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Building Insurance
Buildings insurance covers the fabric of the actual building and if you own property that you rent out you must insure the building. Any mortgaged property will require a buildings insurance policy to protect the building.
With regard to flats, the whole building is insured for buildings insurance rather than separately. The overall buildings insurance cost can be split amongst the flat owners.
Buildings insurance is available stand alone or as part of a package combined with contents insurance. Buildings insurance is offered by all leading insurance companies. Some leading department stores and even supermarkets are offering competitively priced buildings insurance policies.
In today's highly competitive environment with the internet, it pays to shop around for the best deals on buildings insurance. You can easily surf the net to review buildings insurance policies and to compare buildings insurance policies to establish the best deals. You should be careful to check the benefit levels, excesses and any possible exclusions, especially if you live in a flood plain area or if the building has suffered from previous subsidence problems. Make sure you compare buildings insurance policies like for like.
There are many different types of buildings insurance which is dependant on the type of construction and the actual use of the building. Basically the core areas of cover are the same.
Definitions of buildings insurance are generally the same and to define a building this means, for insurance purposes, the actual structure, the foundations, the walls, floors, roof, windows, plumbing, fixed electrical wiring and its decoration and permanent fixtures and fittings.
Buildings insurance could also cover fitted kitchen units, fitted bedroom furniture, toilets and baths. Basically anything that is a fixture to the building is normally classed as within the buildings insurance cover. Anything easily removable would be covered by contents insurance. There are a few grey areas such as fitted carpets as these would generally be treated as contents and are not to be insured under the buildings insurance policy.
Buildings insurance would also cover any outbuildings such as garages, greenhouses, sheds, driveways, patios and walls around the building and within the garden. Some buildings insurance policies may limit the cover for these items and make even make exclusions for gates and out buildings, so it's important you check out the small print before you affect cover.
When you extend your building or add a conservatory or make any structural changes and enhancements to your property, you should notify the buildings insurance policy provider to update them to the property changes in case of a claim being made.
Building insurance value is based upon the cost of rebuilding your home, not on the market value and not to include the land. To calculate the cost of re-building your home is not as easy as you may think. It is the responsibility of the policyholder to make sure the estimated value to re-build your home is as accurate as you can make it and you should seek help and advice from your insurance company to help calculate this.
Buildings insurance premiums will be indexed linked to keep the costs of rebuilding your home in line with inflation. However, if the cost of rebuilding increases out of step with inflation this could mean you are under insured.
If you wish to find out an up to date cost of re-building your home you could appoint a local surveyor to visit your property to calculate a figure for the purposes of the buildings insurance policy.