Part 3 – Guide to Holiday Home Insurance – Buildings Insurance

Last Updated on August 18, 2008 by admin

Buildings Insurance

In Part 3 – Guide to Holiday Home Insurance – Buildings Insurance We look at how you should not overlook the investment property itself – it is likely to be one of your major assets. To properly protect your holiday home property, you need to cover the buildings of your holiday home against all insurable risks for the full reinstatement cost, including any garages or outbuildings; fixtures and fittings; patios and driveways; garden walls, fences and swimming pools. You must not forget that you also need to include the cost of clearing the site in the event of complete destruction and the associated legal, architect and surveyor fees. Remember, the reinstatement cost is unlikely to be the same as the market value of the property or the price that you paid for it! If you under-insure your building you could fall victim to average being applied in the event of a claim. In a nutshell this means that, if your property is underinsured, your Holiday Home Insurance provider may not pay out the full amount of any claim, so it is important to work out the cost of replacement accurately and insure for the full amount.

You can get a good indication of your rebuilding costs by visiting the Association Of British Insurers (ABI) website and their building cost calculator for homeowners. However the onus is on you to provide an adequate sum insured so you may be wise, particularly in the case that your holiday home is of non-standard construction, to have a professional insurance valuation carried out by a chartered building surveyor. If your Holiday Home is mortgaged, your lender will often specify as a result of their survey, the minimum buildings insurance sum insured they require.

Most insurers will index link the buildings sum insured so that you maintain an accurate insurance value over time, but of course this is dependent on you getting the right value in the first place.  It’s important to remember to get permission from your mortgage lender, your insurer and your landlord (in the case of a leasehold property) before you let your property for short-term holidays. This is very important as your insurance could be invalidated if you fail to do this. Although your buildings policy usually includes theft or attempted theft; and damage by fire, lightning, explosion, earthquake, storm and flood; subsidence, heave and landslip; escape of water or oil, vehicle and animal Impact; aircraft and malicious damage; a quality Holiday Home Insurance policy should not restrict cover whilst the Holiday Home is let and will also extend to cover accidental damage.

Check out the following posts which expand on Boshers Guide to Holiday Home Insurance or visit our Holiday Home Insurance page.

1. Guide to Holiday Home Insurance – Property Owners Liability Insurance

2. Guide to Holiday Home Insurance – Employers Liability Insurance

4. Guide to Holiday Home Insurance – Contents Insurance

5. Guide to Holiday Home Insurance – Loss Of Rental Income

6. Guide to Holiday Home Insurance – Legal Expenses

7. Guide to Holiday Home Insurance –  General Considerations

You may also find useful: Holiday Home Insurance – A guide to calculating your sums insured