Buildings insurance covers the permanent fixtures and fittings in your home. These include things you would not normally take with you when you move, for example the bath, toilet and fitted kitchen.
Interior decoration, as well as underground pipes, cables and drains for which you are responsible, are also usually covered (from your home to the mains supply).
Buildings insurance usually covers loss or damage to your home that occurs as a result of:
- fire and explosion
- storm and flood, including lightning
- theft or attempted theft
- malicious damage or vandalism
- freezing or bursting of any part of the plumbing system
- falling trees, lampposts, aerials or satellite dishes
- subsidence, heave or landslip
- impact by vehicles or aircraft
- earthquakes
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How Much to Insure Your Home for - The Rebuild Value of Your Property
Your buildings insurance should cover the full cost of rebuilding your property, including the cost of demolition, clearing the site and architect’s fees. Any special features such as a conservatory or a luxury fitted kitchen should be included in the costs.
Please note, the market value of your home or the Council Tax band valuation have no direct relationship to the cost of rebuilding your home.
It is your responsibility to get the rebuild value right.
There are three main ways to get the rebuild value of your home:
1. You can instruct a chartered surveyor to prepare a professional Rebuilding Cost Assessment for insurance purposes
2. If you have a recent mortgage offer on your property, this will often contain a “Value for Insurance Purposes” figure. This is the rebuild value which the mortgage lender requires you to ensure your property is covered for insurance purposes
3. You can use the House Rebuild Calculator, which calculates the rebuild cost of your property, based on its size, postcode, property type etc.
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Other Things to Consider
Accidental damage
You can usually opt to include protection against accidental damage to your home. This is additional cover which will cost extra. Please note that, depending on the reasons for your insurance being declined, refused or cancelled, the insurer may not offer you accidental damage.
Exclusions
Every buildings insurance policy will have limits and exclusions, and it is important that you read and understand them, as it is a legal contract. Particularly in the area of specialist insurance, you may find the insurer places specific exclusions on your policy.
Excess
An excess is the amount of money that you must pay towards the cost of each claim. Quite often, you will have a choice of the excess you wish to pay. The specialist insurance policies may have higher than normal excesses, particularly if the reason your buildings insurance was cancelled was due to the number of claims you made.
Index Linking
You must ensure that the amount that your property is insured for, or its rebuild value, is kept up to date to allow for changing rebuilding costs. Most buildings insurance policies will have the rebuild value index-linked, so that it increases gradually over time. However index-linking can only work properly if your rebuild value is correct to start with, so please use our rebuild calculator to check. You should check your rebuild value every few years and not just rely on index-linking.
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Things to Remember
When you buy insurance, it is your responsibility:
- to give your insurer as much information as possible about anything which might affect their decision to insure you, or how much to charge. This is particularly important when it comes to giving them full disclosure on your claims history, as failure to disclose your full claims history can invalidate your insurance.
- to inform your insurer of any change in your circumstances, for example if you carry out any home improvements to your property or if you or someone who lives with you gets a criminal conviction. You should inform your insurer immediately and not wait until it is time to renew your insurance policy.
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