Building & Contents
DMC Financial Services
Wondering whether you need buildings and contents insurance? We explain what the two types of policies cover and why you might need them.
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Types of home insurance explained
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Your home is important to you. It’s a haven, the centre of the family and the place we want to get back to at the end of the day. It’s also chock-a-block with all that’s special to you; all the memories you’ve collected over the years and saved hard to buy. So surely that's worth protecting with buildings and contents insurance? Or home insurance as it’s more commonly known.
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The thing is you may wonder why you need it – and may even begrudge paying for it. Until that is, something goes wrong and you thank your lucky stars you had the foresight to cover yourself.
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Here we make sense of the two quite different types of insurance that together make up home insurance, to help you understand the cover you need.
Buildings Insurance
This covers the cost of repairing the actual structure of your home. That includes your walls, windows and roof, as well as all the permanent fittings in your home like baths, toilets and fitted kitchens.
Contents Insurance
This covers all the personal possessions in your home in case they're damaged or stolen. That includes your furniture, TVs, personal belongings and even some types of flooring, including carpets.
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Although you can insure your building and contents separately, homeowners often choose to buy their buildings and contents insurance together. It keeps everything simple and can also help to keep the cost down.
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Most mortgage providers will insist that you have buildings insurance in place before they'll give you a mortgage. That way, if the worst should happen, they'd be able to recover their losses.
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If, on the other hand, you rent your home, then buildings insurance will be the responsibility of your landlord.
