What does home insurance cover?
In most cases, your home is the most expensive purchase you will ever make. So, ensuring that everything (including the kitchen sink) is covered is important
But of course, with all insurance there are some things that also won’t be covered by your standard home insurance but may be covered by something else.
There are a few different layers to home insurance, as you start to go deeper into it you find home insurance has its own add-ons, as well as whole other products all together.
What does home insurance usually cover?
Your home insurance is there to help protect your house if any major damage is caused from a big event, but it's also made up of two types of cover. For the solid structure of your home, there’s our buildings insurance. For all the furniture, appliances, clothes and valuables you fill it with, there’s contents insurance.
Fires
If your home is involved in a fire you can claim on your home insurance for any damage caused, including smoke damage.
Floods and storms
If there is a storm or flood that has come from sudden overflow of external water sources, like rivers, lakes or the sea, you can claim on your home insurance.
What does contents insurance cover?
When it comes to your belongings we'll cover you for items* like:
- jewellery, watches, coin collections
- theft from garages
- food in your freezer
- contents from your garden
- home office equipment
*Up to a certain value. Check your policy for any exclusions.
Add-ons
There are a few more things you may want to include on your policy – these may be available as add-ons with an additional cost:
Home emergency cover
Home emergency cover is for the unexpected ‘Oh no’ moments. It covers things like:
- Loss of essential services
- Roof damage following a storm
- Plumbing emergencies
- Electrical emergency and breakdown
- Lost keys or damage to locks, doors and windows
- Pest infestation of rats, mice, wasps or hornets
Legal cover
Legal services cover provides expert legal help when you need it most.
If you add this on to your Aviva home insurance policy, we will provide you with a lawyer, if you need one, and legal funding of up to £100,000 to pursue or defend cases in court, including:
- Property claims such as against noisy neighbours or for boundary disputes
- Employment disputes such as unfair dismissal or discrimination at work
- Personal injury including food poisoning and accidental injury which is someone else's fault
- Consumer disputes such as the purchase of a faulty car or breach of contract by a holiday company
- Medical negligence by someone responsible for your clinical care such as doctors, dentists or even cosmetic treatment practitioner
Bicycle cover
For the cyclists, bicycle cover can cover the repair or replacement of pedal bikes, as long as you make sure your sum insured is appropriate. With Aviva Home Insurance, we offer extra cover for bikes used by you and your family anywhere in the world. Just select your own level of cover between £300 and £5,000.
Accidental damage
For buildings insurance "Limited Accidental Damage" covers accidental damage to any fixed glass, sanitary fittings or service pipes and cables. For example, accidentally breaking your hand basin. For example, accidentally breaking your hand basin.
For contents insurance it covers accidental damage to non-portable home entertainment equipment, mirrors and glass in furniture. For example, if you accidentally drop your TV while moving it to decorate.
There is also ‘Extra’ accidental damage cover which extends the cover already provided by accidental damage. If under your home insurance it, for example, would cover if you put your foot through the ceiling while in the loft.
Under contents insurance it would cover, for example, spilling red wine on your carpet.
Personal belongings
Your personal belongings such as mobile phone, laptops, jewellery for example, are not usually covered directly under your home insurance. Instead, they come under ‘Personal belongings cover’ which is an add-on to our home insurance. You will also be covered if any damage happens away from your home.
What's not usually covered
Always check your policy documents for exclusions. The below are usually not covered:
- General wear and tear
- Frost damage
- Storm damage to gates and fences
- Deliberate damage caused by a member of your household
- Damage cause by birds, insects or other pests
- Damage cause by pets
- If your property left unoccupied for more than 60 days
Do I need home insurance?
Home insurance isn't always something that you need, but some mortgage providers may require that you take out buildings insurance.
Ready to get cover?
With Aviva Home Insurance you can choose Buildings, Contents or both.
Visit home insurance.
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