Category: Home Insurance

How to Get House Insurance

The first thing you need to do with regard to house insurance is to work out the amount of coverage you require. As a result, you can avoid cover that is above your requirements or, on the contrary, make sure that all your belongings are covered.

Get a House Insurance Quote here.

Policy Excess – House Insurance

Your policy excess is an important component in how insurance companies calculate your premium. Therefore, if you are unsure get some advice.

Get advice from an insurance broker.

Talk to us about the options available by calling us on � 042 9359051.

House Insurance – Cover Options

Buildings and Contents Cover

As the name suggests, this is cover for both your buildings typically covering the main building as well as domestic outbuildings, patios etc. and the contents of your home and domestic outbuildings like personal belongings, valuables and household goods.

As a result, this is the most popular type of house insurance.

Contents Cover

Contents cover only covers the contents of your house and domestic outbuildings and not the actual buildings.

For instance, this type of cover is popular with renters.

Buildings Cover

Buildings cover only covers the domestic buildings of your property and not the contents of such buildings.

As a result, you must also take out contents cover for the contents of your domestic buildings.

House Insurance – Items and buildings that are usually not covered.

You may not be covered in certain circumstances. Therefore, if you have questions about what is and isn’t covered give us a call.

Contents Cover – Items that Typically are Not Covered

There are items that are not covered by content policies. For instance, the following are typically excluded from contents cover:

• Non-domestic buildings like sheds
• Fences
• Gardening equipment
• High-value items valued above a set threshold (these require their own cover)

Circumstances that are Not Typically Covered by Buildings Insurance

Building insurance policies have exemptions that are not covered.  For example, below is a list of some of the exclusions from Buildings cover.

• War and Terrorism
• Damage from an attempted break-in
• Civil unrest

As a result, you must be aware of the circumstance that your policy does not cover you.

In conclusion, if you are not sure about any points relating to home insurance, then just ask your broker. Call us on 042 9359051.

Our qualified team of advisors are happy to help.

Furthermore, you can get an instant house insurance quote online by filling out this online form.

What is Renters Insurance?

Renters insurance is contents only cover for people who rent and who do not require buildings insurance. Therefore, it covers contents such as jewellery, clothes, furniture, electronics and cash.

Renters Insurance Quote

Get a quote for tenant/renters insurance online or by phone.

It only takes about 4 minutes to get a quote online.

Get a Quote Here

or call us: 042 9359051

Renters Insurance in Ireland

In Ireland, more and more people are renting for longer periods of time. Because of this, as people accumulate more valuables it is important to think about covering the contents of rented accommodation against theft, loss or damage.

How to Calculate the Value of Items you wish to insure?

1. Look back at receipts
2. Determine the cost of similar items in the same condition online
3. If you have valuable items use your phone, to take a picture and keep any professional valuations of these items (also take a photo) in a safe place.
4. If you have anything worth a substantial amount it may be worthwhile considering separate cover.

Does My Landlord’s Insurance Cover Me?

Most likely your Landlord has only taken out building insurance which covers damage to the building itself.

As a result, your property or your liability with respect to personal injury is probably not covered by your Landlord’s policy.

Therefore, renters insurance will give you the cover you require.

Talk to one of our advisors today on 042 9359051.

We are delighted to answer any questions you have.

If you are a landlord you should consider taking out a rented property or Landlord insurance policy. As a result, you will have cover for certain occurrences that relate to your property.

What is Landlord Insurance?

This type of policy is different to standard home insurance. It covers landlords for loss of rental income if the property becomes unfit to live in (the amount varies per policy) along with other coverage.

Additional Coverage – Protect Your Investment

The right policy will also cover the landlord if alternative accommodation is required.

Coverage type and the amount covered varies from policy to policy. Therefore, you should shop around. We are happy to help you find the policy that meets your needs.

Multiple Properties

If you have only one property or if you are a landlord who owns multiple properties we can help you save on your landlord insurance. After all, comparing quotes from multiple insurers will help you find the coverage that you require at the best price. Give us a call on 0818 224433 / 042 9359051

Types of Coverage for Landlord Insurance

Many Landlords opt for buildings only insurance. However, in the event there are substantial furnishings and appliances that you own in the rented property, you may want to also include contents insurance.

Many policies include the following as standard, for this reason, be sure to read what additional coverage your policy includes:

1. Loss of rent and the cost of alternative accommodation if nobody can life in the home due to damage caused by insured perils such as storm, fire, smoke damage etc.

2. Fire brigade charges up to a specified amount.

3. Replacing locks, including keys, to any outside door of the home if the keys have been stolen.

For landlord insurance with building insurance and optional content insurance, simply fill out our landlord insurance quote form or give us a call on 0818 224433 / 042 9359051.

If you have any questions we are delighted to help. Our insurance advisors can help you find the right policy for your rented property or if you have multiple properties, for your property portfolio.

We have vast experience finding suitable insurance policies that meet the needs of landlords. As a result, we can help you find a rented home insurance policy that meets your requirements.

Get a Quote Now.

With the weather improving, we’re all far more likely to be leaving the house for the beach or out meeting up with friends and enjoying the sun! The last thing you want to come home to is a burgled house. Implementing some home security measures can not only reduce the risk of burglary while you’re out and about, but can also reduce your home insurance premium. Here are some useful home security tips:

• Many burglaries happen because of an unlocked door or window, so make sure all are locked before leaving the house. Don’t leave keys in locks
• Make sure you lock any side gates, the garden shed and the garage. Don’t leave ladders out or anything else that can be used to climb on and over walls/gates, or used as a tool to break into your home
• Don’t leave a spare key under the mat/flowerpot, this is the first place a thief will look
• If you don’t have an alarm, consider getting one that’s easily seen outside as this will act as a deterrent
• Don’t leave any valuables or your car keys visible through a window
• If you’re going out at night time, leave a light on. Install external motion sensor lighting

Going away on holiday

In addition to the above, here are some other useful tips if you’re going away for any length of time:

• Ask a neighbour to take any parcel deliveries for you so they aren’t left sitting on the doorstep
• Get some timer plugs put on lights around the house to come on in the evening
• Don’t post any holiday-related posts on social media until you’re home, those 500 “friends” on Facebook will know you’re away!

In the UK, almost half of the areas fast-tracked for new housing in the UK are on floodplains. To make matters worse, many policy experts claim that Flood Re, the UK government’s scheme designed to mitigate high insurance costs for tenants and homeowners at risk of flooding, will only apply to the 1-2% of properties most at risk of flooding.

The situation in Ireland is not much better. The Cabinet has agreed a number of flood mitigation measures – including a mix of heavy engineering and dredging, additional pumps and more walls – to help control flooding along the Shannon and elsewhere. But it is questionable whether this latest investment will have any lasting impact. For example, while large-scale dredging to deepen river channels might improve things in the short and medium term, many engineers question long-term sustainability. The Shannon is very flat and flows slowly except during flooding, and is therefore not a suitable candidate for large-scale dredging.

Various flood mitigation options are being discussed. Engineers warn that focusing on one point on a river catchment may simply move the problem down- or upstream to cause flooding elsewhere. Urban flooding can be controlled by heavy engineering, including walls and embankments, but water flow upstream may be slowed, causing river levels to rise. Contained water may increase water flows arriving in downstream towns and villages. Flooding bogs and using them as reservoirs to lower river levels sounds like a good idea, but bogs would fill very rapidly if a river was in full flood. Once the bog reached its capacity, it could hold no more.

Experts claim that a small amount of planning and a relatively minor investment could have given those living along the Shannon 10 days’ warning that flooding was on the way. Met Éireann delivers highly accurate predictions looking four to five days ahead. Even after the heavy rains in Storm Desmond were forecast, it took another four or five days before rivers reached crisis levels and heavy flooding hit. People living in known at-risk areas could have had 8-10 days to prepare.

As in the UK, flooding in Ireland is less about water and more about poor planning. And like in the UK, Ireland continues to build housing, roads and services on river flood plains, even though many of these houses can never be adequately protected from floods. The obvious alternative of moving homes to higher ground is expensive, and carries a high emotional and financial cost. At the same time, the risk of flooding is more imminent in light of the severe weather produced by climate change.

Ireland’s latest round of flooding has shown again that we are unlikely in the long run to hold back the flood. Instead of promising us quick fixes, the government would be better advised to place greater emphasis on better planning.

Of course, these discussion about flood mitigation measures fail to address another burning issue: is it right that people who live in flood-prone areas should be unable to secure home insurance? Irish insurers are cracking down on offering flood cover to properties in flood areas, leaving many Irish homeowners having to foot the bill for the damage themselves. If figures published by industry group Insurance Ireland are correct, about 2% of Irish home insurance policies exclude flood cover. In other words, a staggering 50,000 properties in Ireland’s flood-risk areas are unable to get flood risk cover.

The real question is: how will the Irish government address this?

Moved into a new home and thinking of home insurance? We answer some of your initial home insurance questions.

Is home insurance compulsory?

In a word, no.

However, you will not be able to secure a mortgage unless you have buildings insurance in place. And even if you are lucky enough not to have a mortgage, you would be well advised to have home insurance so that you will be able to claim for repairs or replacement of buildings, contents and valuables in the event of a fire, a burglary or other damage.

And while tenants are not obliged to take out home insurance, they would still need to insure the contents of their home.

Is it really worth shopping around for your home insurance?

It most certainly is. Ireland’s Competition and Consumer Protection Commission recently carried out a house insurance price comparison, and the results show wide discrepancies between premiums demanded by different insurers.

For example, there was a difference of over 420 euro for the same property – buildings and contents insurance on a 3-bed bungalow in Co. Cork with rebuilding cost of €200,000 and contents worth €50,000.

Is it always possible to get your home insured?

No, not always. The survey carried out by Ireland’s Competition and Consumer Protection Commission found that several insurance companies would not even quote for a property where there had been a previous claim for €8,000 following damage caused by a defective water tank. None of the eight insurance companies surveyed agreed to provide a quote for one property that was liable to flooding and where a flood damage claim was previously made.

My dog bites somebody. Am I covered?

The simple answer is yes, if you have home insurance. Your home insurance policy will cover you, as owner or occupier for any amounts you become legally liable to pay as damages for bodily injury. In fact, this cover extends beyond the boundaries of your property. So if your dog escaped from your garden and bit somebody, or caused an accident resulting in bodily injury or damage to property, your household insurance policy would come to your assistance. One exception – all home insurance policies exclude dogs specified in regulations under the Control of Dogs Act 1986 or any amendments thereto.

A word of warning, if your dog bites somebody or causes an accident, report it immediately to your insurance company even if you don’t think a claim will arise.