Home Buying Life Insurance / Assurance??

GDOliver_2

Hi there,

Not sure if I'm posting this in the right place but hope someone can help!

I am in the process of buying my first property and wondered what sort of insurance I need as I'm finding it a bit confusing! For information the property is a flat and part of my maintanence fees will cover the buildings insurance.

I'm, fairly comfortable with the other aspects of home buying but would like to know what insurance I actually need as opposed to what people will try and flog me!

Tassotti

You will also need contents insurance.

Life insurance only really necessary if you have partner/spouse/dependants.

ie if you die, have enough life insurance to pay off the mortgage.

JennyB

Hi GDOliver

I'm no expert on insurance but my first place was also a flat so I'll tell you what I know. The management company will arrange buildings insurance so the main thing to get would be contents insurance - as the name suggests it is insurance for the contents of your home (against theft, fire etc.). The level of cover varies both in the sum covered and what kind of losses are covered. It's very important not to under-estimate the value of your home contents and to under-insure as if it was discovered on making a claim the insurance company may not pay out to the full amount. In terms of the kind of losses covered the more expensive policies will have things like personal belongings cover (things taken outside the home like laptops/mp3 players) and accidental damage cover (for when you get drunk and knock over your ming vase).

This is where my knowledge runs out really. We have life insurance so if one of us snuffs it the other is quids in (hmm... that gives me an idea;) ). The ins and outs of it are a bit of a mystery to me - I think they pay out if you have a terminal illness and it's sometimes a good idea to write the proceeds into trust to avoid inheritance tax. Then there's critical illness cover which will pay the mortgage if you can't due to illness - I understand this even less and ours doesn't kick in for months and months because of cover provided through work - you might want to check on that too.

Ok, I'm scraping the barrel here - I'm not really sure what I'm talking about anymore. :rotfl: Check out Martin's articles on these things and also you might want to try the insurance board for more informed advice.