House Insurance - gap, & do I *have* to insure contents inside house?

[54isanopendoor]

Long marriage. exH dealt with this before but he walked out last year & I suddenly realise that the House Insurance may have lapsed (yikes...)?

In a Victorian house so want decent house / roof insurance.
Do I have to take contents? (old scruffy furniture..)
I need insurance for 2 mountain bikes & 1 engagement ring I guess?
(can I take that without general contents though?)

any tips for house insurance in general please?
(need to arrange today, methinks..)

You are at risk of losing everything if you don’t insure your contents. I don’t mean valuables but the cost of replacing beds/bedding, furniture, kitchen items, books, pictures, clothing, etc. It could be very expensive to replace. Don’t underinsured either, otherwise you won’t get the full value should you need to claim.

Think about the cost of replacing everything if the worst happened such as a fire. Carpets, clothes, beds, bedding, towels, everything you have in your kitchen from kettle to forks. Curtains, shoes, Christmas tree etc. some things can’t be replaced such as photos but having basic things covered would be helpful in the event of a disaster. Could you realistically afford to go to the likes of IKEA and buy everything needed if your contents were not covered?

Also, check with your insurer what part of their cover would see you re-housed or put in a hotel if a disaster happened. I presume it’s buildings but worth a check.

You might not want accidental insurance but I'd always try to have basic contents insurance

With expensive things like bikes - some contents insurance will cover them up to a specified value which can often be cheaper than specific insurance for some reason

If you have a mortgage you need building insurance otherwise if it e.g goes on fire you’ll need to keep paying the mortgage on a house that no longer exists and for which you cannot make a claim to get it rebuilt.

You can choose to insure contents or not. You can think of this two ways: how much can I afford to self insure/ what is the minimum size of claim I’d realistically make? And: if I had a total loss (fire scenario above) how much would it cost to replace everything I own and do I need some kind of total loss cover. Those should help you work out whether you need insurance at all, and how much.

you would be surprised how much it would cost to replace everything in your house. just kitchen items would be a few hundred, then white goods, electronics, clothes, shoes, books, furniture. just because your existing stuff is shabby it would still cost £1000s to replace all in one go! just imagine if all you had was your pjs as you had to flee a fire in the middle of the night? would you be able to buy everything you need for you and the kids?

You'd be mad not to! Unless you expect a gofundme if there's a fire....
Just renewed ours £280 for both. £100,000 worth of contents cover

Dh works in insurance, and has had claims where people lost absolutely everything in their house from fire, flood or escape of water (the water tank in the loft going and the whole house becoming a mess of collapsed ceilings and water). In fact his own parents had their house cleared by burglars when away and they brought in moving trucks and took everything.
When you think about having to go out right now and replace your clothes, shoes, duvets, towels, cutlery etc etc its an awful lot of money to find immediatly - then theres electrical goods, carpets, curtains. And maybe you'd like to try and save family photos or other sentimental objects, the insurers would pay to get them dried out

Thanks.
Yes, I'll sort House cover by end of the day.
I guess I'll go with the suggested contents cover of £33K too as no I couldn't afford to go to Ikea & replace everything. (i guess I was just thinking my contents are mostly old junk shop stuff but it would all cost to replace it it's true...)
I've added kids new bikes & my engagement ring as extras.
Best quote is about £300 which I guess I'll just have to pay up for.
(is AXA a well known Co? we were with Liverpool Victoria for years, till a car knocked down the front wall & they took over a year to pay & were a nightmare)