Buildings Insurance - Home Insurance UK

One thing ties contents and buildings insurance together, and that is for both of them, you need to make sure that you are fully insured. You must make sure that you have put the right value on the items that are covered. This is the "sum insured". The amount that you pay for your premium will depend a good deal on the sum insured, so you need to make sure that it is right. Also, your premium rates can be higher if you are living in an area where burglary occurs often, or maybe you live in a thatched cottage.

You must make sure that the sum you insure your home for is sufficient to cover the full value of your possessions and the buildings that are covered. Too many people have underestimated the full cost of repairing or replacing their contents and their homes. If you set the sum too low, then should damage occur to your home, you might find that your insurance will only cover part of the cost, and the cost, particularly with buildings insurance, could be huge.

Where buildings insurance is concerned, you must ensure that you cover the full rebuilding cost of your property. This would include the fees for the architect and surveyors' fees plus the clearing costs for the debris left behind and the cost of meeting building regulations or by-laws which have been passed since the home was previously built. This is not the market value of the house, it is the rebuilding cost, and you shouldn't confuse the two.

The cost of rebuilding can rise even when the market value of houses aren't moving, and this can be vice versa. The best way to exemplify this is to compare two identical houses in the same town. One of these identical houses is located on the outskirts of town and features some pleasant country views. The other is located next door to a crowded industrial area full of factories. Both of these properties will have very different market values, yet the rebuilding cost for both of them will be the same.

Where contents insurance is concerned, the full value that should be insured is the cost of replacing all the contents in your home as new. Otherwise, if you do not want to have the option of having everything new, then the insurance company will deduct an allowance from the sum insured for wear and tear. You must review the sum insured regularly. Inflation will affect the cost of replacing your contents and your buildings, most insurance companies have index-linked policies where your sum insured is adjusted automatically in line with the general price rises. If this doesn't happen, your sum insured could be too low.

Use this site to find out all you need to know about home insurance and to get the cheapest quotes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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