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What Information Will You Need to Provide
For Home Insurance you’ll need to enter details about:
Will Home Insurance cover your garage, sheds,greenhouse and outbuildings?
Usually they will – but you will have to check the details of the insurance you are being offered.
What Parts of my Property are Unlikely to be Covered by Home Insurance?
Home Insurance rarely covers swimming pools, plants, trees, paths, fences, gates and drives.
Are there any circumstances that may mean you cannot get Home & Contents Insurance?
Yes. If your property is in an area which experiences frequent flooding or land slip you will find it hard to obtain insurance. Flats in high-rise blocks and properties in certain parts of the country may also experience problems obtaining cover.
How do you make a claim?
Most insurance companies now have emergency help lines. In our experience they are very efficient and will tell you what to do – sometimes they'll even make all the arrangements for you.

What does Contents Insurance Cover?

Contents Insurance covers loss or damage to your possessions whilst they are in your home howsoever caused (apart from personal malicious damage).

In this context "possessions" basically means anything that is not permanently attached to the structure of your house . So Contents Insurance would not cover your fitted kitchen units but your furniture would. Everything permanently attached to the structure of your house is covered by Home Insurance (which is also known as Buildings Insurance.)

The most frequent cause of damage is theft, accidents in the home, burst and leaking pipes. But if you can still claim if vandals, storm, fire or flooding, falling trees or explosions, damage your belongings. Even damage to contents resulting from a vehicle or aircraft crashing into your house is covered. In fact it's hard to think of circumstances where loss or damage would not be insured - oh yes there is one - deliberate damage. You can't deliberately damage your contents and expect to make a valid claim!

Many policies will insure you for accidental damage caused by yourself. However, the extent of the cover can vary between policies. So do check out what's included. Ask about videos, TV's and computers and what about damage to mirrors and glass generally? You might well have to pay an optional extra to have them insured but it could be well worthwhile. (Claims for these will probably only be valid if the items are in the home at the time they are damaged.)

Valuables like jewellery, antiques or works of art will almost certainly need to be specifically listed on your policy. This often applies to any item valued at more than £2,000. (£2,000 is only a guide - please specifically check out the limit for valuables on your policy as these limits do vary between insurers.) There will be an extra charge for insuring these listed valuables based on what they are and their value.

Also check out whether your possessions stored in your garage or garden shed are covered. And what about any garden furniture? Are they insured? You will have to specifically ask those questions.

You may also be able to extend your cover to "All Risks" which then covers any possessions (and sometimes some cash) you take with you when you leave your house. Check out your proposed policy.

Most policies will also offer to insure the contents of your freezer in the event of spoilage due to the interruption of your electricity supply. This cover will usually be an option extra. Have you tried adding up the value of the food in your freezer? You may well be surprised how much it comes to!

Look out for policies that provide cover on a "new for old " basis. This means that no matter what condition or how old or the item was before it was damaged or went missing, the insurance company will payout sufficient to enable a brand new item, of a similar or same specification, to be purchased. This will avoid a lot of potential aggravation with your insurer. If the insurance is on a "replacement value" basis you will receive less as the payout will be reduced to take into account the age and condition of the item. As you would expect cover on a "replacement value" basis is cheaper the "new for old" but we think the extra benefit is well worthwhile.

Finally, many good policies will also include public liability insurance. This is the type of insurance you might need if someone came to your house tripped on a toy and hurt themselves in the fall. They could make a claim against you and, as you probably know, such claims can be large.

Please specifically check out what your proposed policy includes.

Conditions and levels of cover do vary between insurance companies.

Frequently Asked Questions related to the above topic.
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