If you have recently purchased the property the Home Buyers Report should include a surveyor's recommendation on the sum required for insurance purposes. This can appear under the heading of insurance, rebuild or reinstatement values.

If you have owned the property for a number of years, general guidance on the rebuild cost can be found at http://abi.bcis.co.uk/. This guidance has been prepared by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors on behalf of the Association of British Insurers (the ABI). By entering basic details about your property using the Rebuilding Cost Calculater you will be given an estimate of the current rebuild cost for your home. Please be aware that this is designed to give you a good indication of the rebuilding cost of your property. If you are in any doubt then you should approach a surveyor to provide you with a rebuild valuation specific to your property.

If the building is a listed property, or of unusual or non standard design or construction we would recommend that you always instruct a surveyor to undertake a survey and provide you with the current rebuild figure.

An excess is the amount a policyholder is required to pay towards the cost of any claim. You may be asked to pay this amount to a company that has carried out repairs on behalf of your insurer, or alternatively the sum will be deducted from any settlement received. The excess payable will be the combined total of the Compulsory and Voluntary Excesses applying on the policy.

Compulsory Excess

A compulsory excess is the excess applied by the insurer, it cannot be reduced or removed from the policy. In addition to the standard compulsory excess, additional compulsory excesses may apply in certain circumstances, ie. if there is a history of flooding or for subsidence claims. In the event of a claim all excesses applying to the section of cover under which the claim is being made are added to any voluntary excess selected by the client.

Voluntary Excess

A voluntary excess is an additional amount the policyholder chooses to pay in the event of a claim in order to achieve a reduction in their premium. In the event of a claim the voluntary excess will be added to any compulsory excesses applying.

We may be able to provide cover for non UK residents for properties in the UK subject to circumstances. Please contact us on 01224 848111 if you require a quote.

Cover for a property that has previously been affected by flooding or subsidence is likely to be provided by a specialist insurer rather than in the general market.  Insurance is particularly important if there is a mortgage lender to consider as they will want to ensure that your property is covered.

Before any new insurer would be prepared to offer terms, they will want to know when the damage last occurred and any previous history, the repairs that were undertaken and the cost if known, and any preventative measures that have since been put in place either by yourself, the previous owner or local authority.

It is likely that there will be a higher policy excess applied to that section of the policy both on the buildings and contents sections.

Some insurers may give a discount where the property is protected by an approved and annually maintained burglar alarm system. However, if a discount has been given the insurer may apply additional terms requiring the alarm to be set every time the property is left unoccupied and also when tenants retire for the night. If this term has been applied and not adhered to it may result in a claim being rejected or not paid in full.

In some instances the installation of an approved and maintained alarm system may be a requirement before cover will be granted.

If you are having work carried out on your property you must have an agreement in place with the contractor or project manager/architect as to who will provide insurance cover whilst the work is being undertaken. Ideally this agreement should be in place prior to work commencing.

If the contractor is not able to provide cover it may be possible to arrange this with your home insurer depending on what type of work is being carried out. However, they may wish to impose additional terms or exclusions to the cover while work is being carried out.

It is important that you make your insurers aware of any work that is being carried out, or that you plan to carry out on your property regardless of whether you require them to provide you with additional cover.

If neither your contractor nor your existing insurer can provide cover for the property we do have access to specialist insurers who will arrange a policy for the duration of the works, special terms may apply. Please contact us on 01224 848111 if you require a quote for this type of cover or if you have an existing policy with us and are about to undertake work on the property.

Some examples of cover granted under Standard perils include loss caused by Fire, Explosion, Lightning, Storm, Earthquake, Theft, Malicious damage, Escape of water or oil, Subsidence, Heave & Landslip and Impact from vehicles or aeroplanes. It would also include cover for injuries to visitors to the property where you, the policyholder was deemed liable. Full details of the cover provided will be included within your policy document but please ask our advisor if you are unsure.

In most cases, for an additional cost you can extend the cover provided to include Accidental Damage to property owned by you - please ask for details.

In most cases tenants will need to arrange cover for their own contents and personal possessions. Please refer to your tenancy agreement to check what, if any cover you are obliged to provide for your tenant.

Accidental Damage cover provides protection against costs incurred through damage that you, your family members or visitors may cause to the structure of your Building or to your Contents. Examples of incidents which would be covered under this extension include putting your foot through the loft floor damaging the ceiling below, leaving a tap running leading to water damage or carpet spillages. Such incidents would not be included under a policy taken out to cover Standard Perils only.

Additional charges will apply and in certain circumstances this cover might not be available.

Our legal protection will provide you access to legal advice and assistance in exercising your legal rights in a range of situations. Some examples might include:

Legal costs following disputes with tenants
Evicting squatters
Recovery of outstanding rent owed by your tenant

The cover also gives you access to a 24 hour helpline service providing advice on legal and tax matters and online access to over 150 legal documents for your use.

Your mortgage lender will be looking for your property to be insured for a range of perils and for their interest to be noted on the policy. You may need to provide them with a copy of your insurance schedule for their records.

The standard products that we provide will meet with the requirements of your lender. If any aspect of the risk has been deemed non-standard, resulting in the cover being restricted in some way, it would be important to discuss this with your lender before proceeding. Examples might be properties in an area deemed to be at risk of flooding where the insurer has applied a higher excess to that element of the policy.

This is dependant on the type of floor covering.  The general rule is that if the covering is glued or nailed down and could not be removed without damage being caused to the flooring then it would be covered under the buildings section of the policy.  Carpets and click locked styles of wooden flooring (so long as it is not glued!) would be included under the contents section.

Your home may be listed or in a conservation area, it may have unusual or bespoke features and may be of non standard construction, all of which must be taken into account when calculating your buildings sum insured for rebuild.  A standard insurance policy may not be suitable so it is important that a detailed valuation undertaken by a specialist is sought.  Both the English Heritage and Historic Scotland websites may be able to confirm where your property is listed and if so the grade of listing applying. You will be asked for the listed building status of your property when obtaining a quotation.

All properties require regular maintenance, however older properties may need more attention and it should be noted that wear and tear is a general exclusion from home insurance policies.

Damage caused by pets is not usually covered by buildings or contents insurance policies

Please provide us with the renewal invitation from your previous insurer. Alternatively, provide us with the name and contact details of your previous insurer along with your policy number and we will try to obtain verbal confirmation of your entitlement on your behalf. If your insurers are unwilling to provide this to us we may ask you to contact them directly and request written evidence of your entitlement.

The total sum insured for the building should include your home, the garage, sheds, greenhouses, swimming pools, ponds and fountains, patios, paths, drives, fences and hedges, underground cables and pipes, sewage tank, the fixtures and fittings, such as solar panels and satellite dishes, and the decoration, wallpaper, paint etc.

During office hours, 9.00am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday, please call our Claims department on 01224 848388 or email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Out with office hours your call will be answered by our manned messaging service. Your details will be passed to us and we will return your call at the earliest opportunity.

If you have an emergency out with office hours contact the emergency claim number in your policy booklet to receive advice on what to do next. If you cannot find the number you must deal with the situation as best you can in order to minimise damage and safeguard your tenant.

Please contact us on 01224 848111 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. so we can issue our cancellation documents for you to complete.  Alternatively you can write to us at the address below requesting cancellation of your policy, confirming the date and the reason for cancellation and enclosing your current schedule. Please note, we cannot back-date cancellation of your policy.

H&R Insurance
H&R House
Woodburn Road
Blackburn
Aberdeen
AB21 0PS

You have a 14 day right to withdraw.  If the policy is cancelled within the first 14 days you will be charged a pro-rata premium for the days you have been on cover, a £30 broker fee and any administration charges made by your insurer.  You will be informed of full details regarding cancellation and charges before purchasing a policy.  Information can also be found within our Terms of Business Agreement and the insurer Key Facts and policy booklet.

The amount refunded at the time of cancellation varies between insurers. The cancellation terms applying to the insurer we quote for you will be advised to you prior to you purchasing the cover. Details can also be found in the insurer Policy Document and Key Facts. A £30 broker cancellation fee will apply.  

If you are paying by instalments please be aware that sometimes you may not have paid enough to cover the time on risk and administration charges. In this event you will be asked to pay the remaining amount outstanding at the time of cancellation.

There will be no refund and the full premium will be payable if a claim has been made.

Renewal invitations are sent out around 21 days ahead of your renewal date.  If you have not received your renewal invitation within 10 days of your renewal date please call us on 01224 848111.

Please call us with the details of the purchases to check that you have adequate cover in place, or to arrange additional cover where required.

Please call us to discuss the change in your circumstances so that we can check whether this will have any impact on the cover you have in place.

Please call us with your new mortgage lenders details including the new mortgage account number or reference number so we can amend the details and provide you with a new schedule should your new mortgage lender require a copy.

Cover will continue but after the number of days stated in the policy documents the property will be defined as unoccupied and the insurer will have to be notified.  The perils covered will be reduced to the cover mentioned in the policy documents.

A separate Legal expenses policy including rent guarantee cover will be required and is subject to you having done a credit check on the prospective tenant, having taken two forms of indentification and obtained a written employers reference.

The policy will pay for alternative accommodation / loss of rent in the event that the property becomes uninhabitable following a material damage claim for an insured event.

Having a single policy in place (to which you can add or delete properties) makes it far easier for you as a landlord to manage. One renewal date, one set of documents and of course there are large savings to be made in the premium compared to individual policies.