Home insurance is often also referred to as Buildings and Contents insurance as these are the two areas of cover it generally provides.
Buildings insurance protects the house itself and will cover any rebuild costs if it is damaged by an event such as a fire or a falling tree. Fixtures and fittings, such as a fitted kitchen and bathroom are usually included as part of Buildings insurance. The amount of cover needed, or “sum insured”, should be based on the cost of rebuilding the property, rather than the market value. A house may be worth £500,000 but the cost of rebuilding it may be half that.
Contents insurance refers to the contents of the house. This includes all the furniture and personal belongings, such as clothes and jewellery. It also includes contents like fitted carpets and curtains. We have a home contents calculator on our website which is a useful tool for working out the value of the contents in your home.
Most Home insurance policies cover both the Buildings and Contents, although it is possible to buy these separately too.