House Insurance

House insurance is also referred to as residential, home or building insurance. House insurance provides coverage to a property owner from financial losses connected with a property such as a house, townhouse, apartment, or bungalow.

House insurance should be seen as a necessity to safeguard your asset. House insurance is required by you as the property owner regardless of whether you reside in the property or have the property tenanted.

A typical house insurance policy will cover the building itself and typically includes fittings and fixtures. In some cases, policies will also cover any contents left within the property such as a fridge, washing machine, dryer and other furniture if the property is tenanted.

Most house insurance policies will cover standard perils such as fire, theft, accidental or malicious damage, natural disasters such as storm and in some cases flood, lightning and earthquake. Arson and explosion can sometimes also be covered. Each insurance policy is different and may or may not include all of these items.

It is important to take out enough insurance cover to ensure that you are able to rebuild your dwelling in the event that the entire building is destroyed.

It is also possible to take out a house insurance policy which offers protection against public liability in the event that someone is injured within the property itself. This is not usually a standard offering for house insurance as liability insurance is typically included with contents insurance. It is important to be covered for public liability and if you do not have contents insurance it is a very good idea to take out this type of cover with your house insurance. This will ensure that an accident leading to an injury of a guest, tenant or even an intruder will not leave you liable for anywhere up to millions of dollars.

Also consider the excess payable if you need to make a claim. This can vary considerably and some insurers will allow an extra premium to be paid in order to remove or reduce the excess.