It makes sense to insure your building’s structure against acts of god such as fire, flood and subsidence and if the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah had been more sensible they might have been able to rebuild and move on with their lives. Don’t forget, these things do happen and not just to other people. If you’re living on a flood plain the mortgage company will positively insist that you protect not only your investment, but more importantly, theirs as well.

Contents insurance, on the other hand, is up to you. Take it or leave it, but the sensible advice is to have at least some basic contents insurance cover in place. This will most likely also cover some of your possessions when they are taken outside the home, for example cameras, buggies and bikes. Items taken away on holiday with you will most likely need a separate travel insurance policy to protect them.

When looking for contents insurance and buildings insurance, shop around for the best offers because they can vary wildly in terms of premiums and what you’ll be covered for. Take a look at a few price comparison websites for guidance and then reduce premiums, if you wish, by increasing the excess or combining the two policies with one insurer for an often significant discount.

Buildings insurance is always a condition of a lender advancing you the sum to buy the property, and is their security for the loan, although it also covers you in the event of some calamity occurring that necessitates the rebuilding of the house. Buildings insurance usually also covers external fixtures and fittings.

Contents insurance covers all those items in the building which are not fixed in place, such as clothing and jewellery, furniture, and suchlike. Contents insurance will also cover property such as cameras and mobile phones which are taken out of the home on a regular basis.

The cheapest form of contents insurance is indemnity insurance, where stolen or damaged items are replaced by those of a similar age and make rather than by new ones. Slightly more expensive ‘new for old’ cover on the other hand will replace items with brand new ones.

Modern contents insurance policies usually also cover the contents of the fridge and freezer, as well as garden furniture, treating the garden as a separate room.

Unlimited coverage means that should items be damaged or stolen, the cost of replacing them is immaterial, but the circumstances of the damage or loss will determine whether a payout is made at all.

Travel insurance usually needs to be taken out separately when taking property abroad with you.

In fact, if you take out a mortgage, as most of us have, a then condition of getting the loan at all will be to take out buildings insurance, as the lender will want to protect their investment just as much as you do.

Contents insurance is also a must, though not compulsory. The lender really won’t care about your personal possessions, only the building itself. It is still a good idea to protect your non-fixed possessions such as furniture, clothing, and jewellery against damage and loss.

The cheapest type of contents insurance is indemnity cover, which will replace the items with items of the same type and age. But the vast majority of homeowners opt to pay slightly more on the premium for the standard ‘new for old’ cover, which will get brand new replacements for lost or damaged items.

The events that cause the damage to the house’s structure, and those responsible for loss and damage to property must be shown to have been beyond your control. You can add extra coverage to the basic plan to extend the protection, such as covering accidental damage caused by yourself, or damage to pipes. These will increase the premium.

Nobody likes to pay home insurance premiums in case some unlikely event occurs, but in the case of home contents insurance and home buildings insurance it makes sense to have them in place.

In the case of high-end goods, or for those individuals of high net worth, most do not realise that premium insurance programs are available to protect their home’s more expensive contents.  Many standard home contents insurance policies do not offer the correct sum for coverage of these priceless items.  Standard insurers are also known to limit the payout amounts for specific high-end items in the event of loss, damage, or theft.  When a disaster occurs, such homeowners find their coverage to be lacking.

Instead of waiting to find out if you’re sufficiently covered, do the research and compare home insurance programs, to find a contents insurance plan that includes premium coverage.  In fact, premium plans are sometimes less expensive that mainstream programs, so it may be worthwhile to individually ensure your high-end items.  In many cases, a standard contents insurance package might not be the best option.

While it is important to make sure all of your belongings, especially those of high value, are adequately insured, take the time to compare home insurance plans and get a comprehensive list of house insurance quotes before deciding.

Your non-fixed contents will also need to be protected through home contents insurance, which will cover them in the event of loss through burglary for example, or to damage which was beyond your control.

Both buildings and contents insurance are there to keep you covered, and you can take them out on a recommendation from your mortgage lender or you can go and find your own. Cheap house insurance is often available, and if you’re willing, for instance, to increase the excess and keep cover to the bare minimum that you feel is necessary you can reduce the cost even further.

House insurance quotes are readily available on the internet, so check out a few providers and see what they have to offer. Compare home insurance from a range of sources, just as you would compare quality and price on any other product. Comparison websites are quite useful as a starting point in your search for cheap house insurance.

House contents insurance usually also covers some possessions outside of the house, such as mobile phones and watches.

Basic safety and security measures automatically lower your risk, and sometimes the price of your house insurance.  Installing security systems and alarms, using hedges to protect ground-floor windows, or fitting bars into a ground-floor flat’s windows, are all measures that serve both ends.  Not only do you reduce your risk of a burglary or act of vandalism inside the home, but qualified alarm systems can earn you a savings with many household insurance providers.

Safety measures outside the home are beneficial as well.  Maintain fences around the house and keep trees regularly trimmed to prevent damage from fallen branches.

Likewise, taking steps to prevent and detect fire are necessary to protect your home from disaster.  Keep smoke alarms up to date and active; store and learn to use a fire extinguisher in your kitchen; clean the lint trap of your clothes dryer between every load of laundry to prevent fire.  Eliminating, or minimising, the risk of fire destruction to your items is the best way to never need your contents insurance policy.

Once you have exhibited a sufficient history of no claims, many companies will offer savings of up to 20% on your household insurance policy.

You will receive several documents for your buildings and contents insurance.  One of these will be a schedule, which is a ‘shortened’ version of the policy.  It is important to read your policy document carefully to ensure that you understand exactly what you are covered for. 

It is also at this stage you should be asking your insurance company any questions if there is something that you do not understand.  When you agree to an insurance policy you still have a short period – normally 14 days – in which to change your mind.  If you think that anything is not right with your policy you still have time to cancel or arrange a different policy.

You should also check the valuation of your house carefully.  The amount that you may sell your house for is not necessarily the cost that an insurance company would place on it for a rebuild.  If you feel that you need more cover then you should bring this to the attention of the insurers. 

The British gardener

We are a nation that loves our gardens and according to the Horticultural Trades Association, we spend nearly £4 billion on garden products annually. In fact the average shed contains £1,300 worth of tools and miscellany, usually with only a padlock between it and a would-be thief. Then there are the actual plants we place in our gardens, which believe it or not, are also a target for theft.

The garden and home insurance

In a survey conducted by Churchill, 37% of us do not include what is on the outside of our homes when we select and calculate our home insurance cover. Despite the costly equipment we leave outside, despite the extensive investment we make in our gardens, despite barbeques, patio heaters and that £40 lawn ornament we just had to have, securing our garden is simply not a priority. Why?

How to protect your garden

There are many ways to protect yourself against garden thieves; keep tools locked up, use a UV pen to mark expensive items, keep a record of what you’ve purchased and how much it cost, etc and have a good insurance policy. Most insurers will extend the policy to cover garden equipment and while fewer in number, there are also specialist insurers who cover plants, with special provisions for members of the Royal Horticultural society.

There are a number of factors that can affect this.  For example, if you live in an area which has recently suffered flooding you may find that your premiums rise as your insurer will now consider your postal code area to be at risk. This is reviewed on an annual basis. The same applies if there has been a number of burglaries in your area. 

By taking steps to prevent these things from happening you may be able to bring down the price of your buildings and home contents insurance.  However, whilst there is not a great deal that you can do to prevent your home from being flooded; it is worth keeping an eye out for flood alerts, enabling you to move your valuables to a safe place.

You are able to help prevent your home from being burgled with a few measures that are relatively easy to apply.  Extra locks on doors and windows are a simple but effective start. If you can afford to have a house alarm fitted then this may be a suitable option, particularly if you live in a particularly high risk area.  Measures such as these are taken into consideration by the insurance companies quite often enabling you to get a significant discount on your policy.

Most mortgage lenders will give you no option when it comes to buildings insurance – you’ll have to take it out as a condition of the loan, to protect their own investment as well as yours.

Lenders couldn’t care less about your personal possessions however, and protecting them against damage and loss will be entirely up to you. Most sensible people will take out home contents insurance, as you never know what’s around the corner. Burglary seems always to be on the increase no matter what the state of the economy is.

If you want to keep the costs down you could opt for the very basic form of home contents insurance, which is indemnity insurance, though if items are lost or damaged you’ll only get replacements of the same age. ‘New for old’ is the most usual option, slightly costlier but replacing items with brand new ones.

Bear in mind that if you are away from the insured property for any considerable length of time the contents insurance may become invalid.

Although items such as cameras and mobile phones will normally be covered by the home contents insurance even when taken outside the home, you’ll need a separate travel insurance policy to protect them when on holiday.