Home Insurance Guide

Home sweet home; there are few things more valuable in life than our own personal space or the home we make for our families. Our place to live is often the most valuable commodity in our lives and the contents within are frequently not just expensive, but of great personal value.

At moneysupermarket.com we recognise the need to protect your home, which is why our price comparison tool allows you to compare home insurance quotes (also known as 'house insurance' or 'household insurance') from more than 60 different home insurance companies to get you the best home insurance price available. However, before you use the tool it is vital to know exactly what you are looking for and what you need from your policy. That is why we have compiled an exclusive guide to home insurance to point you in the right direction.

Why is home insurance necessary?

It's easy to think that bad things happen to other people and not ourselves, but the facts suggest that isn't a risk we can afford to take. In the UK, one in three of us will get burgled at some point in our lives yet about a quarter of households are not protected by any form of home insurance. With other unfortunate occurrences such as flood/storm damage, fire and more, threatening our homes and their contents, by not having insurance we are leaving ourselves open to serious financial loss.

Home insurance can now offer something for everyone with insurance for homeowners, tenants and landlords. Increasingly, mortgage lenders will insist that you have buildings insurance to obtain a mortgage.

Insurers will need a lot of information including the construction date and materials for the building, and different insurers might not insure unusual properties such as prefabricated buildings and thatched cottages. Insurers also need to know about the local lie of the land to assess the flood-risk.

In part two we take a look at the different types of home insurance cover available.