What's it for?

If you have a mortgage, your lender will insist that your property (and their security) is protected by buildings insurance. It usually covers your property against loss or damage from many causes, including but not limited to; fire, flood or subsidence. Damage to fixed sanitaryware forming part of the building, as well as domestic outbuildings such as sheds, greenhouses and garages.

If you purchase a leasehold property (such as a flat in a block of flats) the freeholder may have arranged buildings insurance for the whole block, in which case you may not need your own buildings policy.

What is covered?

The standard cover through Legal & General includes up to £800,000 rebuilding costs provided the property is a house or bungalow, is of standard construction, built after 1849 and has no more than 5 bedrooms. If your property does not meet this criteria we can still offer insurance through the Select option. In the event of a claim, you pay the first £100 for each and every claim or in the event of escape of water, an excess of £250, or in the case of subsidence, heave or landslip an excess of £1,000. Your belongings are not covered – these need to be covered separately with contents insurance – see Contents insurance.

Home Emergency Cover of up to £150 is also included as standard to cover call out fees, labour and materials following a call out to make your home secure following an emergency such as a burst pipe.

Keeping costs down

If you have held insurance before and have not claimed on the policy then you might qualify for a no claims discount. Your Security Financial Services adviser will be happy to discuss all aspects of this insurance in more detail.

More Information

This is only a summary of the cover - limitations and exclusions apply. Further details of what is and isn't covered are available in Legal & General's Key Features Document. For insurance business we arrange policies exclusively from Legal & General.