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Home insurance in the UK consists of two parts. Buildings insurance covers the structure, meaning the walls, roof, foundations, fitted kitchens and bathrooms and other permanent fixtures. Contents insurance covers your possessions. Mortgage lenders require buildings cover as a condition of the loan, and the sum insured is the rebuild cost rather than the market value, since after a fire nobody has to buy the land again.

The Association of British Insurers publishes average rebuild costs per square metre by region and property type, which is where most valuations begin. A typical 3-bedroom semi-detached house lands at £150,000-£250,000 depending on location. As a rough sense check, the rebuild figure usually falls at 60-80% of the purchase price once the land is taken out, so a £400k property might rebuild for £250-£320k. Contents should be set at the total replacement value of everything inside, commonly £30k-£60k for a family home, with single items normally capped at £1,500 unless you declare them separately.

Premiums respond to property type, location, rebuild value, claims history, security features and the excess you accept, with flood risk and local crime rates doing most of the work inside that location factor. Combined buildings and contents cover averages £300-£500 a year. Buildings only, the minimum a lender will accept, runs £150-£250, and contents only for renters £80-£200. A London address adds 30-50%, while high-value or listed properties start at £500-£1,500 and climb from there. The larger names in this market are Aviva, Direct Line, AXA, Saga for the over-50s, Admiral, RAC and LV=.

Standard cover deals with fire, flood, storm, theft, vandalism and escape of water from burst pipes, with accidental damage usually sold as an optional add-on. Possessions taken out of the house are covered to £100-£500 as standard. The exclusions are the predictable ones, covering wear and tear, gradual deterioration, pre-existing damp or structural problems, and war and terrorism, which needs separate arrangements. Subsidence is covered but carries its own excess, typically £1,000. Flood cover has become expensive in flood-prone areas, although the Flood Re scheme keeps it obtainable through 2039.

Several levers bring the price down. Raising the voluntary excess from £150 to £500 saves 15-25%, and paying annually rather than monthly saves 5-10% in credit interest. Buying buildings and contents from the same insurer usually attracts a 10-20% discount. Basic security, meaning an alarm, deadlocks and window locks, is worth 5-15%, and a police-approved monitored alarm certified by NACOSS or SSAIB earns more than that. New builds under an NHBC or builder warranty need no separate cover for the first 0-3 years. The expensive habit is claiming for small losses, because the no-claims discount is worth 30-50%.

Switching at renewal is worth a similar 30-50%, since increases of that size on auto-renewal are common, and Compare The Market, MoneySupermarket, Confused.com and GoCompare make the annual check quick. If you do have to claim, report it within 24-48 hours and gather evidence as you go, including photographs, receipts, a police report for theft and professional reports for subsidence or flood. Claims above £5k-£10k usually bring in a loss adjuster. Settlement arrives either as cash or as repairs arranged through the insurer's contractor, with the excess deducted from what is paid, and most policies replace contents new-for-old rather than at a depreciated value.