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High Value Home Insurance
High value home insurance is a relatively new addition to the home insurance portfolio. As the name suggests, it is designed to cater for those requiring additional coverage for high value properties (often larger properties) and the associated larger home content insurance requirements.
Both the mainstream and specialist insurance markets cater for those needing high value home insurance. Typically, properties that fall into the category requiring high value insurance have a rebuild value over £350,000 and contents worth over £150,000.
High value home insurance broadly follows the same coverage characteristics as conventional mainstream home insurance products. However, as a specialist branch of home insurance, high value insurance products offer important additional features that reflect the typical needs of those owning high value homes. Common additional features include home contents cover for specialist items such as antiques, fine art and high value jewellery. Other additional levels of cover include world-wide possessions cover, guest effects cover (when staying in the policyholder's house) and second home insurance.
Furthermore, most high value home insurance policies offer an 'agreed value' clause for valuable home possessions. This provision ensures that the insurance company will pay out the specific value agreed at the start of the policy for a lost or stolen item and not a independently determined market value at the time of the claim. This unique provision of home contents insurance cover allows the policyholder to safeguard the value of an investment.
Underpinning the specialist extra cover is the standard home insurance coverage, which includes buildings and contents protection. Buildings insurance covers the policyholder against damage to the structure of their home, while contents insurance covers the policyholder for loss or damage to contents kept within the home.
The buildings cover aspect of home insurance typically provides protection against flooding, lightening strikes, storm damage, theft, explosion, escape of water or oil, vandalism and subsidence. Policies can also pay towards essential maintenance and upkeep of permanent structures and fixtures.
In addition, buildings insurance can cover the cost of living in temporary accommodation while your house is being repaired due to one of the above issues and, if selected, this cover can pay for repairs to utility pipes on your property. Ultimately, buildings insurance can pay to finance the rebuilding of your entire home if necessary. [Search for comprehensive buildings insurance cover].
While the buildings cover portion of home insurance covers the structural integrity of your home, the contents insurance part covers your belongings. In a similar vein to buildings insurance, contents insurance provides cover against fire, smoke damage, lightning, theft, flood and escape of water or oil. However, it will also cover loss by theft and, if selected, some policies will cover accidental damage. Select policies also provide cover for cash stolen from the home. Look for home contents insurance.
There are also a number of extras that can be added to high value home contents insurance to make policies even more extensive. These include cover for financial costs associated with neighbourly property disputes (disagreements over boundary fence placement, etc.), extra accidental damage cover that incorporates home DIY mistakes and some policies offer the optional addition of covering cash and credit cards when carried outside of the home.
High value home insurance can also provide financial assistance for restoring home security after a break-in. This can include window and lock replacements.