Q1: Is Home Insurance Compulsory?

Home insurance includes buildings and contents insurance and as a complete product is not deemed compulsory insurance. However, if you are planning to buy your home with a mortgage, your lender will require that you take out buildings’ insurance.

Q2: What does home insurance cover?

Your home insurance policy can be tailored to your individual needs and requirements and cover and restrictions will vary depending on which options you choose. A standard home insurance policy typically contains two main components: building insurance and contents insurance.

• Buildings insurance provides cover for the structure of the home, domestic outbuildings and permanent fixtures.
• Contents insurance provides cover for household goods and personal belongings. Important: Cover and restrictions will vary depending on which option you have chosen.

Some Optional covers available from certain insurers at an additional cost:

• Accidental Damage
• All Risks / Personal Possessions

Q3: What is Accidental Damage?

Accidental damage covers unintentional damage to the building or its contents. For example, putting a foot through the ceiling whilst in the attic above. You can add accidental damage cover as an optional add-on to your policy, to ensure you’ve cover for unexpected damage that’s caused accidentally. Accidental damage can be added to your home insurance, where the home is owner occupied or to renter’s insurance.

Q4: Is my garage content covered in my home insurance?

YES, your garage contents are covered under your home and contents insurance.

Q5: How much should I insure my house for?

Calculating how much insurance cover you will need will depend on the rebuild cost of your home. Buildings insurance will cover you for loss or damage of the property due to fire, flood, subsidence, storms and damage caused by escape of water and oil, so making sure that your property is adequately insured is crucially important. When working out the value of your property consult The Society of Chartered Surveyors Chartered Surveyors Rebuild Calculator

Q6: How much contents cover do I need?

Contents insurance is designed to protect your belongings, and as a general rule, your contents are any items you can take with you if you decided to move house.
When you take out contents insurance you will be asked how much cover you need or what the value of your contents are. As a rule of thumb, anything you would take with you if you moved to a new house should be covered by contents insurance.
When calculating your contents cover you need to consider the total value of the possessions in your home and what it would cost to replace all these items due to, for example, a fire.

Q7: What is accidental damage cover?

Accidental damage can be purchased as an optional add-on to your home insurance, where the home is owner occupied or for renter’s insurance.
Accidental Damage covers unintentional damage to the building or its contents. For example, putting a foot through the ceiling whilst in the attic above, or knocking over the TV.
Accidental Damage is an optional cover which provides protection for events not covered by the normal perils of fire, flood, theft, etc. You can have both accidental damage insurance for buildings and accidental damage cover for contents. When taking out home insurance always check what exactly is covered under accidental damage. Make sure you check the terms and conditions of your policy because if you have accidental damage cover for your building it doesn’t necessarily mean you have accidental damage cover for your contents.

Q8: What is an excess?

An excess is a fixed amount you have to pay if you decide to make a claim on your policy. Check our Insurer comparison table to see the standard excess that applies to your policy. Please note that different excesses apply for certain types of claims so you need to refer to your policy schedule and policy booklet to what excesses apply to your policy.
Some insurers off the option of paying a higher Policy Excess of €500 or €1,000 which could lower your home insurance premium. So if you’re looking to reduce the cost of your home insurance policy, you should look at what your Policy Excess is and consider increasing it to lower the cost. Important to remember then this increases the amount you will be required to pay in the event of a claim.

Q9: I am working from home, am I covered?

Insurers offer cover for home office equipment as standard under the contents cover up to a certain limit in any one policy year. This would include computers, laptops and printers.
There is no need to contact us to let us know you are working from home as your home office equipment is covered as explained above. And don’t worry, if the company you work for has provided you with a computer or laptop, they can be covered also.

Q10: Is my garden equipment and shed covered?

Cover is provided for domestic outbuildings and the contents are covered if securely locked into the outbuildings

Q11: What are All risks cover?

All Risks cover is an optional extension of cover under your policy which protects you against loss or theft of, or accidental damage to, personal valuables such as jewellery, clothing, photographic equipment etc. both inside and outside your home. It also covers you for items you take abroad for up certain number of days. You would need to refer to policy booklet for full details of cover that applies.
There are two types of All Risks cover:

1. Specified All Risks Cover: which allows you to list individual items on your policy and specify their value. Specified items normally include jewellery, hearing aids, bicycles, cameras and other valuables. Each item is covered up to the amount you insure it for.
2. Unspecified All Risks Cover: is an umbrella style cover which allows you to select a total amount that your personal effects will be covered for each year. There is no need to list each item individually. This cover is designed for items such as glasses, mobile phones, handbags etc.
3. Certain limits apply to Unspecified All Risks cover and vary by insurer but are clearly outlined on the policy booklet.

Q12: My house is not standard construction. Can I still get cover?

Arachas specialise in non-standard construction property insurance. It is important that the insurer knows all of the details. You can rely on our advice. Call us on 01 213 5000 and talk to one of our home experts where they will ask you some questions around the cover you require and search for the best cover for you.