What does home insurance cover? Key features explained

Discover what home insurance covers, from emergencies to accidental damage. Find out which level of cover and what optional extras are right for you.

Most people won’t need an introduction to home insurance. The purpose is simple: to make sure your building and its contents are protected if something goes wrong.

The degree of protection that can be built into a home insurance policy, however, might surprise you. Cover can extend to temporary living arrangements; tackling urgent household failures, such as heating or water outages; and protection against everyday accidents, such as damage caused by children or pets. Taking a closer look at the features of a policy can be an eye-opener, even for homeowners who have been insured for years.

In this article, we’ll explain:

• The difference between buildings and contents cover
• Alternative accommodation cover
• Trace & access cover
• Home emergency cover
• Loss or theft of keys cover
• Matching sets cover
• Cash and mobile phone cover
• Accidental damage cover
• Legal expenses cover
• Personal belongings cover

Buildings and contents explained

The base of any home insurance policy is the buildings and contents cover, and this will be familiar territory for most people.

Buildings insurance is designed to cover loss or damage to the structure of your home caused by events such as fire, flood or a break-in. It applies to the physical fabric of the property and is intended to help put things right if the building itself is damaged after an insured event. Buildings cover typically also extends to fittings such as kitchen and bathroom units.

Contents insurance covers the belongings inside your home against similar risks. This includes items such as furniture, appliances, clothing, valuables and personal possessions. The cover is designed to repair or replace these items after insured loss or damage.

The difference between contents and buildings cover can be illustrated by imagining your home is picked up and turned upside down. You can expect that the pieces that fall out will be covered by contents insurance, and everything else will be covered by buildings insurance.

You will typically only need contents cover if you are renting, or the leaseholder of your property. If you are the freeholder, you may require both buildings and contents cover to protect your home.

While these two elements are the backbone of home insurance, they’re only part of the bigger protection picture.

What does home insurance cover?

Before we get into specific features, as a rule of thumb, the buildings portion of your home insurance will typically cover you for damage to your property caused by adverse weather conditions such as winds, storms and flooding. It will also cover you for unfortunate and costly situations such as vehicular damage and falling trees or debris. On the contents side, you are usually protected for damage to your contents caused by similar issues, however the contents cover will pay out for items such as bedding, collectibles, clothing, jewellery and technology, such as laptops.

It's worth pointing out that most insurers won’t cover you for wear and tear or damage over time. This means it’s your responsibility to maintain your home and safeguard your possessions. It’s for this reason that damage caused by woodworm is unlikely to be covered by home insurance.

For example, if your home was broken into and the doorframe was damaged in the process and you also had several items stolen, buildings insurance would cover the cost of repairing the door and contents insurance would cover the stolen items. However, if you left your front door open or hadn’t replaced a faulty lock, you may find that your claim is denied.

What does home insurance cover beyond the basics?

It’s worth noting that not every element of cover is included in the same way across all policies. Silver and Gold home insurance policies offered by Age Co include all the following (bar Trace and Access cover in Silver), either built-in or as an optional extra. Other insurance policies may vary, which is why reviewing what’s included in your policy is important.

You will usually find that the insured amount is higher or lower depending on your cover level. This means that should you need to make a claim, the higher your cover level the more you can claim. You may also find that the excess to be paid on a claim is lower if you have a higher cover level. To learn more about excess, read our guide.

Does home insurance cover alternative accommodation?

Serious damage doesn’t just affect the building itself. If your home becomes uninhabitable after an insured event, the disruption can extend well beyond the initial damage.

Alternative accommodation cover is designed for when you’re unable to stay in your home while repairs are carried out. It can contribute towards the cost of temporary accommodation, allowing you to live elsewhere until it’s safe to return to your property.

What is trace and access cover?

Water or oil leaks can be particularly disruptive, especially when the source of the problem isn’t immediately obvious.

Trace and access covers the cost of finding the source of a leak and gaining access to it so repairs can be carried out. Rather than addressing the resulting damage alone, this feature deals with the practical challenge of locating the problem in the first place.

What is home emergency cover?

Some household problems require immediate action. A failure of essential systems, such as heating, water or electricity supply can quickly become more than an inconvenience.

Home emergency cover is designed to respond to urgent situations that affect the safety or basic functioning of the home and need prompt attention. It focuses on emergencies that require swift intervention rather than routine maintenance. Home emergency cover is for urgent remedial action, whereas home insurance is designed to repair any damage and restore your home after an incident has taken place.

Loss or theft of keys

Losing your keys, or having them stolen, can be more disruptive than many people expect, particularly if locks need to be replaced.

Cover for loss or theft of keys is designed to help with the cost of replacing locks after these events, addressing a practical problem that can arise unexpectedly.

Matching sets insurance

Matching sets cover is designed to address what happens when one item in a set is damaged, but the others are not. This usually applies to dinner or furniture sets, or a carpet. This cover recognises that replacing just one item doesn’t always restore the room or space to how it was before the damage. Instead, it is intended to help maintain a consistent appearance where items were originally matched, rather than leaving homeowners with mismatched furniture after a claim.

Personal money in the home

Policies often include cover for personal money kept within the home. Cover applies to physical cash stored in the property, up to a defined limit, and is intended to provide reassurance rather than comprehensive protection for larger sums. Find out more about how to keep your money safe at home.

Mobile phone theft within the home

Cover often also extends to mobile phones stolen from your home. Phones are among the most commonly owned and relied-upon personal items in the home, so this cover ensures you are protected against theft without the need to specify how the theft has taken place.

Optional extras: accidental damage, legal expenses and added protection

Alongside the core features of a home insurance policy, optional extras can be selected, meaning you can tailor the cover to suit how you use your home and belongings.

• Home legal expenses cover provides support with legal costs and is designed to help you pursue certain types of claim, including personal injury claims where the incident was not your fault. It also covers the cost of protecting your legal rights as a homeowner. Many home legal cover policies will provide access to a confidential legal helpline.
• Accidental damage cover can also be selected as an optional extra, providing enhanced protection for damage caused by accidents. This can include incidents such as spills and stains, some damage caused by children, or accidental damage to parts of the home. Read our full explainer on accidental damage cover and on damage caused by pets.
• Personal belongings cover applies to items you take with you while away from home. This includes everyday things such as your bag and its contents, including money, meaning your belongings are protected outside as well as inside the home. This is particularly useful cover if you have valuable jewellery.

Your home insurance checklist

If it’s been a while since you last reviewed your home insurance, it may be worth checking whether your policy includes:

• Buildings and contents cover that still reflects your home and belongings
• Support if your home becomes uninhabitable
• Protection for accidental damage
• Cover for tracing and accessing hidden leaks
• Help when an urgent home emergency arises
• Optional extras that match how you use your home and possessions

Protecting your home and its contents isn’t just about preparing for major events. It’s about understanding what your policy contains as standard and how that protection can be enhanced with the right kind of supplementary cover.

Consider switching your home insurance with Age Co. We have carefully selected LV= as our home insurance partner to offer home cover which we believe meets the needs of the over 50s. LV= looks after millions of customers in the UK and has been operating for 180 years. Age Co is 100% owned by Age UK, and every purchase made through Age Co directly supports the work of the charity to change how we age. Find out more about our relationship with Age UK here.