Buildings Insurance
- Specify the rebuild cost you need.
- Cover for homeowners and landlords.
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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
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.
24-month repair guarantee
All buildings work we arrange after a claim is guaranteed for two years.
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
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.
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
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)
Alternative accommodation
We’ll help cover the cost of temporary accommodation for you and your pets if you can’t stay in your home after an insured event — or if you’ve been advised to evacuate. If you stay with friends or family instead, we’ll cover your extra living costs.
up to £75,000
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 relating to insured events. There must be a reasonable chance of success, and the event 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 legal liability for accidental death, injury or illness to someone else, or damage to their property.
up to £5 million
Accidental damage
Optional cover for sudden, unexpected damage caused by you, a guest, a third party or wild animal — such as a broken window or spilt paint. 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
Yes — your Buildings insurance includes cover for outbuildings such as garages, sheds, greenhouses, summerhouses, and other domestic structures within the boundary of your home, or any communal area you’re legally responsible for.
Outbuildings are covered for insured events like fire, storm, flood, theft and more — up to the Outbuildings sum insured shown in your Policy Schedule. The standard limit is £20,000, but this can be increased if needed.
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.
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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