Home insurance

A home is usually the most expensive thing we’ll ever buy. And the things we have in them can be very important to us, too. While home insurance isn’t a legal requirement, it's something the vast majority of homeowners wouldn’t do without. After all, there’s no place quite like home.

What's the difference between contents and buildings insurance?

Home insurance usually covers two aspects of your property – the structure itself (known as buildings insurance) and the things in it (known as contents insurance). 

A good way to remember the difference is to think about this scenario: if you were to tip your house upside down, anything that hits the ceiling would be classed as contents. Furniture, jewellery, electronics, furnishings and everything in between. When it comes to insuring your contents, it’s best to have a good idea of how much everything is worth before you start your quote. To do this, just head to our contents calculator to work out what’s what.

As for everything else – structural walls, floors, roofing, fitted units and so on – these elements would come under buildings cover. 

Is there any benefit to buying a combined buildings and contents policy?

Some things work better together, and having both buildings and contents cover with one insurer can make life so much easier. Having both products with us means that if you need to claim, you only have to deal with one company which can speed up the process, plus there’s only one excess to pay. After all, there's no need to make things more complicated.