Insurance for the Home Owner

Making sure you're home is covered

Insurance for the Home Owner

Building insurance is split into two types of cover, based on the following:

  • Number of bedrooms in your property
  • Total value insured eg. the cost of rebuilding your home

It's easy to calculate the number of bedrooms in your property and more difficult working out the re-build cost. Take advice on the insurance policy which gives you adequate cover at the most efficient price.

Bedroom-Rated Building Insurance

Bedroom-Rated Building Insurance bases the amount you are insured for on the number of bedrooms in your home. Therefore the more bedrooms in your house, the higher rebuild cost and higher the premium.

This type of building insurance policy is convenient to calculate but may leave you under insured if the actual cost of rebuilding your home is more than the insurance company assumed. Conversely if the rebuild cost is less, then you will be paying over the odds for your policy.

Most policies have an unlimited cover per room, which means that if the highest value room is destroyed, you will not have a short fall to pay. It is worth checking your policy for unlimited cover per room.

Sum Insured Buildings Insurance

The sum insured is the amount of money your home is covered for. The sum is the maximum your insurers will pay under any circumstances. You need to calculate an adequate sum insured to avoid claim payments being reduced because of under insurance. It is your responsibility to get the sum insured right and regular checks should be done to make sure you still have adequate cover.

The sum insured in your buildings policy must equate to the full rebuilding cost of the home and your home's market value or Council Tax band valuation have no bearing on this valuation.

Contact a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors to conduct a Rebuilding Cost Assessment for your building insurance purposes. A Rebuilding Cost Assessment surveys your house and uses the rebuilding cost information provided by BCIS RICS' Building Cost Information Service.

Building Insurance Note

Buildings insurance policies differ in the cover provided and their terms and conditions, make sure you thoroughly read through your policy.