When you’re spending a large amount of money on a house, the last thing you may want to do is spend extra on insurance – but it is so important, and often compulsory, to cover the building and the items within it in case something terrible happened to your home.  

Which insurance is compulsory when buying a house?

There are two main types of insurance people typically think about when buying a property (although there are more you should consider which is explained below):

• buildings, and 
• contents insurance. 

Contents insurance is insurance that covers all the items inside your home (and optional items outside your home), from your socks to your TV. There will be no-one forcing you to get this, but it would be unwise not to. Would you be able to afford to replace everything you own without it? 

The other insurance, and the one that is typically considered compulsory, is buildings insurance. This covers the structure - bricks and mortar of the house and permanent fixtures within the home such as sink, bath and kitchen units. If your home was hit by a storm, or involved in a fire for example, it would be your buildings insurance provider that would step in to assess and potentially help with the costs of any damage.

Does the law mean I need buildings insurance?

No. You don’t legally need buildings insurance. But if you want to purchase your house or flat with a mortgage, you’ll be contractually obliged, to have buildings insurance. If you weren’t to get it, you’d be in breach of your contract, which is a civil issue, rather than a legal one. 

Can you buy a house without insurance?

Yes. If you don’t need a mortgage to buy a property, you don’t need to buy any insurance at all, as you won’t have a contract with a mortgage provider – but that would be unwise.

Life is unpredictable and we spend our whole lives saving up the money to buy the property itself and the items within it - often using additional funds from parents and grandparents if we’re lucky. As a result for most of us, if our property and its contents were to be damaged or destroyed most of us would struggle to afford to replace them.  

Typically, you get a monthly or annual premium, which is the amount you pay an insurer to cover you for the year. You will need to decide how much you want covered, and how much excess you want to pay – which partly determines the cost of your monthly payments (there are many factors).  

Let's say you were a victim of a burglary, and your windows were smashed and your precious items were stolen – buildings and contents insurance would kick in. You’d have to pay the excess, which is an initial cost (let’s say £250), and then the insurance company would pay the rest – potentially thousands of pounds. If you didn’t have insurance, that massive cost would be all on you. 

When should my home insurance start when buying a house?

You should have buildings insurance in place as soon as you exchange contracts on the property, because even if you’ve not physically moved in – the property is now yours, and you are legally responsible for it. 

As soon as you find out the date you are exchanging contracts, you should start finding a deal. We have tips on how you can find a cheap buildings insurance policy. 

You should get contents insurance at the same time as you get buildings insurance. That way your items can be covered during removal as well. Just let your insurer know. 

Buildings insurance and contents insurance are standard when buying a house, but you may also want to consider some other insurance if you have the money:

• Income and unemployment protection – This insurance covers you if you were to lose your job or not be able to work for a while because of illness or an accident. If you couldn’t pay your mortgage if you or whoever else is on the mortgage stopped getting an income for let's say six months or longer, income protection potentially saves your home. 
• Life insurance – If you, or your partner for example, were to die, would one wage cover your mortgage payments? Buying a house is a really good time to look into life insurance, as that would cover a big chunk or all of the mortgage if the worst were to happen. 
• Flood or storm protection – It feels like more and more we’re seeing these giant storms, which can do all sorts of damage to your property – especially if your property is in an area vulnerable to flooding. Consider getting insurance that covers you.