It's not a legal requirement, but in some instances you may be required to have buildings insurance in place. Regardless of your situation, it's worth considering both buildings and contents insurance. Without buildings insurance, any damage to your home could cost you thousands.
Mortgage lenders may expect you to have this insurance before you exchange in order to protect against the cost of potential damage to your home. If you own a flat, having buildings insurance may not be necessary.
You may not have a mortgage lender requiring you to have buildings insurance anymore, but it's still really worth considering. Look at it like protecting your investment, you could risk spending thousands by not having a policy in place if something happens to your home.
As a landlord, it's worth considering specialist buildings insurance. A standard policy could be invalidated if something happens to your property while you're renting it to a tenant and you need to make a claim.
This is someone who is named in a will as legally responsible for handling the estate of a person who has died. This process is known as probate and the property may be left unoccupied. There is a specialist home insurance policy to cover a property in this type of situation.
If you're renting a property, your landlord should have buildings insurance in place as it is their responsibility. Instead, a contents insurance policy is worth considering as it covers the cost of replacing your belongings if they’re stolen or damaged.
Typically a freeholder or a management company can arrange buildings insurance and charge you service fee. This isn't always the case, so you must check your agreement. If you're responsible for finding cover, there are specialist policies available to you.
Buildings insurance generally covers structural parts of your home such as the roof, walls and floors. This also extends to permanent fixtures such as fitted kitchens, bathrooms and built in wardrobes.
Most policies vary based on the insurer, so you should always check you're happy with your level of cover. If not, you can look at optional extras you may require.
There is no set list of issues you can claim for on your buildings insurance policy. You'll need to check with your insurer what is covered, some policies may offer protection for other structures such as driveways and garages.
If you're extending the property, you may also want to consider cover for the extension work. But you'll need to make your insurer aware of this before you buy.
Accidental damage is unlikely to be covered, it's usually available as an optional benefit for an extra cost.
Otherwise known as policy exclusions, each buildings insurance policy has its own list of what you won't be able to claim for. Generally, most insurers won't include cover for:
Personal belongings aren't covered by buildings insurance and a separate policy could be required unless you get a policy that combines both.
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The rebuild cost of your property is typically estimated with a number of factors in mind, including:
An older property or a listed building could increase the rebuild cost. Specialist materials may be needed to carry out building work and planning approval could be necessary for properties of significant architectural or historic interest.
Most properties are built from brick or stone with a slate or tile roof. Using other materials could be more expensive due to their availability and specialist nature.
All of these factors can relate to the size of the property. There are several types of houses in the UK such as terraced, semi-detached and detached. The number of doors, windows and rooms are considered as the more there are, the more it could cost to replace them.
There are other parts of a property that could affect the rebuild value such as a conservatory, porch, solar panels and garage, for example. The more features you have, the greater the rebuild value could be.
There are a number of ways you can reduce the cost of your buildings insurance policy:
In most cases you'll have a range of optional benefits you can include in your policy, but these likely come at an extra cost. Exactly what is included as standard can vary between insurers, so it's worth checking your policy before you buy.
Optional benefits include:
Usually a buildings insurance policy covers you for sudden damage by weather, fire or crime. It wouldn't cover accidental damage such as stepping through the ceiling while working in the attic, for example. Adding this to your policy can help cover unintentional incidents.
Taking a case to court can be expensive, the legal expenses benefit is there to help cover the costs. There are a number of ways it can help, but most importantly for buildings insurance it covers disagreements about property.
There for emergency issues or urgent repairs, it covers the cost of needing to call out a tradesperson to fix the issue.
Boiler breakdown cover helps protect you from repair costs when your boiler breaks down. It can cover urgent repairs, callout charges, labour and spare parts. It's worth considering especially for boilers not covered by warranties.
You may find yourself in a situation where your home has suffered damages from a storm or flood. If your property is unsafe to live in, you may need alternative accommodation until the damage is fixed. This is exactly what this type of cover provides.
There are a number of factors that can determine what you pay for buildings insurance. Before you begin, it's important to have documents at hand and information on the following:
The size of the property and number of rooms are taken into account. Generally, the larger the house, the higher the rebuild cost.
Insurers will ask if your home or any outbuildings have a flat or partly flat roof. This is because of the risk they pose in the event of a storm or heavy rainfall.
Listed buildings are tricky as heritage support officers are required to approve any works. Any construction may also need specific materials, so this is taken into account.
If your property is located in an area prone to flooding, buildings insurance could be costlier due to the risk.
Better security measures in place can help bring costs down. Robust door locks could make your home less likely to be burgled, quite often you'll be asked what locks are installed on your doors.
It's common to be asked if you have any home security in operation. Some systems are installed and maintained by regulatory bodies, it's important you mention this when getting a quote.
Just as you build NCB with motor insurance, the same applies to buildings insurance. Where you can, state any NCB you have as you may receive discount.
On the flip side, you'll typically have to declare any claims you've made in the last 5 years. Not stating this could invalidate your policy.
Finding out the rebuild cost of your property can seem challenging, but there are ways you can work it out. We can usually give you an estimate based on the information you submit.
The age of your property is likely to affect your buildings insurance. You can usually find this out by checking the title deeds or using Land Registry.
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Page last reviewed: 04 October 2024
Reviewed by: Matthew Harwood
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