Cheap Home Insurance

The first thing to know about home insurance is that there are two types: buildings insurance, and contents insurance. They are separate policies and can be bought as such, but you can also get both types covered under a joint policy from one provider. Many homeowners opt for the latter, to reduce paperwork and simplify claims if one event (a fire, for example) affects both the building and the contents within it.

The type of home insurance cover you need will depend on your living arrangements. If you own the home you live in, you'll likely require both home contents and buildings insurance. Although contents insurance is largely optional, most mortgage providers will actually request you take out buildings insurance as part of your mortgage conditions in order to cover the structure of your property.

Buildings Insurance

It’s important to remember that you do not need to purchase buildings insurance if you do not own the property - this is the responsibility of the landlord or rental property owner. 

A buildings insurance policy covers the actual structure of your home, including walls, windows and doors, as well as fitted fixtures like kitchens or bathrooms. You can also extend the cover to include sheds, garages, fences, outbuildings, and swimming pools. When you’re completing a quote and are asked to input the sum to be insured, you should consider the cost your property would take to rebuild, not to sell.

The level of insurance you're after will vary depending on the type of risks you want to cover, but typically there's cover included for fire, flood, storm damage, falling trees, lightning, vandalism and one thing now particularly vital in Britain: burst or frozen pipes. Some policies might even cover you for alternative accommodation if you can’t live in your home due to damages covered under the policy.

Contents Only Insurance

If you rent rather than own your home, you probably only require contents insurance that will protect your own personal belongings. You might even find that if you live in a house-share, you're required to have a lock on your door as part of the terms and conditions of your rent agreement. It's worth mentioning too that if you are a homeowner who has a lodger, you are obligated to inform your insurer of another person and their contents at your property.

Contents only insurance typically includes cover for everything you would take with you if you moved home. So it’s for things like furniture, TVs, computers, clothes, kitchen appliances, and valuables. The following is usually covered on home insurance policies, or is available as an additional add-on:

• Damage or loss to your contents following a burglary, fire, vandalism, or escape of water
• Lock replacements if your keys are stolen. This might be covered under ‘accidental loss or damage’, which not all policies cover as standard, so check beforehand.
• Contents you frequently take away from home, like cameras or sports equipment, can also be covered for loss and damage. Generally, this is available as an extension.
• Personal liability cover if you accidentally injure another person or damage their property. Most policies include this, but again, double-check the policy information if this is important to you.
• Some insurers will provide free, reduced cover for students in the household going to university.

Bear in mind that there are flexible contents only policies out there which will increase the level of contents cover you have in certain scenarios. For example, around Christmas-time to account for gifts in the house, or when you’re due to get married to account for wedding presents.

It can be difficult to decide which policy to go for, especially with the thousands of home insurance policies available in the UK. Many insurers offer all-singing, all-dancing policies, but you need to bear in mind that the conditions and exclusions are also plenty. At Cheap.co.uk, our home insurance comparison service can help you streamline the process and reduce your workload, comparing over 50 home insurance providers in minutes.