Insuring your property is absolutely vital. Your home is a major part of your life, often containing valuable items and not so valuable personal heirlooms that burglars would and sometimes do kill to get their hands on.

Insuring the building itself is something you usually have no control over, as it will be a condition of any mortgage agreement you sign and acts as security for the lender against a calamity destroying their investment. This could come in the form of subsidence, fire, flood or some other event and the sum assured will be the cost of rebuilding the property.

Buildings insurance also protects you against disasters, so even if you have no mortgage it makes sense to take out some form of buildings insurance or you might find your personal finances taking a severe turn for the worse.

If you are a leaseholder you may not have to bother with the other type of home insurance policy, contents insurance, as the landlord will normally have this in place. In fact, house contents insurance is not compulsory, as the mortgage lender doesn’t care about your personal possessions, although they may well recommend a home contents insurance provider, which you can accept or not.

It’s always worth looking around for the best deals, as prices can vary enormously. You should get three or four home insurance quotes from relevant comparison websites and select the cover that best meets your specific requirements.