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AIBU?

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Original poster

To want home insurance and contents covered?

29 replies

Jelllytot · 18/10/2023 11:44

DH says it's not necessary and it's just a money making scheme.

I always thought it was very standard and normal to have home insurance and contents covered.

We don't actually have very expensive stuff in terms of contents eg. Our electronics are not that fancy but for example I'd like my engagement ring covered etc

OP posts:
TheSandgroper · 18/10/2023 12:19

Count up every pair of jeans, every shirt, every pair of knickers, every cup, every wooden spoon, a chest of drawers for each room, a couch to sit on, a new stove, a new fridge, your rings, new school uniforms.

If the house burns down, house insurance will build you a new house. Contents insurance will buy you the necessities of life. Or if someone outs a brick through your window and nicked your antiques roadshow vase. An overflowing bath will mean your upstairs flooring will need replacing.

That’s contents insurance. And, in Australia a couple of years ago, I upped the value of our contents and our premium went down.

Original poster
Jelllytot · 18/10/2023 12:22

TheSandgroper · 18/10/2023 12:19

Count up every pair of jeans, every shirt, every pair of knickers, every cup, every wooden spoon, a chest of drawers for each room, a couch to sit on, a new stove, a new fridge, your rings, new school uniforms.

If the house burns down, house insurance will build you a new house. Contents insurance will buy you the necessities of life. Or if someone outs a brick through your window and nicked your antiques roadshow vase. An overflowing bath will mean your upstairs flooring will need replacing.

That’s contents insurance. And, in Australia a couple of years ago, I upped the value of our contents and our premium went down.

Thank you, that's very helpful

OP posts:
TequilaNights · 18/10/2023 12:26

Exactly as pp, work out how much it would cost to replace every single item own, from spoons in the draw to the pillows on your bed, including the house you live in, if you own it.

Insurance is 1000% worth it, might not seem it when your just paying, but if you had a fire or devastating event you will be glad you had it.

ASCCM · 18/10/2023 12:27

He sounds stupid. Of course you need it!

LunaLoveFood · 18/10/2023 12:30

We had to claim on house and contents insurance. They paid for replacement everything in our living room including pram that was stored there. So 2 new sofas, new TV new oak furniture, new xbox, flooring and curtains.
We definitely couldn't replace like for like as we couldn't afford to, especially not all at once.

VanCleefArpels · 18/10/2023 12:30

Assuming you own your home with a mortgage. If it burns down and you can’t rebuild it because of lack of cover how are you going to repay the mortgage lender? Let alone buy the very many things you need to live . Your DH is being utterly reckless not to mention ignorant. Take out a policy today, do it online. You can add specific items later with a valuation certificate in the case of jewellery

BoohooWoohoo · 18/10/2023 12:31

I have it because should the worse happen, I couldn't afford to rebuild my house or replace the contents.

Blueisacolour · 18/10/2023 12:34

Agree with PPs. I once thought I didn't have much worth insuring. Then I went through everything room by room, just pricing up everything I could see. I was really surprised and upped my insurance the next day. I had a list of things to check (printed off internet) which I found helpful, as there were things on there I hadn't considered. There have been a couple of house fires close to me in the last year. One insured, where everything is being dealt with for them, and one sadly not, where there have been local pleas for help as they are having to try to replace things that were lost in the fire with donations.

xILikeJamx · 18/10/2023 12:37

Our old house got broken into (twice) and they nicked over £6000 worth of contents (twice). Insurance paid out so we could replace it all (twice)

FallingAutumnLeaf · 18/10/2023 12:39

You absolutely need buildings insurance (unless it's a flat that is insured another route). ND if you have mortgage you would be crazy not to.
Contents, personally, I insure, and think you should. The average contents of a house are tens of thousands of pounds. Do you have that sort of money to replace everything you own if something was to happen to the house?

ReviewingTheSituation · 18/10/2023 12:43

Buildings insurance always used to be a condition of a mortgage. But maybe that's changed now (we had the same mortgage for the last 15 years as it was such a good deal, so I may be out of touch here).

B&C insurance is not necessarily/always expensive. Every year I'm bemused by the fact it costs more to insure the cat than it does the house! (I get why, because of likelihood of a claim, but still...!!)

VisionsOfSplendour · 18/10/2023 12:45

If you own your home not having buildings insurance is madness, it's relatively inexpensive, if you rent then you only need contents, also not that expensive

Are you newly married?

CMOTDibbler · 18/10/2023 12:46

DH has worked in insurance for many years. Apart from house fires etc, one that stands out to him was a family who went away for a weekend and the cold water tank in the loft broke, which also left the water into it flowing so when they came back all the ceilings in the house had collapsed and everything they owned was under layers of soaking plaster. All they had was the clothes they were wearing and a small bag.
Their house insurance paid for them to go and live elsewhere for the 9 months it took to dry it out and put it back together again.
Contents insurance paid for clothes, bedding, furniture, flooring, curtains - and as well in specialist cleaning and restoration of things like wedding/ family photos and anything precious or salvageable. This can also be getting data off hard drives.
So if you have the resources to sort all of that out (and the contacts for specialist services such as smoke damage) without help, then your DH is OK. Otherwise, insurance is there for the unimagineable.

CrazyHamsterLady · 18/10/2023 12:48

My parents had a house fire when I was 6. They told me when I was older that they were unbelievably thankful that they had full insurance to replace items and rebuild as they couldn’t have afforded it otherwise. The insurance even paid to rehouse us for about 6 (I think) months whilst the rebuild was happening.

Fuckitydoodah · 18/10/2023 12:50

Crazy not to have home insurance. You hope you never need it, but imagine something catastrophic happening and not having any financial help to rebuild your home and life.

It's not just the money they'll pay, it's the expertise and help with getting quotes etc. I wouldn't know where to begin if my house was reduced to rubble.

MammaTo · 18/10/2023 12:53

If you tipped your house upside down do you have the money to replace everything? Insurance is definitively worth it. Plus it covers other things such as alternative accommodation if your house is un-liveable.

justplodding · 18/10/2023 12:54

If you turn tour house upside down and shake it everything that falls is your contents, could you afford to replace all of these?

Buildings im sure is mandatory with a mortgage.

Both buildings and contents is essential

justplodding · 18/10/2023 12:55

MammaTo · 18/10/2023 12:53

If you tipped your house upside down do you have the money to replace everything? Insurance is definitively worth it. Plus it covers other things such as alternative accommodation if your house is un-liveable.

snap lol

Original poster
Jelllytot · 18/10/2023 12:55

VisionsOfSplendour · 18/10/2023 12:45

If you own your home not having buildings insurance is madness, it's relatively inexpensive, if you rent then you only need contents, also not that expensive

Are you newly married?

We've been married 3 years, bought our own home earloer this year

OP posts:
LIZS · 18/10/2023 12:57

Surely you have buildings insurance as a condition of your mortgage?

INeedAnotherName · 18/10/2023 13:03

If you have a mortgage then most providers insist you have building insurance. Check your t&c immediately.

Go through each room and work out how much it would cost you to replace it if you had a fire. Do you actually have enough savings to carpet/tile every single room right now? With curtains? That's before you think of your bed, bedding, clothes, TV, sofa, washing machine. I think I read somewhere that a 3bed would be easily £50,000 to replace just the basics (not top of the range) which is a bit frightening. Ask DH if he has secret savings to cover that amount.

Totalwasteofpaper · 18/10/2023 13:04

Building is mandatory for most mortgages and in general it's very sensible to have.

Contents if it's not particularly high value AND if you are high earners / have good savings you can not bother with and i would just put equivalent into a savings account (£500 pa or similar).

we have content AND building insurance because my DH insists on it. If I had my way we would have building only but I am happy to compromise as he can be a bit anxious and it makes him happy.

PinkRoses1245 · 18/10/2023 13:06

I thought all mortgage providers required you to have building insurance. What would you do if your house burned down? Contents is your call, but the stuff you have in the house does add up quickly; again imagine the worse case scenario. You don’t have to take out the highest cover

Pinkdelight3 · 18/10/2023 13:06

Pretty sure we needed building insurance for the mortgage - and life insurance too if memory serves.

Also it's not just for major catastrophes, which he might tell himself are rare. We had a very undramatic leak under the floorboards, which turned out to need the whole floor (as open plan) and some of the kitchen replacing, which was very costly and couldn't be done while we were living in the house. Insurance not only covered all the costs of the remedial works, they managed it all including using a service to find us another local short-term let to move into for a couple of months, which was hugely helpful and worth every penny of paying for the insurance. In short, your DH is mistaken and naive and you need to trust your own judgment more.

PinkRoses1245 · 18/10/2023 13:07

Our buildings and contents is £100 a year. It’s hardly bank breaking and could gain you so much in the worst case