All about the essence of Home Insurance

Essence - well, essentially, Home insurance comes in two flavours. One is buildings insurance which insures the fabric of the building against unlikely outcomes such as fire, flood, tornado strikes and the like, and the second is contents insurance which is all those things that are in your house (not the walls, windows and doors).

Many policies are available but you need to be aware of the conditions, the exlusions, the limits and liability restrictions that exist. You can usually download policy detail before you buy online, but who has the time to do all of that?

The buildings insurance will give you cover for the permanent fixtures and fittings in your home such as the drive, a swimming pool; even gates and walls which can collapse or have other bad things happen to them.

One good thing is that if you are renting a house, the buildings insurance will probably be covered by your landlord. However, you need to check your position if you are moving into rented accommodation.

The amount you can be covered for will vary depending on the condition of your building, the age and environment that it is in (an aged thatched-roof cottage may be slightly more costly to cover than an apartment in a bigger building).

Most insurers insist you meet the first part of any claim. The level of excess depends on which section of the policy you are claiming. It's typically between £50 and £100 but in the case of subsidence claims the excess can be as much as £1,500.
On the other side, contents insurance covers those things that you can move around, those that you would consider your possessions rather than the place that you live. So that includes clothes, pieces of furniture, computers, valuables, pictures, gardening equipment (although you need to be sure what is covered outside and what isn’t).

Most claims arise out of either fire, accidental damage or burglary. Some home insurance companies offer no claims discounts if you have been incident-free over the preceding twelve months or longer.

Savings are distinctly possible when you buy both buildings and contents insurance together, for example Direct Line Home Insurance offers 50% off combined cover, and esure offer 15% discount when you buy the Esure.com Contents Insurance online.