Q1: Is Home Insurance Compulsory?

Home insurance includes buildings and contents insurance and as a complete product is not deemed compulsory insurance. However, if you are planning to buy your home with a mortgage, your lender will require that you take out buildings’ insurance.

Q2: What Does Home Insurance Cover?

Your home insurance policy can be tailored to your individual needs and requirements and cover and restrictions will vary depending on which options you choose. A standard home insurance policy typically contains two main components: building insurance and contents insurance.

• Buildings insurance provides cover for the structure of the home, domestic outbuildings and permanent fixtures.
• Contents insurance provides cover for household goods and personal belongings. Important: Cover and restrictions will vary depending on which option you have chosen.

Some Optional covers available from certain insurers at an additional cost:

• Accidental Damage
• All Risks / Personal Possessions

Q3: How much should I Insure my House for?

You should insure your buildings for the estimated cost to fully rebuild your property, including materials, labour, fixtures, debris removal and professional fees, rather than the market value of the property. A rebuilding calculator tool to assist with estimating the amount you will need to insure your home can be found on the Society of Chartered Surveyors website -  Chartered Surveyors Rebuild Calculator

Q4: How much Contents Cover do I Need?

Contents insurance is designed to protect your belongings, and as a general rule, your contents are any items you could take away with you if you decided to move house. You should insure your contents for the full replacement cost of your belongings, typically calculated room by room, using a contents sum insured that reflects today’s prices.

Q5: What is Accidental Damage Cover?

Accidental damage cover is an optional extra. Standard home policies cover loss or damage resulting from specified perils such as Fire, Flood, Theft & Burst Pipes but do not protect you against accidental loss or damage. For example

if you knocked over a TV,  spilled paint or wine on a carpet or if you put your foot through the ceiling, these occurrences would only be covered if the policy includes full accidental damage cover. Exclusions that usually apply would be faulty design or material, climate conditions and gradually operating perils such as wear and tear.

Q6: What is an Excess?

An excess is a fixed amount that you have to pay if you decide to make a claim on your policy. The excesses applicable will fluctuate from insurer to insurer and different excesses would apply for certain types of claims so you would need to refer to your policy schedule and policy booklet to see what excesses apply to your policy. Some insurers provide an option of paying a higher Policy Excess which could lower your home insurance premium.

Q7: I am Working from Home, am I Covered?

Insurers would generally provide  cover for home office equipment as standard under the contents cover up to a certain limit which would include items such as personal computers, laptops and printers. If part of your home is operating as a business and / or if customers may visit you would need to consult with your insurer as a separate policy may need to be organised.

Q8: Is my Garden Equipment and shed Covered?

Cover is provided for domestic outbuildings and the contents are covered if securely locked into the outbuildings. Certain types of items may only be covered up to a certain limit or excluded from the policy so it is important to disclose any high value items with your Insurer to see if they are adequately covered.

Q9: What are all Risks Cover?

All Risks cover is an optional extension of cover under your policy which protects you against loss or theft of, or accidental damage to, personal valuables such as jewellery, clothing, photographic equipment etc. both inside and outside your home. It also covers you for items you take abroad for up certain number of days. You would need to refer to policy booklet for full details of cover that applies.
There are two types of All Risks cover:

1. Specified All Risks Cover: which allows you to list individual items on your policy and specify their value. Specified items normally include jewellery, hearing aids, bicycles, cameras and other valuables. Each item is covered up to the amount you insure it for.
2. Unspecified All Risks Cover: is an umbrella style cover which allows you to select a total amount that your personal effects will be covered for each year. There is no need to list each item individually. This cover is designed for items such as glasses, mobile phones, handbags etc.
3. Certain limits apply to Unspecified All Risks cover and vary by insurer but are clearly outlined on the policy booklet

Q10: My House is not Standard Construction. Can I still get cover?

Arachas specialise in non-standard construction property insurance. It is important that the insurer knows all of the details. You can rely on our advice. Call us on 01 592 0898 and talk to one of our home experts where they will ask you some questions around the cover you require and search for the best cover for you.

To review our policy documents. please visit our Policy Documents page.