Tips and advice

Home insurance buyer’s guide

Home insurance means peace of mind for you. With the right kind of cover, you know that if you get burgled, or have an accident, or are the victim of flood or fire, your belongings will be replaced. It’s important to have the right kind of cover. Home insurance is made up of two main types of cover:

• Buildings Insurance covers the physical structure of your home – the bricks and mortar plus any fitted items such as your kitchen units or your bathroom suite. It means you’re insured for things like fire, flood or subsidence.
• Contents Insurance refers to the items that you keep inside your house and, with extended cover, those items that you specify that you take outside the home, for example a ring or your ipod.

As a general rule of thumb, anything that you would normally remove from your home when moving – falls under the definition of Contents Insurance. Anything else that’s physically part of your house comes under Buildings Insurance, e.g. fitted kitchens.