What is building insurance?
Building insurance can cover your residential building for loss or damage caused by insured events, such as fire, flood, storm and theft. As well as your house, building insurance could help protect a whole range of other permanent structures, from sheds, granny flats and in-ground pools.
What is contents insurance?
Contents insurance can protect your personal belongings such as furniture, appliances, clothes and electronics. It could also cover the cost of repairing or replacing your content items on a new-for-old basis for loss or damage caused by fire, flood, theft and electric motor burnout.
Working together
Building insurance and contents insurance are designed to work together, to provide comprehensive protection for your home and belongings. Building and contents insurance (often known as Home and Contents insurance) could cover both your building and contents from loss or damage caused by fire, flood, theft and burnout of electric motors.
However, if you’re renting, you won’t need building insurance, as you don’t own the home. You may still take out contents insurance to cover your belongings, as they’re unlikely to be covered under your landlord’s insurance policy.
You’ve got options
Many insurance providers offer optional extra coverage for an additional premium. Some common examples are damage caused by an accident, to loss of rent in an investment property. Portable valuables cover is available for items including laptops, jewellery and sporting equipment you take with you when you are away from home. You should check what is offered under your insurance policy as cover differs between insurance providers.
