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What does Buildings insurance cover?
You will find that your lender will insist that you have this cover
when you take out a mortgage. The lender, remember, owns your home
until you have paid off the mortgage. However, because they don’t
live in it, you are responsible for it, thus you need to insure
the building. Should the property fall down, the lender wants it
to be covered for the catastrophe.
But buildings insurance cover permanent fixtures and fittings as
well. It will also cover toilets, baths and fitted kitchens, your
interior decorations and bedroom cupboards.
To know what your buildings insurance will cover, try this simple
test – can you reasonably remove the fixture and take it to
a new home? If you can it will be covered by contents insurance
– as if you can remove it, so can a thief! If you can’t,
it will be covered by your buildings insurance.
Your buildings policy insurance
should also be able to cover - perhaps for a small extension to
your premium – outbuildings such as your garages, garden sheds
and greenhouses. However, it is unlikely that you can extend it
to cover your swimming pools, fences, paths, gates or drives.
The risks which are covered by your buildings insurance are many.
Your property faces damage from so many angles. Perhaps reading
this list will make you realise just how important buildings insurance
is.
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Fire, lightning and explosions can cause damage to your house,
as can earthquakes, storms and floods. Don’t underestimate
the damage that thieves can cause to your home. They have to get
in somehow, and can damage property that way. Sometimes, they will
try and steal fixtures that aren’t easily removable (e.g.
a chandelier) or will damage your property whilst looking for valuables.
This damage would not be covered by contents insurance.
Should you suffer problems with your tanks or pipes, in terms of
water leaking from them, or perhaps oil could escape from fixed
heating installations, you should be covered under your buildings
insurance.
Then there are the more unusual occurrences. Your home could be
damaged by being caught in the middle of a riot. It could be the
victim of an attack by vandals (‘malicious persons’
in insurance
parlance). Perhaps a falling tree will crash through your window,
or an aerial will fall off the roof and through your window.
Subsidence, land slip and heave can also cause damage to your home,
which is why the insurance company will want to know if your home
is in an area at risk from them. Finally, it has been known for
cars and animals to cause damage to homes, and occasionally an aircraft
or “things falling from an aircraft” can cause damage.
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