No Home Insurance? Know the risks...
Leather sofa in that corner, wide screen TV in the other, laptop and i-Pod over there.
Mmmm, the joys of your own place. Minimalist? Cosy? Modern? Retro?
Whatever your place looks like, whether you own or rent, being able to get bits and pieces as you go and making your stamp on the place is half the fun.
Bet you have good locks on the door, possibly window locks too? You can never be too careful in this day and age. Got insurance? Yes insurance? Would you believe that out of the 25 million or so households within the UK , a staggering number of homes do not have any insurance whatsoever!
Are you one of these people? You may think – ahh, but I don't have a PC, flat screen TV, i-Pod, etc etc. I've literally got a 2 nd hand sofa, old bed and I spend my money on going out, having a good time. There's nothing in here anyone would want to nick so why get contents insurance? Let's think about it though…
- Latest Camper shoes
- Nice Diesel coat, oh and the Duffel coat from last year,
- Leather jacket (going out)
- 4 pairs of jeans
- Holiday stuff + sunglasses
- Nice undies
- Suits for work
- Gym kit
- Trainers (x 5)
- Great CD collection (500 at least last count)
- Stereo
- Books
- Old sofa
- Bedding
- Kitchen plates, pots, pans (bottle opener!)
- Toiletries
Nothing worth nicking? You'd be surprised. Imagine coming home to find it all gone (except the rubbish sofa etc). Even if you've never bought designer gear in your life, you must wear something! How much would it cost you to refurbish your wardrobe? Get new bedroom, bathroom and kitchen stuff? Replace all those cds and books? With no contents insurance, following a theft, fire or flood damage, you'd probably be hard pushed to replace the lot if necessary.
If your pad is yours then buildings insurance is also a good idea too. Any damage to the building itself is likely to be costly to repair. Buildings insurance also covers fixtures and fittings in the bathroom and kitchen too in case you crack the bath or sink for example.
Don't be one of the few who thinks it won't happen to them. When you insure contents, you can stipulate how much cover you want (if you don't have much) or opt for a larger amount of cover, roughly based on the number of bedrooms you have in your home.
If you've got it, make sure you look after it. After all, it's your stuff.
The Yahoo! House Price Centre is a free service from Yahoo! UK and Ireland that allows you to discover the price paid for residential property sold in England and Wales right back to april 2000, and in Scotland back to June 2003. This information is drawn from the publicly accessible Land Registries that record this information on behalf of the government.