Home Emergency

If you own your own home, you will need buildings insurance. If you are renting a property, you will need contents insurance.

Buildings insurance can cover damage to the structure of anything permanently fixed within a property, which includes walls, roof, floors, and fixtures and fittings, as confirmed within your policy wording. There will be exceptions to this such as damage caused by wear tear, damage caused whilst the property is unoccupied (full details of any exclusions can be found in the policy wording).

The things you need to cover in addition,  'contents insurance'  are household goods and personal possessions currently within the property. For further information speak to your insurance adviser.

Buildings insurance covers the cost of repairing or rebuilding your home. This will often cover damages to your home caused by: 

• Falling trees
• Fire, smoke and explosions
• Oil leakages
• Storms and flooding 
• Subsidence
• Vandalism
• Vehicle collisions
• Water damage

Buildings insurance does not cover general wear and tear. General wear and tear is the kind of light damage you would expect over the life of an item that is being used. For example, slight fraying of curtains and upholstery, or scuffs and light marks on floors and walls.

You will be responsible for the first amount of some claims (the excess). The amount will be shown in your policy wording and for some aspect of cover, i.e. storm, flood or subsidence the amount will depend on your postcode. For subsidence it will be a minimum of £1,000.

Home contents insurance covers damage to, or loss of, any of your personal possessions while they are located within your home. Basic contents insurance does not cover possessions while they are outside your home - for example, a handbag while you are on your daily commute - but some contents insurance policies provide some away-from-home cover.

You will be responsible for the first amount of some claims i.e. the excess. The amount will be shown in your policy wording and for some aspect of cover, i.e. storm, flood or subsidence, the amount will depend on your postcode.

We have a policy specifically designed for those who have lodgers in their home. That way you can be covered for the additional risks associated with having a lodger in your home. You can contact our team in Colchester for lodgers insurance.

Please talk to your Towergate adviser for details.

We specialise in providing cover where other providers can’t. If you've had previous claims, we will still consider your property even if you've been rejected by other insurers. This is also handled by our Colchester team and details can be found on our contact page. In  all cases, the more information you are able to provide regarding your previous claims, the better.

Homes which are at risk of flood are often a little trickier to insure. We have policies which will cater for flood in some of the harder to cover areas and can often refer cases to our insurers to see if they can provide cover. You can read more on insurance for flood risk areas, provided by our team in Colchester.

Running a business from your home often means you have slightly different need to a standard home. See our home business insurance webpage for more details.

Property owners' liability is related to an individual’s legal duty of care to others. It is your responsibility to properly maintain property in a good state of repair, so it is not a danger to others. If you are negligent, and an accident relating to property causes a third party to be injured or their property to be damaged, they may seek compensation from the property owner.

Subsequently, it’s important to have insurance in place to cover this, as it will pay legal defence costs if allegations of accidents are raised and will pay compensation if you are found to be at fault. Most home insurance policies including our own, include this as standard.

We have provided a summary of the key features of the policy, above. For details of the terms and conditions applicable, please refer to the insurance product information document and policy wording, which are available during the quotation process.

You can pay by credit card or monthly Direct Debit.

If you prefer to spread the cost of your annual premium, we offer a quick and easy Direct Debit scheme. When you choose to pay premiums in instalments, you will be paying under a premium finance plan.

We will give you full details of the finance provider, and the additional cost of finance, when we provide you with your payment plan quotation. This will include the total payable, the number of monthly instalments and the cost of each, as well as the representative APR.

What other things should I consider when selecting a home insurance policy?

• Calculating the value of your possessions It's important to calculate the cost of your possessions accurately when purchasing your home contents insurance. Be sure to remember any valuable items, including jewellery and electronics.
• New-for-old cover - When calculating the value of your home contents for insurance purposes, consider how much it would cost to replace your possessions with brand new replacements at today’s prices.
• Calculating your home's rebuild cost - Be sure to calculate your home's rebuild cost accurately – The Association of British Insurers (ABI) have a good rebuilding cost calculator. Underestimating your property's rebuild cost could result in problems, should you ever need to rebuild your home, while overestimating your home's rebuild cost may result in an unnecessarily high premium. 
• Excess (the first amount of any claim that you will be responsible for) - As with all insurance policies, look at your excesses. Some insurers will offer lower premiums if your policy includes higher excesses.
• Away from home cover - Check whether your policy includes away-from-home cover. The value of items you carry around on your  daily commute may be higher than you think! Cover for loss or damage to personal possessions away from the home is often an optional extension to a standard contents insurance policy. This will cover loss or damage to your property away from your home.
• Running a business from home - If you are running a business from home, you will need a home business insurance policy to reflect this. If you take out standard home insurance when running a home business, your policy may be invalidated. Speak to an adviser.
• Home security precautions - It is important to check your insurance policy wording, as it will include a minimum standard of security requirement relating the types of locks on doors and windows that are required. Higher security requirements may be necessary for higher value contents.
• Premium discounts may be available if your home security precautions are above the minimum requirements. i.e. such as the installation of good quality security locks, security cameras and alarm systems. Check with your insurer.