Should you get home insurance and how much do you pay?

[ncob]

FTB, new home-owner. Seems like theres endless costs. Erring towards getting home insurance but have almost nothing of value at the moment (need to buy furniture etc, currently just have odd bits donated by friends/family to get by until I furnish the place). I guess I should just get buildings insurance? (and not contents)

Building insurance is usually mandatory when you take a mortgage. it's one of the most important costs! What if you had a serious fire or pipe burst?

As has been said, it's not just insuring for something like your TV getting stolen, contents insurance is to cover everything that's not part of the building.

If you - or even an adjoining neighbour - had a fire, your contents insurance would cover replacing things like:

Carpets or other floor coverings
Curtains
Dining table and chairs
Sofa
Light fittings, lamps
Crockery and glasses
Pots and pans
Food(!)
Clothes
Shoes
Beds
Bedding
TV
Etc. Etc.

It's amazing how much your contents can add up to, even if you're starting out and don't have much. I mean, just think if you lost every item of clothing you own except for what you were wearing when you went out that day???

My son has just moved into a rented flat and has minimal "contents", just his furniture, devices, TV, etc. It only cost him a fiver per month which I think is for around £15k of contents and includes "portable" devices, i.e. his phone, ipad and laptop outside the flat.

At home, it costs us £25 for an all singing, all dancing combined (platinum) buildings and contents policy on a detached house, and that includes accidental damage cover, legal protection cover, freezer contents, bikes, and "personal" belongings such as jewelery, phones, and OH's £3k hearing aids, outside the house.

It isn't just about theft. It is about fire and flood too.

If your house flooded and you needed to throw out all your carpets and flooring, all electricals, all kitchen units, all furniture on the ground floor and redecorate could you afford this or would you be glad of insurance?

Even replacing cheap secondhand stuff mounts up quickly. I have had to deal with people who have houses full of a few feet of muddy water despite not living near a river and no insurance to cover it. They are devastated and desperate. Contents insurance is worthwhile even if you don't have stuff worth nicking.

Of course you should get home insurance, it's not even expensive!

It's gone up phenominally this year, my renewal went up almost 70%, their excuse was the increased cost of materials etc. but as I've not made a claim in over 20 years I fail to see why it should affect me, let the claimants pay more! In the end I managed to get another quote that was about £20 more.

When you say "new home owner" you mean soon to be I assume.

I did just building one at the beginning about 200 a year. Same situation, not much worth insuring at that point.

It doesn't have to cost a fortune, by the way.

I just renewed ours and it was just over £300 for buildings and contents with full accidental damage. Rebuilding costs cover to £1.5m and £100k contents, with a couple of watches worth several thousands each covered and a few other specifics.

To be fair we've never had a claim in 25 years, though.

Afaik flooring and built in units are covered in building insurance. If you can't take it out without damage, it's included. Always worth to check small print though

£5 a month?? @user1497207191 who is he with?
I'm getting £200ish/yr for buildings and £300/yr for contents (for "minimal", eg <£15k etc). I wonder if i should increase my voluntary excess? Ive left it at the default of £250 for both.

So works out at £17/month or £25/month, as theres not a huge difference, erring towards just getting both B&C.

I'm not in the UK and pay about $1300 or 650 pounds a year for buildings and contents. We were very glad of it when there was a storm last year which damaged the garage door and made the alfresco roof leak. They paid out $13000 to replace the garage door and rebuild the alfresco roof, so it was worth every cent! They've also paid out for a stolen bike and a dropped iPad. So I think going without is a false economy.

Accidental Damage is what it says it is - damage caused by accidents.

So buildings - if you put your foot through the loft floor/drill a hole in the wall and hit a pipe/electrics.

re Contents - spill red wine on a carpet/sofa etc.

Definition of Contents - turn your house upside down. Anything that falls out would be classed as Contents.

Personal Belongings - covers items you take out of the house (usually covered on an All Risks basis)

Hope that helps.

So you’ll have already had to get building insurance for your mortgage? But contents insurance is essential too. You have to name any items over 1.5k in many so watch out if it that . Makes a huge difference in the price

How much would it cost to replace just your clothes coats shoes and bedding all in one go?
Absolutely get insurance. Read reviews from people who have made claims rather than just i got a great price etc

I have both because I don’t have the money to replace my contents if anything should happen.
I don’t think contents insurance is a massive expensive on top of buildings insurance.

Congratulations on your new home.

Go on one of the price comparison websites for a quote. Try toggling the value of the excess to see how much that changes your quote. I have accidental damage as I have a toddler and have claimed on it in the past when I dropped a jar of peanut butter and smashed my ceramic hob (!). Look for insurers with 4 and 5* defacto reviews. This tends to mean they have less exclusions hidden in the small print.

£9.80 a month for buildings and contents. My partner pays £7.90ish for his, but his house is only about 20 years old. Mine is 140 so more expensive.

We pay £200 a year for contents & buildings insurance. I don’t think it’s that expensive.

I pay a tenner a month for contents insurance and mine actually went down this year.

Buildings insurance will be mandatory from exchange of contracts if you are taking out a mortgage. Contents is up to you. Turn the house upside down, everything that falls out plus carpets is contents. If you're struggling to pay £17 a month for buildings insurance I would hazard a guess you don't have enough money in savings to cover replacing everything. I would also suggest you are stretching yourself far too much with this house purchase if you are so strapped for cash you are questioning if you absolutely have to insure your house.

I shop àround every year for building & contents insurance & do not auto renew

Cost approx just over £100 annually

I know someone who always auto renewed for decades with the same company & paid £1000 per year !

Ignore the poster who said about paying a fiver, that was just for contents as her son rented so it's s red herring.

I have insurance that I will only claim on if it was a total catastrophe such as fire or flood. I wouldn't claim for a new tv if I knocked this one for example, or smashed glass hob I'd just replace myself for instance. So I've always had high excesses of like maybe £750 for each B&C. At least I started off that way, obey the years I've probably reduced them a bit. Tinker round with the values on the comparison site.

I also don't own much of value, no cycles worth more than £300 etc, and I wouldn't claim for a lost handbag or item of contents I I took outside the property. That cuts premiums down a fair bit. Must of my furniture is second hand individual pieces like jali and mango wood dressers etc, it didn't cost much and I'm not precious about it. I'd gradually get replacements as and when I spotted them on ebay. I'm very like you in "I don't have much so not it's not worth insuring" but it all adds up if you had to COMPLETELY start from scratch after a fire for example. I also don't have any optional extras like legal cover.

I always get accidental damage cover after a friend's house flooded and the company said it was accidental and wouldn't pay out. Her Daughter had been lying on the bathroom floor with her feet pushed against the bathroom sink pedestal/pillar thing, which had dislodged a the water inlet pipe. They went away for the weekend and whole house flooded. Insurance wouldn't pay out.

I’ve never even questioned getting contents cover before! Yes it’s worth it. I spilt a whole tub of tomato soup on a cream carpet and the insurance would have paid out for replacing it. I ended up being able to scrub it out in the end tho 😂

Flippin' eck it is expensive!

Just hard negotiated our renewal down for buildings and contents. And where we live is not prone to burglaries or anything like that. Even went on comparison sites, could not get it less.

You have to name any items over 1.5k in many so watch out if it that . Makes a huge difference in the price

Not necessarily. Two pieces of jewellery worth more than that... both added £7 per year to the premium.

Have you run it through a comparison site like compare the market? Are you buying in a high crime area? My buildings and contents insurance is less than £300 for a 4 bed house and we have a high contents cover plus legal protection, all bells and whistles insurance. Mainly because there are 4 adults (2 parents and 2 children) so we have several computers.

Buildings insurance is essential. I'm pretty sure it's part of the mortgage terms.

Worst case scenario is a fire.

Buildings insurance then pays for anything "fixed" and part of the house so windows, walls, roof, bathroom and kitchen.

You then need to consider the cost of replacing everything else.

A friend worked out the cost of replacing her clothes was over £1000!! Then all the little stuff started adding up. Freezer contents, electronic goods, carpets (as they're not stuck down!), kitchen freestanding appliances, furniture...

The more she thought about it, the more she realised the cost of replacing it all is far more than she expected.

So by all means skip on the contents insurance if needs be, but just be aware of the cost should you end up in the awful scenario of a house fire.