Buildings cover protects the physical structure of the property including walls, roof, doors, windows as well as any permanent fixtures such as kitchen cabinets, built-in wardrobes. Contents cover protects your personal belongings inside the property e.g. furniture, curtains, clothes, carpets, jewellery, electronics.

When calculating the contents value, you need to think about everything you would take with you if you moved home - furniture and furnishings, household goods, kitchen equipment, televisions, video, computer and audio equipment, clothing, personal effects, and valuables up to stated limits. Don't forget to make sure you consider all of these items when calculating the total value of your contents to ensure you have adequate cover.

Standard cover will provide cover for loss of or damage caused by:

Fire; explosion; lightning; earthquakes; impact by aircraft, road or rail vehicles; theft or attempted theft; oil leaking from a central heating system.

Malicious damage; storm; flood; falling trees; escape of water or oil from any fixed water or fixed heating installation or washing machine; subsidence; heave; and landslide.

Accidental damage to sanitary ware and fixed glass.

Optional Accidental Damage cover is in addition to the standard level of cover outlined. This covers any type of accidental damage that happened as a once off and not a result of lack of upkeep. It includes accidentally damaging walls, ceilings and worktops.

New for Old or standard cover will provide cover for loss of or damage caused by:

Fire; explosion; lightning; earthquakes; impact by aircraft, road or rail vehicles; theft or attempted theft; oil leaking from a central heating system.

Malicious damage; storm; flood; falling trees; escape of water or oil from any fixed water or fixed heating installation or washing machine; subsidence; heave; and landslide.

Mirrors, fixed glass in furniture, glass tops to furniture, and television sets are covered against all of the above risks and against accidental breakage.

Accidental damage to televisions, radios, computers, video recorders and cable/satellite/digital receivers.

Optional Accidental Damage is in addition to the standard level of cover outlined. This covers any type of accidental damage including accidentally spilling paint on the carpet, and dropping an expensive ornament.

Yes planning an extension can impact your home insurance premium as you will be increasing the overall value of the property and depending on the planned size, you may also need to increase your cover limits. Building works may also not be covered as standard so you need to check this with your insurer. 

New for Old replaces damaged, stolen or lost items with brand new equivalents of the same value. It's designed so you get a new item without any deductions in value to cover wear/tear and depreciation.

High-risk can relate to the property as well as the contents. For the property to be high risk, it may not meet the insurers underwriting guidelines - property is in an area of extreme weather, there are concerns over the structure of the property such as old electrical systems, occupancy issues (seasonal homes) and certain traits the proposer has i.e. convictions, claims history etc.

A valuable item considered to be jewellery, items made from silver, gold and other precious metals, pictures and other artwork collections, sculptures and antiques.

Specified items such as jewellery are those with a value higher than the limit stated in the policy wordings. They must be specifically listed in your policy for them to be covered at their proper value. 

Personal possessions/items are belongings that you might wear, use or typically carry on your person. 

Some property types require specialist non-standard insurance as opposed to standard home insurance. This is the case for properties with non-standard construction i.e. not built from traditional brick/shone with a pitched slate/tiled roof.

Listed buildings and those properties in high risk locations need specialist insurance as well as those with issues around subsidence and properties that are left unoccupied.

For the proposer, it may mean that personal circumstances require specialist insurance such as part convictions, high value items exceeding the policy limits etc.

Several steps are need to give you an accurate estimate. Firstly make a list of your contents by going through each room and estimate the cost to replace it today (not what your originally paid for it). Identify which items are high value items e.g. antiques, jewellery as some insurers apply a single item limit so anything above this needs listed out separately. 

Cover away from home is also sometimes called personal possessions cover. It means your insurance will protect particular belongings outside of the home - typically portable, high risk items like laptops, phones. These items need to be listed and fall within policy limits so it's important to check your policy and note territory limits and exclusions.

You can check your policy documents which will include the IPID and Policy Schedule as well as policy booklet to examine your cover.

Home Emergency cover is an optional extra available to our home insurance customers where the property is their main home. It means that you get help in urgent situations where your home may have become unsafe or insecure.

Our home emergency insurance covers you up to £1,000 for certain claims (including VAT, call-out charges, labour, parts and materials).

 Types of home emergencies include plumbing and drainage, internal electricrity, gas supply, water supply, security, access to the home, primary heating system, pests, roofing, alternative heating, overnight accommodation if required as well as boiler replacement contribution.

 Terms and Conditions apply so you need to check the policy wording for further details.

Family Legal cover is an optional extra available to our home insurance customers where the property is their main home. It gives insurance cover up to £50,000 for advisers costs for certain types of legal action such as consumer pursuit, consumer defence, personal injury, employment disputes, property infringement, property damage, property sale and purchase.

Terms and Conditions apply so you need to check the policy wording for further details.

Unoccupied legal cover is an optional extra available to our home insurance customers where the property is unoccupied or a holiday home. It provides cover up to £50,000 for claims under any other section of cover for advisers costs for certain types of legal action such as property infringement, property damage, identity fraud and squatters eviction.

Exclusions, terms and conditions apply so you need to check the policy wording for full details.