Building Insurance
- Specify the rebuild cost you need.
- Cover for homeowners and landlords.
- Underwritten by AXA Insurance.
- Average quote time is only 10 minutes.
More information
What is buildings insurance?
Buildings insurance protects the structure of your home and permanent fixtures against a wide range of risks, including fire, storm, flood, escape of water, subsidence, and theft. It covers the cost to repair or rebuild your property if it is damaged or destroyed due to an insured event.
This includes not only the main home but also:
- Interior decorations, fixtures and fittings
- Domestic outbuildings such as detached garages and sheds
- Drives, patios, gates, fences, and boundary walls
- Swimming pools and tennis courts within the property boundary
You can purchase buildings insurance on its own or combine it with contents cover depending on your needs.
Buildings-only insurance is suitable for homeowners who do not need contents cover or for landlords letting out unfurnished or lightly furnished properties.
If you own a freehold house, you’re responsible for the structure and will usually need buildings insurance. If you’re a leaseholder, your lease will clarify whether the freeholder is responsible for the building or whether you need to arrange cover yourself.
If you’re renting a property, your landlord is responsible for the building. Tenants only need Contents insurance to protect personal belongings.
Your home is more than bricks and mortar — it’s your foundation. If it’s damaged or destroyed, our buildings insurance helps cover the cost to repair or rebuild it.
We cover a wide range of unexpected events, including:
– Fire and smoke
– Flood and storm
– Escape of water or oil
– Theft and attempted theft
– Malicious damage
– Subsidence, landslip and heave
– Falling trees or branches
– Vehicle collisions or damage caused by emergency services
This includes your main home, outbuildings such as summer houses and sheds, and permanent outdoor structures such as patios, driveways, paths and boundary walls.
Cover up to £1 million
Normally a Homeprotect buildings insurance policy provides up to £1 million to rebuild your buildings, although more is available if your property needs it. We recommend that you check how much your property would cost to rebuild before getting a quote, avoiding the complications and disappointment of under-insurance in the event of a claim.
- Listed buildings insurance.
- Home insurance for large homes.
- Non-standard construction home insurance.
- Flat roof home insurance.
- Timber frame house insurance.
- Heritage home insurance.
- Unoccupied home insurance.
- Solar panels insurance.
- Drainage insurance.
You can usually find this in a homebuyer’s survey. If not, contact your local authority or check planning permission records. Historic maps, census data, or help from a local historian may also be useful for heritage homes.
Note: A rough estimate of the property construction date is enough for the purposes of getting your home insurance quote.
If you have a heritage property:
– Review local architectural styles and features
– Check with county or parish archives
– View old Ordnance Survey maps
– Contact a local historian or historical society
– Check census data from 1841 to 1911 to see when the address first appeared
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What’s covered by buildings insurance?
Having buildings insurance means you won’t be out of pocket if you need to repair or rebuild your home if it’s been damaged or destroyed.
What we offer
Quick fix for uncontrollable leaks
Have a home emergency, such as electricity failure, faulty locks or vermin infestation? With the 24/7 Home Emergency cover, which we provide as standard, you can typically get an engineer at your home within four hours. And if you’re worried about an uncontrollable leak in your home, we aim to have an emergency plumber to you within two hours.
Extreme weather conditions may extend response time. Policy terms and claim limits apply.
5 star rated buildings cover
Our building insurance has been given the highest rating by independent financial research companies, Defaqto and Moneyfacts.
Repair guarantee
Any buildings work we undertake is guaranteed for 24 months following a claim.
Legal advice
We provide Legal Protection cover as standard, giving you access to telephone legal advice on any personal legal issue, under the laws of the UK, any European Union country, the Isle of Man, Channel Islands, Switzerland and Norway.
What isn’t included?
Damage caused gradually, or by wear and tear, or by failure to fix a known issue.
Faulty design or poor workmanship.
Damage or liability arising out of the activities of contractors.
Recommended by our customers
72% Saved money when they switched to Homeprotect*
*Survey data of 1,089 buying customers from 30th October – 12th November 2024
BUILDINGS Insurance Cover Levels
Our buildings 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
Covers the main structure of your home, including attached garages and conservatories, if you need to rebuild or repair it following an insured loss. Also covers permanent outdoor structures such as driveways, patios and boundary walls.
£1 million
(more cover available if you need it)
Alternative accommodation
Covers the cost of alternative accommodation for you and your pets, together with reasonable expenses (e.g. travel, food, laundry) if you can’t live in your home (or where you’ve been advised to evacuate) due to an insured loss.
up to £75,000
Home emergency
Covers sudden, unexpected emergencies, such as uncontrollable water leaks, that require immediate corrective action to prevent or limit damage to your home, 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 following an insured loss. There must be reasonable prospects of winning and the incident must have occurred during the policy term. Two levels of cover are available, for different types of insured loss.
up to £25,000
Trace and access
Covers the cost of detecting the source of a water or oil leak to your home or outbuildings. Includes reinstating any wall, floor, ceiling, drive, fence or path removed or damaged during the search (up to the claim limit).
up to £10,000
Outbuildings cover
Covers rebuild or repair of your outbuildings (e.g. detached garages, greenhouses, sheds and summerhouses) that are within the boundary or a communal area you’re legally responsible for, if you need to rebuild or repair them following an insured loss.
from £20,000
Liability cover
Covers damages and claimants’ costs and expenses for your legal liability in the event of accidental death, injury or illness to a third party, or damage to property belonging to a third party.
up to £5 million
Accidental damage
Covers sudden, unexpected and unforeseen events around the house (e.g. spillages or breakages) that result in physical damage and which was caused by you, your guests, a third party or wild animals. Two levels of cover are available.
Optional
POLICY DOCUMENTS
If you’re deciding on whether to buy home insurance with us, you can use our latest policy booklets as a guide.
Existing Customer?
Your latest policy documents are available to view and download.
Your Questions Answered
Buildings insurance covers the structure of the home together with its fixtures and fittings: it covers the cost of repair or rebuilding after fire or weather damage for instance. Contents insurance covers the contents of your home, the possessions you would take with you if you moved house.
Yes. All domestic garages, outbuildings, sheds, extensions and conservatories fall under the definition of Buildings and are covered by your Buildings insurance. Please check that the level of cover included in the policy is enough to rebuild all your outbuildings.
If you own the freehold, yes. If you live in a leasehold flat, the freeholder usually arranges buildings cover, but check your lease to be certain.
When you purchased the property a homebuyer’s survey is likely to have included the date of construction.
Alternatively, your local authority may have a record of when planning permission was granted to build the property. Your neighbours may also have an idea of when the property was built.
Note: A rough estimate of the property construction date is enough for the purposes of getting your home insurance quote.
If you have a heritage property, here are some steps to take:
- Search for your property for free in the 1862 Act register on Land Registry’s digital archives.
- Look at the architectural style and features of the house, particularly the roof and windows.
- Check your county record offices, local parish records or ask to view local archives at your library.
- Look for old copies of Ordnance Survey maps for your area (local library).
- Google for a local historian or a historical society and contact them to see if they can help you.
- Look at census data between 1841 and 1911 to find the first year that the address was mentioned.
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