Household buildings and contents cover is an essential cover to protect your family home. Contracts are typically rated on postcode and number of bedrooms with most insurers offering a pre-set sum insured of £35,000 to £40,000.
Extensions to your household policy:
- Accidental Damage (Buildings and/or Content)
- All Risks
- Legal Expenses
- Other extensions
This is a very useful extension to both buildings and contents cover. The cost is typically around 10-15% extra. Cover is considerably widened as a result. For example:
Buildings
- You are in the loft and you put your foot through the ceiling.
- You are hanging a painting up on the wall and fracture a pipe causing water damage
- The back door to the house is caught by a gust of wind and is wrenched off its hinges
Contents
- You are redecorating the house and a pot of paint falls on the carpet
- A glass of red wine is spilled on your new white sofas
- A light fitting falls from the ceiling and scratches the dining table
- The shelf collapses smashing your best china
All Risks
This is also known as personal belongings cover and is usually available on a specified item basis for articles of higher value (typically £750 or more) or an unspecified basis for lower value articles. The cost of all risks cover is often a deterrent, but this cover is a very useful extension, insuring your personal effects both inside and outside your home and for a limited period overseas. Premiums vary from insurer to insurer and on area,
Examples of All Risks incidents are:
- You lose a stone from a ring
- Your golf clubs are stolen from the locked boot of your car
- You are at the seaside and the waves take away your expensive sunglasses
- Your mobile phone is snatched from you in the street
This is a more and more important consideration. The cost is usually around £15 to £20 per year. Policies will provide a fixed sum towards legal costs for a range of disputes. For example:
- You are a pedestrian involved in a road accident
- Your neighbour has built an extension which crosses onto your land
- The computer you bought is faulty, but the retailer is not providing satisfactory after sales service
- Employment disputes
Other useful extensions
- Money Cover
- Loss of Credit Cards
- Frozen Foods
- Pedal Cycles
For households with contents sum insured above the standard limits we can offer a High Net Worth contents policy. The policyholder can select the level of cover required, include antiques and fine arts and take extensions of cover for collections, ornaments and valuables.