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1 in 4 families in the UK, have not insured their belongings with contents insurance. This is an alarming fact considering that a house gets broken into every 90 seconds in the UK! The two basic types of home insurance comprise of contents and buildings insurance. These two types of insurance policies generally go hand in hand because it is necessary to obtain both. Contents insurance refers to your possessions and personal belongings within your home which are covered if damaged or destroyed under certain circumstances mentioned in the policy. Buildings insurance covers the damage of the actual structure, fixtures and fittings of your house in a disaster or situation which has caused damage to your home. This includes the damages on external structures such as garages and garden sheds. Contents and buildings insurance can be bought separately or together as a joint policy.

Contents and buildings insurance refers to the coverage of fire damages, thefts, water damages, flooding and any other circumstances listed in the policy. The policy for contents and buildings insurance also ensures expenses accumulated for you and your family to go elsewhere if the house becomes unliveable in the event of a disaster. Contents and buildings insurance generally includes liability insurance as well. This insurance policy also guarantees coverage for fencing around the premises of your property.

Sum insured is assessed when determining the specifications of your contents and buildings insurance policy. Sum insured refers to the value of your personal belongings. If you own a lot of expensive items, expect to pay a high premium for your contents and buildings insurance policy. It is essential to estimate the correct amount to replace each of your personal belongings. Otherwise you will be left with less than the amount needed to replace your possessions, if there comes a time to make a claim for damage. Especially when it comes to buildings insurance it is necessary to obtain coverage for complete rebuilding and not just the market value of your home. The sum insured should be analyzed regularly to update information on recent belongings you've purchased so they are all covered under your contents and buildings insurance plan.

In order to assess the correct value for determining the sum insured it is best to categorize all your possessions. This is an assessment of the actual value and not on personal sentiment! Often it takes families some time to understand the difference. Recently families have started video taping all the rooms in their homes to have an exact record of personal belongings and to determine their value. It will be difficult to get low premiums for contents and buildings insurance if you life in a city area with high crime rates. If you live in a rural and safe neighbourhood then you have a good chance to get low premiums for an ideal contents and buildings insurance policy.

There are also specific sum insured details you can include in your contents and buildings insurance policy. The new for old contract ensures you a brand new replacement of your item that was damaged or destroyed. But don't go changing your complete policy to new for old because otherwise you will be stuck with a very high premium to pay each month! All risks contract extends coverage to personal items while taken out of the house. So if this is a part of your contents and buildings insurance policy and you lost your laptop while on vacation, it'll definitely be covered. Be smart and insure yourself, your family, your home and belongings. After all, aren't those the things that make life worth living for?