Home & Contents
Home cover: the difference between buildings and contents
One insures the structure, the other insures what falls out if you turned the house upside down. The gap between them is where claims fail.
Most explanations of buildings and contents insurance stop at the point where it starts to matter. This one carries on.
The short version
- Buildings cover is the cost to rebuild, not the market value of the property.
- Fitted items are usually buildings; free-standing items are usually contents.
- Under-insurance can reduce a partial claim proportionately.
Rebuild cost is not market value
Buildings cover is the cost of reconstructing the property, including demolition, professional fees and site access. That is usually well below market value in an expensive area and can exceed it in a cheap one with costly construction.
Insuring for market value is therefore either wasteful or dangerously short, and neither is obvious without checking. Rebuild calculators from surveying bodies exist and take a few minutes.
The dividing line is whether it is fixed
Fitted kitchens, bathrooms, built-in wardrobes and boilers are typically buildings. Furniture, appliances that plug in, carpets in many wordings, and everything portable are contents. Disputes cluster around carpets, blinds and fitted appliances, so it is worth checking how your specific wording treats them.
Under-insurance is penalised proportionately
If the sum insured is half what it should be, an insurer may pay half of a partial claim under an average clause. This bites hardest on small claims, where people assume the sum insured is irrelevant because the loss is far below it.
Reviewing the sum insured after renovation or after buying anything substantial is what prevents it.
Single-item limits catch people out
Contents policies apply a per-item limit, commonly a low four-figure sum, above which items must be specified. Jewellery, bicycles, instruments, cameras and laptops are the usual casualties. Specifying an item costs a little premium and is the difference between a paid and a capped claim.
Away-from-home cover is separate
Contents cover generally applies at the property; personal possessions cover extends it to items you take out. Bicycles and phones are the most commonly claimed and the most commonly uncovered. If you take valuable items out routinely, that extension is the one worth adding.
The takeaway
Insure the rebuild cost, list anything valuable individually, and re-check after work on the house.
The version you keep doing is the version that works.
Questions readers ask
Do I need buildings insurance if I rent?
No — that is the landlord's responsibility. You need contents cover for your own belongings, which the landlord's policy does not cover.
How often should I review the sum insured?
After any renovation, extension or significant purchase, and otherwise at renewal. Rebuild costs have moved sharply with construction inflation.
Also by Colette Fenn
- Escape of water is the claim that ruins a houseHome & Contents
