A little confunded by house insurance!

Degeneratemoo

Currently buying our first home, the mortgage provider wants details of our house insurance (just who will provide it, how much we will be covered for etc) so I've been looking through various comparison sites to get quotes etc.

I'm really unsure what cover we need though!

Do we need accidental damage cover? It's optional (and usually turned off) on most of the providers I have looked at but seems pretty important. I get the impression that if I were to put up a shelf, hit a water pipe and flood the house we wouldn't be covered unless we had the accidental damage building cover.

We've got some kind of home emergency cover through our Halifax bank account, though I'm not sure how good that is, of course I don't want to pay for it twice if I don't have to!

Any advice would be great!

Horizon81

Like you say, accidental damage cover is just that - for 'accidents' e.g. if you're painting and pour a can of paint over your lovely new sofa. Some would call it 'stupidity insurance'.

Personal Possessions is if you take valuables out of your house and something bad happens to them.

Legal Cover is just that e.g. for neighbourly disputes etc.

Single item insurance is if you have a single item that is over their standard single item limit e.g. if you have a £1500 TV and their standard cover only goes up to £1000 per item.

Home emergency cover pays out X amount if you have to call out a man in a van to fix something. You'll need to check with Halifax to see exactly what your current cover includes.

Like all insurance there are pluses and minuses and it depends which school of thought you subscribe to. Personally I don't think it's worth it and will be happy not to go for any of the above. You can insure practically every element of your life but it all adds up. At the end of the day, it's all about calculating risk, and most insurance just plays on people's insecurities, but if it helps you sleep at night then tick all those boxes and stump up the cash.

House_owner

What your mortgage lender wants, is details of Buildings insurance, this is different from contents insurance - it covers the cost of damage to the stuture of your house, and the cost of rebuilding (eg if it burns down). Most mortage lenders make it complusary to have buildings insurance. You need to get a valuation of the cost of rebuilding your house (this is differernt to the amount you are paying for it). This figure should be on your valuation report. Its worth geting a few quotes for this, as the cost of the insurace can vary greatly.

KiKi

Yes, they are looking for Buildings Insurance, not Contents. Buildings is highly likely to be compulsory for your mortgage lender to lend to you; Contents is up to you. You might get a reduction by getting both from the same supplier. Go to www.moneysupermarket.com for a good quote, and then go to Quidco and see if you can get cashback. Most insurance companies offer excellent cashback.

I don't bother with most additional options on Contents. However, I would NEVER be without accidental damage - if you drop a TV when moving it, or spill paint all over the carpets, they are replaced. Plus, if you have children or pets it's invaluable!! I used to have single item insurance for my piano which was worth more than £1500, but it's gone down in value now, so I haven't bothered this year.

I pay £57 a year Contents with Accidental Damage for a 2-bed flat - this pays out up to £50K replacement. I pay £130 a year towards Buildings - a 27.5% proportion of the cost as I have a share-of-freehold flat in a converted property of 3. That might give you some idea of costs.

What I would say is that I would choose a reputable company to go with. Some unknown companies provide very very cheap quotes, however, it's when you try and make a claim that the more experienced and reputable companies tend to be better at compensating you quickly.

HTH
KiKi

bitsandpieces

Your mortgage provider is almost certainly interested in buildings insurance, to protect their security. Will very likely be up to you whether to get contents insurance - though it's advisable.

You mentioned accidents during DIY - if that's your concern, worth checking the small print (pretty sure I've seen some which exclude accidents if you're doing work on the property).

Degeneratemoo

The survey report we had done for the mortgage just says that the value of the house is the same as we offered for it, it doesn't mention a rebuild cost...

Badger_Lady

This is the best calculator for your contents:
http://www.legalandgeneral.com/home-travel/home-insurance/contents-calculator/contents-calculator.html

And this will roughly calculate your rebuild cost:
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&ved=0CA0QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcalculator.bcis.co.uk%2F&ei=aX5QS7GvB4Gv4QaOrsiKCQ&usg=AFQjCNEuJFTyiuxkb2hDfxcQJm-sARtbkg&sig2=UdM8d7uVNvTC4gXv3UuAJQ
(you have to register for this one though)