Renter No More? Here’s What to Know About Home Insurance

The big move! Upgrading your status on the property ladder from renter to homeowner. Congratulations! From here, you need home insurance to ensure your new space remains safe while you live there.

Whether you have a quaint bungalow, a terraced house, a semi-detached home or a lavish mansion, you’re going to need that extra buffer to cover yourself in times of need. As a renter, you may have had contents insurance in place to protect your belongings.

What Is Home Insurance and Why Do You Need It?

As a whole, home insurance is designed to protect both the structure of your home and the items inside it. While it might not be the most exciting part of buying a property, it’s one of the most important.

From theft to fire and flood, having the right cover means you won’t be left footing the bill if something goes wrong.

Understanding the Two Types of Cover

Buildings Insurance

This covers the physical structure of your home, including walls, your roof, windows, floors, and permanent fixtures such as fitted kitchens and bathrooms. If your home is damaged by a fire, flooding, or a storm, this policy helps cover the cost of repairs or even a complete rebuild if necessary.

As a renter, you won’t have needed buildings insurance before.

Your mortgage provider may require you to have buildings insurance in place before completion.

Contents Insurance

This protects your belongings inside the home, from furniture and clothing to gadgets and appliances. If you’ve had contents insurance as a renter, this part may already be familiar; however, now is a good time to review and update your cover based on your new space and possessions.

Think of it this way: buildings insurance protects the bricks and mortar, while contents insurance protects anything that would fall out if you tipped your home upside down.

Why Being a Renter and Owning Require Different Insurance

As a renter, the building wasn’t your responsibility – that fell to your landlord. So, the building wasn’t yours to insure. But now that you have your very own property, you’re in charge of both its structure and its contents. This means you need both types of cover to stay protected on all fronts.

When buying home insurance, the provider you quote with will likely give you a rough estimate of the monetary amount you’ll need to insure within your home.

Add-On Extras Worth Considering

As a homeowner, you may want more tailored protection. Although you may not have experienced these as a renter, your landlord will likely have had some of these in place. Some standard optional extras include:

Accidental damage cover
For unexpected frustrations like spilling paint on a white carpet or breaking a window. These are the types of accidents you’d see most commonly. This is split between buildings and contents, so it can also cover damaged windows, walls, roofs, etc.

Always ask yourself, is it worth claiming on my insurance before making a claim? If it’s a small amount, then you need to consider whether it’s better to pay yourself, rather than through your insurer.

Home emergency cover
To help with urgent callouts for things like boiler breakdowns or plumbing issues. These can prove costly and often make living in your home difficult without essential appliances like boilers.

Legal expenses cover
In case of legal disputes, which will be specified in your policy documents by your insurer.

The Importance of Getting the Right Cover

Each home is unique, along with your insurance needs. The cheapest policy isn’t always the right option, so it’s vital to ensure your home is adequately covered.

It’s worth comparing options or speaking to a professional adviser to make sure nothing gets missed. Otherwise, you risk being underinsured and uninsurable in the event of a claim.

To read more about underinsurance and how it affects millions of homes in the UK, read our article here.
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