Home Insurance

Protect your home and your garden

With the summer approaching and the sun finally coming out (hopefully!) many households start to turn their attention to the garden again in an effort to get it looking spic and span for the better weather.

Spring cleaning season can also afford you the chance to check that some of your household basics are in order, including whether or not your home insurance is still cut out to do its job properly.

In fact the garden is often a potential weak spot in your cover as some of the stuff which is on your property but which is not in your house may not be fully covered by your current deal. After all, this time of year is also when many people decide to head to the garden centre and get a few extra bits and pieces, some of which may be expensive garden equipment, garden ornaments or other items which need to be properly covered against theft and other eventualities.

Home cover comes in two types, buildings insurance and contents insurance. The buildings side covers the actual structure of your home down to the bricks and mortar, while the contents protects the general belongings including the likes of personal valuables like clothing, jewellery, CDs, DVDs, books, electrical items and furniture.

Of course, if you don't own the house you live in but rent it, you normally don't need buildings insurance, only contents. On the flip side, if you own a building but don't keep anything in it and rent it out, you will typically only need buildings cover but not contents.

If you own and live in a house, you need a general home cover policy with both elements.

What is covered?

A buildings insurance policy of course covers the actual structure itself but not every deal will cover the likes of a greenhouse or garden shed, so if you have just bought or built one of these it might be worth checking on your deal.

Then with a contents policy is not necessary safe to assume that whatever you keep in a garden shed is protected. Alternatively, you may have cover through your current policy but only up to a certain limit, so adding a brand spanking new lawn mower or a couple of expensive bikes to your outbuilding may need further cover.

There are some home insurance policies that will cover contents that are in the open, such as garden furniture or ornaments, but you do need to check this within the policy documents.

You may also want to check on a buildings policy to see if external walls and fences in your garden are covered, and if any gates or driveways would also result in a payout if they were damaged by vandalism or something else like a flood, for example.

Home insurance cover at the right level can be important and regular reviews of your cover will help ensure you have the right protection. Adding to your home in terms of improvement works or buying more expensive items could push you over the sum insured limit on your policy - essentially the maximum amount a company will pay out and normally enough to replace all the items in your home or rebuild it from the ground up in the event of a true disaster like a fire.

After all there's nothing worse than finding out the hard way that the policy you arranged five years ago doesn't cover a quarter of what is kept in your home.