Home insurance can help pay to repair your home or replace belongings after events such as fire, theft, flood, or storm damage.
Home insurance is a policy that can help protect your home, your belongings, or both. It is designed to help with the cost of repair, rebuild, or replacement if something covered by the policy happens.
This could include fire, theft, flood, storm damage, burst pipes, vandalism, or other insured events. MoneyHelper explains that home insurance is there to help repair or replace items if things go wrong.
Most home insurance consists of two main parts: buildings insurance and contents insurance. You can often buy them together or as separate policies, depending on what you need.
Buildings insurance covers the structure of your home. This can include the walls, roof, floors, fitted kitchens, bathrooms, and other permanent parts of the property. Citizens Advice says buildings insurance usually covers loss or damage caused by events such as fire, flood, storm, burst pipes, theft, vandalism, subsidence, and impact damage.
Contents insurance covers the things you own inside the home. This can include furniture, clothes, electrical items, and other personal belongings. A simple way to think about it is this: if you could pick the home up and turn it upside down, the things that fall out are usually contents.
If you have a mortgage, your lender will normally expect you to have buildings insurance. MoneyHelper says contents insurance is optional, while buildings insurance is usually required if you have a mortgage.
Home insurance policies vary, so it is important to check what is and is not covered.
You should look at the cover limits, the excess, and any exclusions. An excess is the amount you pay towards a claim. MoneyHelper says home insurance policies often include an excess, and that higher excesses can apply for some claims such as subsidence.
You should also check the rebuild cost for buildings insurance. This is not the same as the market value of your home. Citizens Advice says the sum insured should reflect the cost of completely rebuilding your home, not the price you paid for it or its current sale value.
For contents cover, check single-item limits. Some policies have a maximum they will pay for one item unless it is listed separately. This may matter if you own jewellery, watches, art, antiques, or high-value electrical items.
Home insurance does not cover every type of damage. Common exclusions can include wear and tear, poor maintenance, deliberate damage, and some types of accidental damage unless you have added accidental damage cover.
Some risks may also need extra cover, special terms, or a higher excess. For example, Citizens Advice notes that you may need extra cover for flooding or subsidence if you live in a high-risk area.
You should also check whether you need extras such as home emergency cover. This may help with urgent problems such as heating, plumbing, or electrical issues, depending on the policy.
If your home is at higher risk of flooding, you may still be able to get cover, but the price, excess, and terms can vary. The UK has a scheme called Flood Re, which supports the availability and affordability of flood insurance for eligible homes at high flood risk. GOV.UK describes Flood Re as a joint industry and government flood reinsurance scheme.
A home that is left empty for a long time may also need special cover. Many standard policies only allow a property to be unoccupied for a set period. Allianz explains that many standard home policies may not fully cover an empty home after around 30 to 60 days, depending on the provider.
If your home will be empty, you should tell your insurer. You may need unoccupied home insurance so the property stays properly protected.
At Got You Covered, we arrange home insurance through insurers. We can help with standard homes and homes that may be harder to insure, such as properties with flood risk, unoccupied homes, listed buildings, and let properties.
We do not underwrite every policy ourselves. Insurers decide whether to offer cover, what terms apply, and what the premium will be. This depends on the full details of your home, your cover needs, and the insurer’s rules.
We can help you compare options and understand key policy details, such as buildings cover, contents cover, excesses, exclusions, and optional extras. When buying, renewing or changing cover, take reasonable care to answer the questions accurately. Wrong or incomplete answers can affect the policy or a future claim. The Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012 explains this duty.
Home insurance can protect your home, belongings, or both against insured events such as fire, theft, flood, storm damage, and escape of water.
Buildings insurance is usually needed if you have a mortgage. Contents insurance is optional, but it can help protect the things you own inside the home.
The right policy depends on your property, your belongings, and your circumstances. Cover can vary by insurer and policy, so it is important to check limits, excesses, exclusions, and any special terms before you buy.
