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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Related Building Insurance Cover Articles

Shop around online for the cheapest home insurance cover

Article by Jason Hulott









When it comes to choosing your home insurance then of course you want to get the best deal for the cheapest premium. There are many different factors that have to be taken into consideration when it comes to home insurance and knowing your choices is essential, this is why when it comes to looking for the cheapest home insurance you should go online.

The internet is your best friend when it comes to digging out the best deals for your home insurance, not only does it provide you with the tools to compare many insurance companies at the same time but also it holds a vast amount of information regarding the different components of home insurance.

There are many web sites that give you the option of searching for comparisons when it comes to insurance, simply choose the type of cover you are looking for and hit a button, the site will present you with a comprehensive list of all the insurance companies and the deals they are offering. Of course you will have to know what type of insurance you need; the two basic types when it comes to home insurance are the contents and the building.

When shopping around for contents insurance then it is essential that you take an inventory of all your possessions and then come to a total amount that you wish to be insured for. If you don’t take care here you could find that you are under insured, but then on the other hand stating too high an amount could mean you are paying out a bigger premium than you need to. Also take into account any very expensive items such as jewellery and artwork, these things might not be covered in a normal policy and may need you to take out extra cover.

When it comes to buildings insurance then don’t forget about such things as out buildings, greenhouses and patio, while the standard cover will include such things as subsidence, fire and storm damage a good policy should also cover for malicious damage. Again shop around and get several quotes online when it comes to getting the cheapest home insurance cover.



About the Author

Jason Hulott is Business Development Director of Protection Insurance, an internet based insurance business dedicated to getting consumers the best rates and the best products. Visit our Home Insurance Directory.