Home insurance checklist

[purpletrees16]

I’ve looked around on the internet but I can’t find a list of questions I can print so I can go round my house to get building insurance? Does anyone have one?

I’m thinking type of locks, position of trees etc. I know you can get one off doing compare the market but I’m just imagining my browser refreshing and it all going away.

I’ve spent around 20mins in total in the house before - can barely remember how many doors it has - but the owners are elderly so I don’t want to impinge... we don’t have any furniture so no need to measure stuff and we’ll wait till we move in to order anything other than a bed as we have a 2 month overlap where we will go between homes.

Also what do you do before you buy everything - like we don’t own any large items of furniture but a few weeks after completion we will have ordered ££s of the stuff which we’d need to insure? Do get a quote for the stuff we own now which will look weirdly low as it’s clothes and books and an old tv/laptop or do we include the ££s of sofas?

So confusing!

CTM and the others usually save the quotes. Presumably this is for a house you are buying? If so insurers are well used to this kind of thing.

they want to know type of construction, how much flat roof, any flood risk nearby, date of construction, type of locks (are there any on windows), any alarm, neighbourhood watch area etc etc. If in doubt, say 'no'.

for contents, they will probably suggest a figure; even from exchange you need to insure carpets, curtains etc.

I think the best bet is to run some quotes, see what looks best and then ring the insurer concerned to discuss. As I recall you need a quote ready to go which you then validate as soon as you have exchange. When you complete, call the insurer again and 'turn it up' to full contents. That has a minimum value and it probably makes no difference whether the furniture is there or not.

Also let the insurer know if you aren't moving in immediately; there are 'empty property' rules.

Great - I’m not sure how to run the empty thing. We will split our time between the rented flat and the new house. We’re only doing it as we can’t end the contract and it’s not that much extra. But I’m not sure either will truly be empty - is it best to declare empty and be in it or spend time away and not be in it?

We don’t have contents insurance for our current place (genuinely most of my belongings are >10 year old clothes - we’ve been saving for a house for the best part of 5 years - and spend much more on holidays than stuff.)