Insuring your first home
What do you need – and what can you cover? Moving into your first home is exciting! After all that hard work, you’ve finally got somewhere to call your own. It’s easy to think of nothing else but moving in, but what about protecting your home and your belongings? This is really important – and simple to take care of. Let’s take a look at what insurance you should consider for your first home.
Cover for your building
Once you own a home, you’re responsible for the building itself. If structural damage occurs, that’s something you have to take care of. This is where buildings insurance is a great option. Buildings insurance covers damage to the building, such as damage caused by extreme weather or the effects structural damage. If you want to know what the policy covers, imagine you turn your house upside down. Anything that stays in place, like the walls and roof, is covered by buildings insurance.
Cover for your belongings
You’ll also likely want to cover your belongings within your home from fire, theft, and other types of damage, which is what contents insurance is for. When picturing what your household contents are, use the opposite logic for working out what buildings insurance covers. If you turned your home upside down, anything that wouldn’t stay in place would typically be covered by contents insurance. This is always a great option for both renters and homeowners – but particularly homeowners, as you’re likely to own everything in your home. It’s not uncommon for tenants to rent kitchens, for example, which wouldn’t be covered by contents insurance.
Extending your coverage
If you’re after extra protection for a wide range of eventualities, you can purchase additional policies, or even better, extend your contents policy. Getsafe allows you to do this, and offers a range of extensions that are perfect for homeowners. These include:
Home Emergency: Support for repair costs and temporary accommodation, should your home become uninhabitable.
Accidental Damage: Cover for any damage that you cause yourself by accident.
Personal Possessions: Insurance for belongings that you take outside of your home with you, such as laptops.
Legal Protection: Additional cover for legal fees, if you’re ever involved in a dispute with neighbours or the council, for example.
Keep your insurer in the loop if you’re already insured
If you change address, it’s important to tell your insurer. If you don’t, you may find you’re no longer insured. While you’re at it, you can check any active policies you have to see if you still need them. You might discover that you have policies that you no longer need. If you rented previously and had contents insurance, you may have opted for a tenant liability module, for example. This is no longer required if you are now a homeowner.
Those are our suggestions for insuring your new home. Ultimately, the decision comes down to you and your circumstances. We hope these tips help you make up your mind. Find out more about Getsafe Contents and Buildings insurance on our website.
Getsafe is a trading name of Getsafe UK Limited which is an appointed representative of Davies MGA Services Limited, a company authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under firm reference number 597301 to carry on insurance distribution activities. Getsafe UK Limited is registered in England and Wales company number 12334612. Registered office at 24 Old Queen Street, London, SW1H 9HP.
Actual insurance premiums are individually tailored and could be higher or lower once we’ve taken into account factors such as your address, no claims history, commission applied, and additional extra insurance modules (legal protection, home emergency, personal possessions, accidental damage or tenants liability).
