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BUILDINGS INSURANCE COVER

Article by David Thomson
























Buildings insurance covers the costs of repairing or rebuilding your home in the event of damage to the structure, fittings or outbuildings.What’s covered?The structure is the walls, roof, chimney or plumbing.Fittings are kitchen units, sinks and baths plus outside walls or fences.Outbuildings are structures that are not part of the structure of your home, like garages, sheds and greenhouses.If you have a mortgage, your lender generally insists you take out insurance as a condition of the loan. Even if you don’t have a mortgage, consider taking out a policy to protect your home – and your pocket – in the event of a possible disaster.What’s included?Different insurers offer varying levels of cover including damage from:• Fire• Storms and floods • Theft, riots or vandalism• Earthquakes or subsidence• Vehicle collisions• Falling trees, branches or aircraft partsOthers may include cover for frost damage to pipes connecting your house to mains supplies. Where your home is situated may also increase your premium. For example, if the property is in a high-risk area for flooding or subsidence. Subsidence is often only covered if risk is previously reported to the insurer, although the postcode of the property is often considered enough to inform the company of any subsidence risk.What’s not included?Exclusions also vary between insurers, but almost all exclude damage from:• War and terrorism• Radioactive contamination• Sonic booms• PollutionReading the small printTell your insurer everything you know about your property to ensure you have adequate home insurance cover. If you don’t, you may unintentionally void the policy and your insurer may not pay out if you make a claim. Preventable damage, like taking on DIY jobs yourself instead of calling in a professional builder can void your policy if your work goes wrong. Another common preventable damage risk is root damage to foundations from planting or felling a tree near to your home.You should check if your property is in a high-risk area that your insurer may not cover before taking out a policy.Extra cover is often available while the builders are in or for ongoing exceptional risks.Sum InsuredThe sum insured under a buildings policy is the full rebuilding cost of your home. This cost is not related to the sale price or Council Tax but calculated by a surveyor.Index LinkingKeep the sum insured up to date by making sure your policy is index-linked. This means the sum insured is adjusted each in line with any changes in rebuilding costs, like inflation.ExcessYou can reduce your premium by agreeing an excess – a voluntary sum you pay against the cost of a claim before the insurer pays out. For example, if you have an excess of £150 and claim £1,000, the insurer will deduct the excess and only pay you £850.No Claims BonusSome policies have a “no claims” discount that reduces your premium if you have not claimed on your insurance. Letting propertyIf you are a landlord, make sure your buildings insurance covers renting your property to tenants.

About the Author

David Thomson is Chief Executive of BestDealInsurance an independent specialist broker dedicated to providing their clients with the best insurance deal on their home insurance, car and life insurance.












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Landlords buildings insurance cover: what’s the difference?

Article by Eliot Blundell
























Whatever type of property you may own, you are likely to be aware of the importance of insuring it. If you have bought a particular dwelling to let, however, you may want to remind yourself of the importance of arranging specific landlords buildings insurance cover.

What’s the difference?

When assessing the risk of loss or damage they are prepared to underwrite, insurers typically make a careful distinction between properties that are to be occupied by their owners and those that are to be occupied by tenants.

Typically, the latter are considered to pose a greater risk than the former.

Although you may be familiar with the importance of arranging home buildings and contents insurance for your own, owner-occupied home, therefore, you may need to consider the need to seek a let property insurance quote specifically to ensure the adequate protection of property that you own as a landord.

The cover

Landlords buildings insurance cover is typically designed to protect the very fabric and structure of your property against such risks as fire, flooding, smoke damage, impacts from vehicles or falling debris, and vandalism. To this extent, the risks covered may be very similar to standard home buildings insurance.

Just as with many standard home buildings insurance policies, you may also wish to check whether your landlords buildings insurance cover also extends protection against the risk of subsidence (since not all policies do as a matter of course).

Specifically for landlords

With respect to the particular risks associated with let property, you might wish to consider whether your chosen policy affords protection against malicious damage by your tenants. Some policies include such protection as a standard feature, others do not, and still others include it as a feature of selected policies only.

Similar considerations might also apply to the risk of accidental damage to your building – some policies might automatically include it as a standard feature, others might not, but still others may offer you the choice of such on selected policies.

The worst case scenario

Typically, buildings insurance is designed to protect the property owner against the worst case scenario – a catastrophic event that leads to such a total loss of the building that it needs to be entirely rebuilt. The same is true for such cover for let property.

When seeking landlords buildings insurance cover, therefore, you may wish to keep in mind a total insured value that represents not the current market value of your property, but the estimated cost of a complete rebuild in the event of its total loss.

About the Author

Eliot Blundell is Director at specialist CIA landlords provider, CIA who provide a wide range of let property insurance solutions including cover for all tenant types, unoccupied property insurance and landlords rent guarantee insurance












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Doing Up The House? Confused.com Suggests You Remain Security and Insurance-Conscious

Doing Up The House? Confused.com Suggests You Remain Security and Insurance-Conscious











Cardiff, (PRWEB) July 26, 2008

For those thinking about having building work done on their houses, Confused.com warn that lax security and insufficient home insurance cover could lead to a lot of heartache.

Homeowners may forget that a house literally becoming a building site could take them out of the remit of their insurance policies. The best way for them to avoid this from happening is to notify their home insurance providers of any works that have been pencilled in, and enquire as to whether it’s necessary to increase buildings and contents insurance for the duration.

Key things for homeowners to bear in mind when having works done:


    Structural Integrity
If any building involves modification to a load-bearing wall, there is potentially an increased risk to the property and anybody therein. If the insurance providers aren’t informed of structural modifications, then potentially any future claim could be invalidated – a potentially costly omission.

    Building Security
It is common for external walls, doors or windows to be removed whilst extensions or modifications are being made to a property. This obviously compromises security, as there’s an increased vulnerability to burglars. So it’s prudent for homeowners to check if they’re still covered by their home insurance during this period. Policies differ between companies, so the policyholder may find themselves with a higher premium during this period, or short-term restrictions on their cover

If an extension includes new windows and doors, homeowners should inform their home insurance providers with the details, on account of increased accessibility. Plus details of the security measures in place should be provided, such as what types of locks are being employed.

    Additional Cover
Where the property has been extended, for example if a conservatory has been added or an attic converted, then this should be reflected in buildings insurance cover, as the rebuild cost will have altered. The cover needs to be upgraded to ensure the extra floor space and property value are taken into account. This is required because any payout in the event of a claim will only cover what has been previously declared.

    Public Liability Insurance
It isn’t only those having work done that should have adequate insurance. The workers should have adequate cover too. It’s a good idea to check that the builders have public liability insurance, which will cover any accidental damage that may be caused to the property, to neighbours’ property, or to things in and on the street outside.

About Confused.com:

Confused.com is one of the UK’s biggest and most popular price comparison services. Launched in 2002, it dominates the car insurance aggregator market and generates over one million quotes per month. It has expanded its range of comparison products over the last couple of years to include home insurance, travel insurance, pet insurance, van insurance, motorbike insurance, breakdown cover and energy, as well as financial services products including credit cards, loans, mortgages and life insurance.

Confused.com has 62 motor insurance partners, and customers can save up to on average £208. It also has a panel of 43 for home insurance, and customers who use Confused.com for home insurance can expect to save up to £193.

Confused.com is not a supplier, insurance company or broker. It provides a free, objective and unbiased comparison service. By using cutting-edge technology, it has developed a series of intelligent web-based solutions that evaluate a number of risk factors to help customers with their decision-making, subsequently finding them great deals on a wide-range of insurance products, financial services, utilities and more. Confused.com’s service is based on the most up-to-date information provided by UK suppliers and industry regulators.

Confused.com is owned by the Admiral Group plc. Admiral listed on the London Stock Exchange in September 2004. Confused.com is regulated by the FSA.

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