Home insurance will protect you from insured events that damage your homes or belongings. If your home was, for example, damaged in a fire, then the right insurance could mean the provider will pay to replace your belongings and repair or rebuild your home.  

Home insurance is made up of both buildings insurance and household contents insurance which may be bought together or separately.  

Having building or contents insurance are not legal requirements, but these offer important protection if anything unexpected were to happen. If you own a home and have a mortgage, your mortgage provider may insist that you have buildings insurance in place for the length of your mortgage.

What type of home insurance do you need?

• if you own a home, you may wish to take out both household and contents insurance. This is because you will be responsible for anything that happens to your home
• if you’re renting a property, buildings insurance will usually be the landlords responsibility. You may, however, want to purchase contents insurance to protect your personal belongings
• if you’re a landlord, you are responsible for buildings insurance. If the rental property is also furnished, a landlord may decide to protect the contents through a landlord policy
• if you own a holiday home, you may decide to take out both household and contents insurance. This may be more expensive than regular insurance as the home is not always occupied

How to reduce the cost of your home insurance:

• shop around every time your home insurance needs to be renewed. You may be able to find a new provider that can offer you a cheaper policy
• consider a combined policy as if you buy household and contents insurance together, you may be offered a reduced deal
• increase your security by using high quality locks on your doors and windows or installing a security system as this could help your home insurance to be cheaper
• avoid instalments as you may be charged interest if you pay in monthly instalments – if you can afford it, pay the premium upfront and in one go.