HOME INSURANCE
- Buildings, contents and combined home insurance policies.
- Wide range of circumstances covered.
- We’ve insured 100,000s of customers.
- Policies underwritten by AXA Insurance as lead underwriter.
More information
What is home insurance?
Home insurance protects your property and belongings, covering insured events such as fire, flood, storm, escape of water, subsidence, theft, and more – subject to policy terms, conditions, and exclusions. Choose buildings, contents or a combined policy, with cover tailored to your needs.
There are three main types of cover:
- Buildings insurance: the structure of your home, including walls, roof, floors, fitted kitchen and bathroom, plus outbuildings, driveways, patios, and boundary walls.
- Contents insurance: your movable possessions such as furniture, clothing, gadgets, bikes, valuables, and household goods.
- Combined home insurance: one policy that covers both buildings and contents, which may be simpler to manage compared to two separate policies.
Exclusions and limits apply.
If you have a mortgage, your lender will usually require buildings insurance – always check your mortgage terms. If you own your home outright, buildings insurance helps cover the cost of rebuilding after damage from an insured event.
Home insurance isn’t required by law, but it can protect you from significant repair or replacement costs.
If you rent, your landlord typically insures the building, but you should consider contents insurance to protect your belongings. Always check your tenancy terms.
There’s no one set price for home insurance. Your premium depends on your home, your belongings, and your risk profile.
Key factors include:
– Home type, size and postcode risk (e.g. local flood/crime data).
– Construction and age (e.g. listed, flat roof, non-standard materials).
– Rebuild cost (for buildings cover) – not the property’s market value.
– Contents total and any high-value items you specify
– Security and protections (e.g. approved locks, alarm, smart sensors).
– How the home is used (main residence, holiday home, holiday let, unoccupied, business use).
– Previous claims.
– Cover level and optional extras/upgrades (e.g. accidental damage, home emergency, legal expenses).
– Your chosen excess (a higher excess usually lowers the premium).
– Payment method (paying monthly may cost more overall than paying annually).
Find out what you’ll pay by getting an online quote – it takes around 10 minutes on average*.
You can help manage your home insurance price by:
– Making sure that your sums insured are accurate.
– Choosing an excess you can comfortably afford (as higher excesses can reduce premiums).
– Maintaining good security and property upkeep.
– Only adding optional extras you truly need.
– Considering a combined buildings and contents policy (usually simpler and can be more cost-effective depending on your circumstances).
– Paying for your policy annually if the option is available.
To get a home insurance quote, have your basic property details ready (address, property type, year built, number of bedrooms, construction, and any listed status), how the home is used and who lives there (including any unoccupied periods or business use), and your security features (locks, alarm, smoke detectors).
You’ll also need your buildings sum insured (the rebuild cost, including outbuildings and boundaries) and your contents total at today’s prices, plus any high‑value items and whether you need cover away from home, along with details of any home insurance claims in the last five years.
Choose any optional extras (such as accidental damage, personal possessions, higher limits or upgraded home emergency cover), confirm your policy start date and provide contact details. Accurate information helps ensure you’re correctly covered.
Homeprotect makes insuring both standard and non‑standard homes straightforward.
– Expertise with non‑standard situations, including properties in flood‑risk areas, second homes, holiday homes, unoccupied homes, properties under renovation, homes with business use, and more.
– Basic legal Expenses and basic Home Emergency cover included as standard in our policies.
– Specialist underwriting to tailor cover to your circumstances.
You can get a quote online quickly and easily - it takes less than 10 minutes on average.*
Home Insurance Reviews
Get a home insurance quote online
Get a quote online in less than 10 minutes*
What’s covered by BUILDINGS & contents insurance?
Our home insurance covers insured events like:
- Fire and smoke
- Flood and storm
- Theft and attempted theft
- Escape of water or oil
- Malicious damage
- Subsidence, landslip, and heave
- Falling trees or branches
- Vehicle collisions or damage caused by emergency services
This includes the structure of your main home, outbuildings (such as summer houses and sheds), and permanent outdoor features like patios, driveways, paths and boundary walls. Your contents are also protected, including furniture, electronics, clothing and kitchenware — even those stored in garages, sheds or other outbuildings.
What we offer
Emergency help when you need it most
If you have a home emergency — such as a power outage, uncontrollable leak or a broken lock — our 24/7 Home Emergency cover is included as standard.
- We aim to get an engineer to you within four hours
- For serious water leaks, we’ll try to have a plumber with you in two hours
Response times may vary during extreme weather. Policy terms and claim limits apply.
5 star rated cover
Our insurance has received the highest rating from independent financial researchers, Moneyfacts.
Repair guarantee
We guarantee any buildings work we arrange after a claim for two years. Contents repairs are guaranteed for one year.
New for old
Where we replace a damaged or stolen item, we’ll do our best to match the original — on a ‘new for old’ basis. If that’s not possible, we’ll offer a suitable alternative or a full cash settlement.
Legal support when you need it
Family Legal Protection is included as standard. You’ll have access to expert telephone legal advice on personal matters under the laws of the UK and most of Europe.
What isn’t covered?
There are some things we can’t cover, including:
Gradual damage, wear and tear, or issues you knew about but didn’t fix
Faulty design, construction, or workmanship.
Damage caused by poor maintenance or neglect
Items you don’t own or aren’t legally responsible for
Items stolen from unoccupied vehicles
Damage caused by pets.
Mechanical or electrical breakdown
Keeping your home and belongings in good condition is essential. If damage happens because of neglect or poor maintenance, your claim may be declined, and your policy could be cancelled.
buildings & Contents Insurance Cover Levels
Our home insurance is designed to protect your home against insured events such as fire, storm, flood, escape of water, theft, malicious damage, subsidence, landslip or heave.
Buildings cover
Protects the main structure of your home, including attached garages and conservatories, and permanent outdoor features such as patios, driveways and boundary walls.
up to £1 million
(more cover available if you need it)
Contents cover
Protects your household contents — including furniture, clothing, appliances, gadgets and valuables — against events like fire, flood and theft. Cover is provided on a new for old basis.
from £25,000
Alternative accommodation
We’ll help cover the cost of temporary accommodation for you and your pets if your home becomes uninhabitable due to an insured event. If you stay with friends or family instead, we’ll cover your extra living costs.
up to £75,000 (Buildings)
up to £10,000 (Contents)
Home emergency
Covers sudden, unexpected emergencies — like an uncontrollable leak — that require immediate action to prevent damage or make your home secure. Two levels of cover are available, for different types of insured loss.
up to £500
Family legal protection
Covers legal costs for certain insured events. There must be a reasonable chance of success, and the incident must happen during your policy term. Two levels of cover are available, for different types of insured loss.
up to £25,000
Trace and access
We’ll pay to detect the source of a water or oil leak, and cover the cost of reinstating floors, walls or paths that were disturbed in the process.
up to £10,000
Outbuildings cover
Covers detached garages, greenhouses, sheds, summerhouses and other outbuildings within your boundary or any communal area you’re legally responsible for.
from £20,000
Liability cover
Covers your legal liability for accidental death, injury or illness to someone else, or damage to their property.
up to £5 million
Personal possessions
Covers items you wear, carry or use outside the home (e.g. clothing, bags and sports equipment).
Optional
Gadgets, bikes and valuables away from the home
Optional cover for mobile phones, laptops, tablets, watches, jewellery, hearing aids and other high-risk items you take out of your home.
Optional
Accidental damage
Optional cover for unexpected mishaps around the home — such as breakages, spillages or damage caused by you, your guests or wild animals. Two levels of cover are available.
Optional
New Customer?
If you’re deciding on whether to buy home insurance with us, you can use our latest policy booklets as a guide.
Existing Customer?
Find answers to some of your questions here. Your latest policy documents are also available to view and download.
Your Questions Answered
An excess is the portion of a claim that you’re responsible for paying. It’s either deducted from your settlement or collected from you if we arrange a repair or replacement. You can find out what excesses you’ll need to pay by logging in to make a claim and selecting your policy in the “Check my cover” section. Your excesses are also listed in your policy documents.
There are three types of excess:
- Compulsory excess – A fixed amount that applies to most claims, based on the type of damage. If your claim includes both Buildings and Contents, a compulsory excess will apply to each.
- Special excess – A higher excess that applies to specific events like flood, escape of water, subsidence, landslip, or heave. If both Buildings and Contents are affected, only one special excess applies.
- Voluntary excess – An extra amount you choose when buying your policy to lower your premium. If your claim includes both Buildings and Contents, the voluntary excess applies to each.
- Exception: voluntary excesses do not apply to Flood Re claims.
You can find your excess amounts in your Policy Schedule or by logging in and selecting your policy in the “Check my cover” section.
Examples:
Example 1 – Claim for one type of damage
Romesh claims for accidental damage to his buildings.
- Compulsory excess: £249
- Voluntary excess: £150
Total excess: £399
Example 2 – Claim affecting both Buildings and Contents
Sam’s theft claim involves damage to both buildings and contents.
- Buildings excess: £249 compulsory + £150 voluntary
- Contents excess: £149 compulsory + £50 voluntary
Total excess: £598
Example 3 – Escape of water affecting both Buildings and Contents
Frankie’s claim is for escape of water.
Voluntary excesses: £100 for Buildings + £100 for Contents
Total excess: £700
Special excess: £500 (applies once)
Carpets are classed as fittings and covered under both buildings and contents insurance. For accidental damage to carpets, you’ll need Full Accidental Damage cover – though note there is a £750 claim limit on accidental damage to carpets.
Your home must be secured with appropriate locks, such as:
- BS3621/TS621 locks on external doors
- Multi-point locking on double-glazed doors
- Top and bottom bolts on French doors
Yes, outbuildings (including sheds) are included in your buildings cover. Just make sure your outbuildings sums insured is enough to cover the rebuild cost.
Yes. You can:
- Increase your voluntary excess
- Review optional extras
- Only cover what you need
Yes. Areas with a higher risk of claims (e.g. flooding or burglary) may have higher premiums.
Yes, if you’ve listed the items (called ‘specifying’) for cover away from the home.
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Our insurance experts are on hand if you have any questions.