House Insurance

[Anonymous]

Hi there,

Hope you are well?

I know this has been discussed before but wante to ask you about house insurance?

I got a very high quote in the other day & trying to get it down as much as possible.

Where do i get the re-build value of a house again? i know there was some table but i cant rememebr where i saw it?

This is a house that i rent out, its in Dublin, so most of the contents are not mine, think i have the contents valued way too high too.

When it says contents what exactly doe sit mean? A friend told me that a good guide is if you turned the house upside down, contents are the things that would fall. So from that i would guess Kitchens (except applicanece) & bathrooms are not contents but part of the re-build value – is that right?

Thanks.

[Financial Companion]

Hi Mary,

In the situation you describe, you require a landlord policy as the house is rented out. If it was covered with just an ordinary household policy, in the event of a claim, it would probably be denied.

Firstly, to calculate the level of buildings cover, you base it on the square footage of the house and the location. For example, a 3 bed semi-detached in Dublin could be around 1100 square feet and the rebuild cost at present would be in the region of 150-160 per square foot, so in that example you would insure the buildings for approximately 170,000. (Remember, the re-build cost is nothing to do with the value of the house). If you only know the square metres of the house, just multiply by 10.75 to get the square footage. On landlord policies, their is usually a standard contents option, as most of the contents will not be yours. A minimum of €15,000 is often standard and that is usually enough to cover furniture and appliances that you may have provided.

I hope that helps, if you have any further questions give me a shout.

Dave.

[MaryE]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for reply.

For some reasons i am not being notified of replies on mumstown, so i just came back in to say that i found the following Guide http://www.scsi.ie/publications/Downloadreport/hri2011. It is great.

Yes, i have the right policy (Rented home Insurance policy).

Didnt know about that minimum €15k contents cover, i was going to reduce that right down as we own so little in the house, much less then €15k. I must give them a ring about that.

Thanks again.

[MaryE]

Rang Insurance company, can you believe their minimum for contents is €19k!!

Anyway, my little detective work this morning saved me €200 – Thanks Dave.

[MaryE]

Question for you?

I didnt check re-build value on my own house, do you know what a 4 bed detached house in Louth would re-build at? The guide doesnt have louth.

And do you think that i would be able to change insurance details half way through year (we renewed in Jan), would i be entitled to a refund?

[Financial Companion]

Do you know the square footage? The cost per square foot in Drogheda would be less than Dublin, probably closer to 140 per square foot, so for a 1500 square foot house, buildings should be insured in the region of 210,000.

Delighted you made such a saving! It really is worth doing a bit of work each year for home and car insurance.

Now, for your next exercise, ask yourself all of the questions in the thread "What do you know" and comeback to me if you can’t answer them all 😉

[Taylor5]

i found insure.ie very good, i changed with them last year. They went through the sq footage and said i was over insured… i got my quote in for this year with 70k contents and its 560e, im happy with that but im still going to shop about

[Financial Companion]

Taking the time to check with house insurance is crucial and when you get the best quote (making sure it’s like for like, ask what the excess is, does accidental damage come as standard etc.) go back to your own insurer and see if they will beat it (not match it!).

Mary, about cancelling mid-term on cover, sometimes it’s possible but you need to be sure that any saving will outweigh possible cancellation penalty, It’s usuall weighted, so for example, you might cancel after 4 months but will have paid 6-8 months. Best time to start checking is when your renewal comes in, which should be a few weeks before renewal date.

[Anonymous]

If you are renting out your house you cannot insure the buildings as you don’t have any financial interest in them and so don’t need to worry about the square footage, your landlord should have investment property insurance on the property.

However you will need to insure your contents and you are correct this does not include fixtures and fittings, so anything fitted to buildings such as fitted kitchen, curtains, floors would be generally be covered under the buildings insurance, what you need to insure are your personal belongings.

If you want to know what the buildings sums insured are for a matter of interest you can log onto the Chartered Surveyors of Ireland where they can give you an indication of the rebuilding costs of a property in the area where you live.

[Financial Companion]

If you are renting out your house you cannot insure the buildings as you don’t have any financial interest in them and so don’t need to worry about the square footage, your landlord should have investment property insurance on the property. .

The square footage question was after Mary asked about her own house, so obviously it is relevant in that circumstance.

[Author]

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