Assurant Solutions ®

There are three main types of home insurance:
Buildings insurance, contents insurance, and combined buildings and contents insurance.

Buildings insurance
Covers the structure of your home (your walls, windows and roof as well as permanent fixtures and fittings, such as baths, toilets and fitted kitchens).

Contents insurance
Covers the possessions in your home (you can also select for your personal possessions outside of the home).

Combined buildings and contents
As suggested, covers both on a combined policy.

If you need buildings and contents cover, it is recommended that you do this as a combined policy rather than separate buildings and contents cover. This is because you may have instances where you need to claim on both sections of cover and it will be easier if this is with one insurer.

As well as covering you for theft, home insurance also protects you against damage caused by a number of unforeseen events including flooding, fire and explosions.

Most home insurance policies should offer a limited level of accidental damage cover but more comprehensive cover for accidental damage is usually an option as an extra cost.

The limited accidental damage may cover you for damage to sanitary items such as cracked sinks, baths etc. More comprehensive cover for cover against spilt paint, DIY mishaps etc can be selected but this may increase your premiums by around £100 per annum depending on your policy and the value of your items.

For an additional premium, you can use your contents cover to include the personal possessions that you normally wear or take with you outside of the home. This could include items such as jewellery items, handbags, mobile phones or gadgets such as laptops or tablets (some policies may also offer specific cover for mobile phones or gadget).

Leaving your home empty is likely to make it more of a risk whether that is to theft or damage so insurers generally restrict cover in these circumstances. Most insurers will cover your home on the condition that it will not be left unattended for more than 30 – 60 consecutive days to allow for holidays so if it is likely your home will be left unoccupied for longer than this, you should let your insurer know.

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All insurers will offer exclusions on policies, some more than others depending on the risk so you should check your policy schedule and policy document carefully. Some examples where exclusions may apply are below:

High-value items and personal possessions

There is usually a limit on the amount of cover for general high-value items within the home, such as jewellery or computer equipment and also the maximum amount payable for a single item.  

Running your business from home

Some insurance policies won't cover any liability arising from you running a business from your home. Check the policy details to make sure you have the cover you need.

Renting or subletting your home

Your home insurance policy is probably not suitable if you are now renting or subletting your property. A specialist Landlord policy will probably need to be put in place. This offers different cover options and levels so it is important to get this right.

Pairs and sets

Some insurers will cover pairs and sets, others will only cover the cost of replacing the damaged parts. Check your policy booklet to find out what your policy covers.

The policy excess is the amount you have to pay towards any claim you make on your home insurance policy.

Most home insurers have two types of excess. A compulsory excess, which the insurer sets and can't be modified, and a voluntary excess, which you can set yourself.

The excesses can vary from each insurer and this is usually taken from the claim amount. For example, if you have a claim worth £2500, and you have a £100 excess, you'll only receive £2400 from your insurer.

Typically the higher you set your voluntary excess, you are likely to generate a lower premium but this could make claiming on your policy restrictive or expensive.

With new-for-old cover, the insurer either pays the full cost of repairing damaged items or pays to replace them with equivalent new items if they're stolen or destroyed.

There are generally two different ways to select the level of cover you need.

A sum-insured policy involves working out the rebuilding cost of your home (not the market price but the cost of rebuilding the property from scratch) and the insurer calculates your premium based on that basis on that specified amount of cover.

A bedroom-rated policy is based on the number of bedrooms your home has and is set to a maximum level of cover so there is no need to specify the rebuild amount of your property.

All of the Assurant policies provide varying levels of cover with the majority being bedroom rated.

If your claim is not dealt with to your satisfaction or you feel that your insurer has treated you unfairly then you can take it further. You can speak to your adviser or us or your insurer but if this does not help, you can contact the Financial Ombudsman Service by calling 0300 123 9123.

You usually have six months from the time you reach deadlock with your insurer in which to make a complaint. The FOS' decision is binding on companies but not on the consumer, so you could, if you wish, refer the matter to court.