home may be unoccupied for long stretches. If your home doesn’t have any security features your insurer will regard your property as a higher risk and charge you more for cover.

When working out the cost of your buildings premiums, insurers take into account geological factors, the presence of underground mines as well susceptibility to storm or flood damage. Because your buildings premiums are based on the total rebuild costs, the cost and availability of labour in your area will affect the price too.

Damage to flats If you live in a flat and water leaking from the flat above causes damage to your flat, you may be covered on a block policy taken out by the freeholder. You will have to take out several quotes with builders and submit these to the freeholder, who will contact the insurance company.

Not all flats have block policies though. If you have your own policy, there are two ways of dealing with this situation. “You could either ask the occupiers of the flat with the leak to claim and reimburse you for work you have carried out, or pay for the work yourself and ask your insurer to recoup the costs,” explains NU’s Liz Kennet. She points out that you may have to pay the excess, but that it might be recoverable through legal expenses cover.

Bikes Most policies will cover bikes if they are kept within the home or in a locked outbuilding. If your bike is left outside your home and is stolen then it probably won’t be covered. If you use your bike regularly away from the home, you may have to pay for an extension to your cover. “The cover only applies if your bike is locked to an immovable object when it is away from the home,” says Simon Ziviani of Direct Line.

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