Your home is probably the most expensive investment you’ll ever make and it is important to protect it against all manner of unforeseen events.
Home buildings insurance is not optional if you have a mortgage, as the lender will have made it a condition of the loan. This is security for them against the loan itself in case the property suffers some catastrophe such as subsidence, flood or fire. However, it also protects you, because if you had no buildings insurance in place and your house was destroyed you’d be left severely out of pocket or even bankrupt. Nobody likes paying premiums every month just in case something happens, but in this case it is extremely sensible. Buildings insurance may also cover the garden, treating it as a separate room and fixed items such as fitted kitchens and bathrooms, but you’d need to check with your insurer.
Home contents insurance, the other element of home insurance, is optional, but strongly recommended. If you are a leaseholder, your landlord or freeholder may already have this in place, but in most cases you’ll have to take it out yourself.
House contents insurance policies generally take the form of new-for-old arrangements, whereby if an item is lost or damaged it will be replaced by a brand new item of the same kind. Some people opt for the cheapest form of home contents insurance, indemnity, which sees lost or damaged possessions replaced with similar ones of the same age, which is not as good, although still better than nothing at all.