House Insurance
Owning a home is a significant investment, and one should take all necessary precautions to protect it. One of the best ways to ensure that your investment is secure is by purchasing house insurance. House insurance provides financial protection against any unexpected damage or loss caused to your property due to natural disasters, theft, or accidents.
Having house insurance can bring peace of mind and financial stability in case of any unfortunate event. It covers the cost of repairs or replacement of damaged structures, personal belongings, and liability claims made against you for injuries suffered by someone else on your property.
Without proper insurance coverage, homeowners would have to bear the entire cost of repairing or replacing their homes and possessions after an unexpected event. This could lead to significant financial strain and even bankruptcy in some cases. Therefore, it is crucial for every homeowner to invest in house insurance as a way of safeguarding their home and ensuring their financial security.
Benefits of House Insurance
House insurance covers most structures on your property – your house, garage and fences.
Most policies also cover your retaining walls and recreational features (for example, swimming pools) but the cover is often capped. You can increase these caps for a higher premium.
Some insurers offer different types of policy with different levels of cover:
- Basic policies may only cover you for major adverse events such as fire, theft, or flood.
- Comprehensive policies cover you for major adverse events and for accidental damage to your house caused by you or your family.
Both types of policies cover your legal liability if you accidentally damage someone else’s property.
It’s important you have enough coverage because you don’t want to be underinsured and suffer financially at the time you need it the most unless you have a full replacement policy, the maximum insurance companies will pay is the sum insured. If the rebuild costs are more than the sum insured, you will have to meet this cost.
Homeowners are responsible for estimating the sum insured. If you haven’t specified a sum insured, you’re probably relying on the insurer’s default sum insured – an estimate based on the size of your house and a typical rebuild cost.
If disaster strikes and If you rely on the default sum, you risk being caught short.
You will be charged a greater premium if you choose a higher sum insured. But this might not be much higher. It’s always good to know how much this increase will cost. A slightly higher premium is a good investment to make sure your house is fully covered if it’s a total loss.