Buildings & Contents Insurance

With any property or asset that you own it’s always recommended that you make sure you have insurance in place to protect against any eventuality. Additional benefits are available to add on to each policy should you wish; our advisor will be able to outline these benefits and answer any questions you have.

There are essentially three main types of insurance available:

Buildings Insurance:

Buildings insurance covers damage to the structure of your property including, but not limited to:

  • Roof
  • Walls
  • Ceilings
  • Floors
  • Windows
  • Door

It will also include outdoor structures, garages and fences. In some instances it will also cover fixtures and fittings e.g. kitchen units, bathrooms suits. Building insurance essentially protects the ‘bricks and mortar’ of your residential, buy to let or commercial property, unless it is a purpose built flat or leasehold property where the freeholder is responsible for the cover.

It is often a requirement for the home owner to have buildings insurance in place from the point of exchange.

It is strongly recommended to safeguard your property from any type of structural damage even if no mortgage funding is in place, this will save you time and money should anything ever happen. It’s important to understand the relevance of insurance and to consider the detrimental effects should you choose to not have any cover in place.

Buildings insurance will cover you from loss or damage against, including but not limited to: fire, smoke, explosion, lightening, malicious acts of vandalism, flooding, subsidence, landslip, theft or attempted theft, escape of water and leakage of oil.

If you are a landlord and have investment properties that you rent out, it is important to have buildings insurance in place to safeguard your investment, unless the property is a leasehold flat/house where the freeholder will be responsible for the insurance.

Commercial buildings insurance is underwritten in a slightly different way to residential insurance by specialised provider. Additional risks are accounted for when considering the businesses trade e.g. a fish and chip shop or a hairdressers where the properties are at risk of fire or flooding. The fundamentals of the insurance are similar however in that they are designed to safeguard your commercial property.

Buildings insurance providers offer varying levels of cover, our advisor will assess your circumstances and recommend the most suitable levels of cover.

Contents Insurance:

Contents insurance protects your household goods and personal belongings that could otherwise get lost or damaged. We recommend contents insurance to homeowners to make sure you are covered in the event of a break in, flood or fire. Additional protection can be offered by to increase your cover for high value personal possessions. It can be offered as a standalone product should you already have buildings insurance in place.

Contents insurance can cover items such as:

  • Carpets
  • Furniture
  • Electricals - TV, Computers etc.
  • Jewellery
  • White goods
  • Personal possessions

All of the above would be covered in the event of non-malicious fire, flood or burglary claim.

Contents insurance is also available as a standalone product for tenants wishing to protect their personal items and furnishings within rented accommodation. It is also available to property owners who occupy a leasehold property who may pay their buildings insurance through a service charge

Landlords are able to put in place an element of ‘contents insurance’ for items within the property that are not classed as ‘fixtures and fittings’ e.g. fridge, freezer or washing machine. Unless the property is fully furnished, landlords would not normally put in place this type of insurance, it is up to the tenant to ensure their personal items are protected.

Commercial contents insurance is underwritten in a slightly different way to residential insurance by specialised provider. Additional risk is accounted for when considering the businesses trade e.g. a fish and chip shop or a hairdressers where the properties are at risk of fire or flooding. The fundamentals of the insurance are similar however in that they are designed safeguard your commercial property.

Our provider has exclusions that they will not look to cover, some of which may include:

  • Wear and tear to items
  • Empty properties
  • High risk areas
  • Areas to prone to flooding
  • Money stolen from your home unless it was enter by force or violence

These are only some examples of potential exclusions that may apply with our providers. Our advisor will be able to answer any questions you may have to ensure you are getting the right level of protection and offer you a detailed quote outlining all costs and any additional benefits available.