We answer some of your initial home insurance questions
Caeva O'Callaghan | December 16th, 2015
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.