8 Situations Where You Should Contact Your Insurer (Even If You’re Not Making a Claim)

As a homeowner, making a claim isn’t the only reason to contact your insurer. From changing your policy to making improvements to your home, there are several situations where you should get in touch.

Here are eight reasons to contact your insurer, even when you’re not making a claim.

1) Making Home Improvements

Home alterations and extensions are common, but it’s important to contact your insurer before work begins.

Changes to your home can affect its value, rebuild cost and even add elements of risk. For example, building work could increase the risk of theft or leave your home unoccupied for a period of time. These changes could affect your cover.

Contact your insurer before starting any work to make sure your policy remains valid and you’re protected if something goes wrong.

2) Making DIY Plans

Of course, you might be hoping to make changes that aren’t as extensive as full-on building projects. It’s always best to contact your insurer before you start any DIY around the home. Even seemingly simple projects can affect your cover.

To read more about this topic, please see our blog post on DIY declarations here.

3) Making Amendments to Your Policy

Life changes, and your insurance should change with it. If your circumstances have changed since you took out your policy, you may need to update your cover to make sure you’re still protected.

For example, if you’ve bought a high-value bike or an expensive engagement ring, you may want to add it to your policy.

4) If Your Home Will Be Empty for an Extended Period of Time

In your policy schedule, you’ll see information around the unoccupancy of your property and the maximum length of time it can be left without someone living in it. For example, with Source Home, your property can be left vacant for up to 60 days.

If you leave, or are going to leave the property unoccupied for more than 60 days, you should let Source know, and we will refer you to your insurer.

5) You’re Running a Business from Home

If you’re starting a home business outside of clerical work, or something similar in nature, then you need to contact your insurance company. The more people, so in this instance, clients, that enter your home, the higher the likelihood of theft.

It’s also worth noting that if your new venture requires specialist equipment, it can be costly and present risks of its own. For this reason, it’s always worth checking whether you would remain covered with your insurer.

6) Someone Needs to be Added to Your Policy

A change in the number of residents at your property also changes the details of your policy. For example, if you’re in a relationship and your partner moves in, they’ll likely have their own possessions that need to be covered, along with their own contributions to the household or to how the property is used, such as running a business from home.

Additionally, if you’re looking to take on a tenant or a paying guest, this may not be covered under a standard home insurance policy, which means your current cover might not meet your needs. Ensuring you have the right level of cover, and an accurate policy, is essential to your long-term financial safety.

7) Questions Around Limitations and Policy Details

If you have any questions about limitations or details in your policy that may be causing confusion or seem unclear, we can help. Get in contact with our team and we can support you with understanding your policy.

8) You’ve Moved Homes

This one may seem self-explanatory, but it’s not unheard of for some homeowners to assume their policy follows them when they move house. This is not the case. If you’re looking for a new place to call home, you’ll need to get a new policy set up for your moving date.

To Summarise…

As you can see, there are plenty of reasons that homeowners need to contact their insurers, and not just for home insurance claims. Ultimately both Source and your insurer are on hand to support you with managing and understanding your home insurance.

To see more useful guides like this one, visit the rest of our blog.

Feeling social? Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for the latest news!