Useful information about our Home Insurance Policies

Contents
Buildings

 

Contents
Our insurance policies provide wide-ranging cover for all of your household contents - furniture, carpets, curtains, pictures, TV, hi-fi, kitchen equipment, PC’s, ornaments, clothing, personal possessions, etc.
Amongst many other things, your home contents will be automatically insured (on a new for old basis) against the following:
  • Fire, explosion, lightning, earthquake or smoke damage
  • Theft (including damage by thieves)
  • Storm or flood damage
  • Escape of water or oil from pipes or tanks
  • Malicious damage
  • Accidental damage to your TV, hi-fi and video
  • Food in your freezer (up to £1,000)
  • Loss of any metered water or oil (up to £1,000)
  • Personal liability, (up to £2,000,000)
  • Temporary alternative accommodation for you (and your pets!)
Please note: A £50 excess applies in respect of each claim.
No Claim Discount
As a careful home owner, you will be able to earn a no claim discount which applies to the contents section of your policy - so you won’t be paying for the actions of people who take less care of their property than you do. Our no claim discount scale is:
  • 1 Year - 10%
  • 2 Years - 15%
  • 3+ Years - 20%
If you have been claim free with your present insurer  we will automatically give you the corresponding discount from the scale above.
Home Working Equipment Cover
Today, more and more people are working from home - often using expensive equipment such as PC’s, faxes, modems, etc.
Unlike many home insurances, we automatically give cover for office equipment in your home which is used for business purposes.
Accidental Damage Contents Option
Whilst the standard cover provided  will ensure quality protection against the major causes of damage, you can also protect your contents against other types of accidental damage (for example: knocking over an ornament or spilling paint on your carpet) by selecting the Accidental Damage option.
Personal Possessions (option)
This optional cover allows you to protect your personal possessions on an ‘all-risks’ basis, whether in your home or away from home.
Typically, such items include portable CD and cassette players, watches, handbags, sports equipment, mobile phones, rings, chains, clothing, etc. Personal cash will also be covered (up to £250) as will pedal cycles (a £250 limit per cycle applies).
If you select this option, your personal possessions will be protected against most of the hazards of modern life anywhere in the U.K. and worldwide, up to 60 days a year.
All you need to do is tell us the total value of all such items you wish to insure on this basis - the minimum is £3,000 with additional £1,000 units of cover available as required. There is a single article sum insured of £1,000 (except for cash and pedal cycles as mentioned above). However, items of a higher value may be insured as ‘specified items’. Please ensure that you let us have details of these.
Whatever, your lifestyle, it’s sensible to have this more extensive cover for what are often your most personal and valued possessions.
Legal Expenses Cover
Legal disputes are sadly all too common. It is increasingly easy to find yourself involved in a disagreement with a neighbour over your legal rights relating to your home, with a shop over faulty goods which you have purchased or even the Inland Revenue over your personal tax return.
We automatically provide this cover so you can have the peace of mind of knowing that, if a problem does arise, you will have cover of (up to) £25,000 to pursue or defend certain personal legal actions in which you become involved.
Please note: Disputes over events which have occurred before the commencement of your insurance are excluded from cover.
Caravan Cover (option)
If you own a touring caravan all you need to do is provide us with the value of your caravan (including the fixtures, fittings and furnishings) and we’ll protect it with quality comprehensive cover.
Caravan contents other than furnishings, utensils and linen (e.g. TV’s and hi-fi’s) can be protected by selecting the ‘Personal Possessions’ option..
Buildings
If you presently have your buildings insurance arranged by your mortgage lender then, the chances are that, you could be paying too much for your cover.
It’s understandable. Research shows that people often believe that they have to take the insurance that their lender offers. They think it’s a condition of their mortgage. In most cases, this simply isn’t true and you are free to make your own insurance arrangements.
Our Buildings Cover is accepted by all major banks and building societies and, depending on your postcode, you could make a substantial saving by switching your cover to us. We will even pay up to £25 to cover the cost of the ‘switching’ fee which some societies charge.
Home Solutions will cover the buildings of your home against damage by all the major perils, including:
  • Fire, explosion, lightning, earthquake
  • Smoke
  • Malicious acts and theft
  • Storm and flood (but not gates, fences or railings)
  • Subsidence, heave and landslip
  • Falling trees
  • Impact
  • Escape of water
  • Blockage of drains
Excess - A £50 excess applies in respect of each claim (except for subsidence, heave or landslip where the excess is £1,000).
Calculating your Buildings sum insured
We do not want our customers to be under insured. It is your responsibility to get your sum insured right - but don’t worry there’s lots of advice on hand. If you have had your property surveyed in the recent past, then obtaining the correct figure should not be a problem. However, to assist, The Association of British Insurers (ABI) have a web based calculator which you can use at http://www.abi.org.uk/consumer2/buildings.asp
Index Linking
In order to keep up with inflation in future years, we will link your sum insured to the House Rebuilding Cost Index which is based on data supplied by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. So, if you ensure that the sum insured is set at the right amount to start with, under insurance should never be a problem.
If you presently have your buildings insurance arranged by your mortgage lender then, the chances are that, you could be paying too much for your cover.
It’s understandable. Research shows that people often believe that they have to take the insurance that their lender offers. They think it’s a condition of their mortgage. In most cases, this simply isn’t true and you are free to make your own insurance arrangements.
Optional Buildings Covers
Accidental Damage (option)
As with our Contents Cover, you can choose to extend your buildings insurance to cover your home against other forms of accidental damage which may occur (for example spilling paint down your wall or onto your patio!).
Simply tick the appropriate box on our proposal form and your mind will be put at rest!
Extended Garden Cover (option)
Whilst our buildings insurance automatically provides cover for patios, paths and driveways, you may wish to have wider protection, particularly for shrubs, trees, flower beds, garden ornaments, etc.
This optional section, will extend your insurance to include:
  • Storm damage to gates and fences (provided there is storm damage to your house as well)
  • Damage to your garden caused by fallen trees and assistance with their removal (up to £250)
  • Theft of, or malicious damage to lawns, plants, statues and ornaments.
Up to £1,000 in total for any one event.
If you are a keen gardener, or just someone that takes a pride in your weekend handy-work, then this option (at a modest additional charge) could prove of great assistance if the worst does happen.
Gas Boiler and Central Heating System Protection Breakdown Cover (option)
It’s almost midnight on a freezing January night. Your boiler has "packed in" so there is no heating or hot water. Its -2°C outside and it’s beginning to feel that way indoors. Imagine if this happened to your home. Who do you turn to? Could you handle three, maybe four hours in the cold? That’s how long some gas suppliers can take before turning out for you!
If you select this option, your gas boiler and all parts of your central heating system will be covered, 24 hours a day, every day, for:
  • Call-out charges
  • Three hours on-site labour by a CORGI registered tradesman
  • Unlimited parts per call-out (up to a total of £1,500 in any one year of insurance).
Add to this our average response time of under 90 minutes and we’re sure that you will agree that our cover is excellent value for money. The diagram below shows what is, and what is not, covered (subject to policy terms and conditions):
We also offer our customers who select this option the opportunity to have their gas boiler fully serviced at a very competitive price.
Just tick the box on our proposal form and relax in the knowledge that you won’t be left cold this winter or without hot water.
Please note: This optional cover is only available to customers on the British mainland with gas fired central heating whose boiler is under 10 years old at inception of cover.