What's the difference between buildings and contents insurance?
These are the two main types of home insurance. Buildings insurance covers the structure in which you live, along with all the permanent fixtures and fittings. Contents insurance protects the items within the building. Imagine tipping your home upside down. Everything that would fall out is classed as contents though you can also cover your belongings in the garden and garage and personal possessions you take away with you.
You don't have to take out your home insurance from your mortgage provider or take them both out together. It’s crucial you shop around first and compare quotes from a number of insurers. Our guides tell you what to look out for when buying a policy and help you decide how much cover you need to make sure you take out the best deal.
Do I need cover?
Not taking out a home insurance policy could prove a disastrous false economy. The cost of rebuilding your home after a fire or flood or replacing your belongings could run into hundreds of thousands of pounds. We give you home security tips as well as a guide to fire safety to help prevent a disaster.
Level of cover
With buildings insurance, you need to cover the cost of having your home rebuilt if it was completely destroyed. This is not the same as the purchase price – in expensive areas it will be far less.
With contents insurance there are many different levels of cover, and various ‘add-on’ policy elements you can choose. These include limited cover (which protects your belongings up to a certain value) or unlimited cover (which protects all your belongings, no matter what their overall worth). You can have a ‘new for old’ policy, a high single item limit to insure valuables such as antiques and jewellery and cover for your belongings away from home. The choice is yours.
Types
The starting point is buildings insurance– a basic requirement for those with a mortgage – and contents insurance to cover you against theft, loss or damage.
We also look at: what you need to consider and the level of cover available for:
