What is Home Insurance?

A home insurance is a property insurance policy to help you cover your own home or rented apartment, and your personal belongings within, from unforeseen circumstances such as burglaries, fires, floods, storms and explosions.  Buying a house is one of the most vital investments people spend all their life working towards. Yet, there are so many people who forget to secure and protect for this very important investment in their life. From your cutting-edge gadgets and beautiful interiors to your jewellery and other valuable belongings; your home is more than just its mere physical property and is a lot more valuable than you imagine it to be. Home insurance covers expenses that occur when something unexpected or accidental happens to your home and/or your belongings. That means that you’ll receive financial protection against losses due to theft, fire, wind damage and much more. Home insurance or property insurance safeguards from financial losses incurred by damage to the structure or contents or both due to natural calamities like floods, fire, earthquakes and man-made events like theft, burglary and malicious activities. Damage to property or its contents can be a substantial financial blow to one, in terms of expenses for repair and renovation. However, securing your home with the right home insurance policy can save you during such a crisis. Remember, natural calamities like earthquakes and floods are unpredictable and don’t come with a prior warning. Rebuilding a damaged home or replacing its contents can be financially stressful. Most parts of our country are vulnerable to natural calamities that affect lives, livelihoods and property in a big way. As the rainy season approaches, the probability of being hit by floods and landslides also increases.

Types of Home Insurance in India

To suit the varied needs of every individual customer, leading home insurance companies and banks in India offer a broad range of home insurance policies. These varied types of home insurance policies help customers to understand the necessity of home insurance and choose the right policy according to their requirements. The primary and most popular types of home insurance policies offered in India have been listed down, in a comprehensive manner.

1.Standard Fire and Special Perils Policy

👉🏻Natural calamities like lightning, fire, volcanic eruptions, bush fire, forest fire, earthquakes, storms, floods.
👉🏻Damages caused due to explosion/implosion, man-made anti-social activities like strikes, riots, damage caused with malicious intent
👉🏻Damage caused by direct contact of rail/road, vehicle. -Damage caused due to the insured house, with your own vehicle, is not included in this cover.
👉🏻Damage caused due to bursting or/and overflowing of water tanks, pipes and apparatus
👉🏻Subsidence including rockslide and landslide
👉🏻Missile testing operations
👉🏻Damage caused due to leakage from automatic sprinkler installations

2.Home Structure/Building Insurance

This type of home insurance covers the structure of your house from any kinds of dangers and risks. In addition to this, the policy also protects any permanent fixtures within the house. This includes your kitchen and bathroom fittings, and also the ceiling/roof of the insured house. Some houses have garages, an outdoor room/house or sheds. This type of insurance usually extends to these structures as well

3.Public Liability Coverage

If any guests or third party experience damage caused to them or their property inside the insured’s home, then this type of home insurance policy provides coverage against the same.

4.Personal Accident

This type of home insurance covers you and your family. A compensation is given in case of permanent disablement or death of the insured person due to accidental or physical injury, even if it has happened anywhere is the world.

5.Burglary & Theft

In case of an occurrence of burglary or theft in the insured house, if any valuable contents are stolen or damaged, the policy covers you for it.

6.Contents Insurance

It is not just the house, that you have insured, but also the contents inside the house on which you would have spent a lot of time and money deserve equal protection. This type of home insurance policy protects the goods inside your house from damages and loss owing to theft, fire, flood and other such mishaps. Your documents, portable equipment, jewelry, TV, refrigerator, etc. are covered. It does help you when you have to replace the interiors of house if your house is flooded, or has been burnt to ashes by break out of fire.

7.Tenants’ Insurance

As a tenant you would have obviously rented a house or flat. In that case, it is the wisest option to not opt for a buildings cover, instead you need to focus entirely on protecting your contents. This type of insurance is a must have for every tenant. Though you live in a rented house, it is very much yours, at least, till the time you reside in it.

8.Landlords’ insurance

As a landlord, the maintenance and upkeep of the building/apartment/structure of the house (that you are renting out) are clearly your responsibility. A standard buildings insurance policy usually aren’t exclusively designed for the need of landlords, because there are also other residents who live in the building. As a landlord you need something specifically designed for landlords. Hence, a landlords’ insurance policy is ideal for you and it also covers things like loss of rent and public liability.

What is not covered ?

👉🏻Destruction of property willfully.
👉🏻Damages to property due to wear and tear.
👉🏻Loss to property due to war.
👉🏻Loss to property unoccupied for more than a certain specified period.
👉🏻Money in the form of cash, antiques and collectibles.

Benefits of Home Insurance?

Home insurance can offer the following benefits:

👉🏻Extensive protection: With home insurance, you can not only insure the structure of your home but also other extensions of your house such as garage, shed, and compound too. Nowadays, you can also opt for policies that allow you to pick add–ons like content insurance and protect your furniture, electronics, and home appliances as well. Depending on your policy, you may either get a replacement of the goods or a reimbursement.

👉🏻Coverage against natural disasters: Natural calamities are a massive concern for homeowners everywhere. A natural disaster, like an earthquake or flood, can severely damage your house. Managing the expenses of repairing a home damaged due to such events can be extremely burdensome. One of the major advantages of house insurance is that you enjoy coverage against losses caused due to such unforeseeable events.

👉🏻Coverage against theft: Theft is another major concern that leaves homeowners worried. Fortunately, home insurance also covers you against losses due to burglary or theft. Some policies also cover the property of your domestic employees under coverage for burglary.

👉🏻Cost–efficient protection: At first, home insurance might seem like an unwanted expense. However, investing in a home insurance policy can pay off when you need it the most. Nowadays, several insurers offer home insurance policies at a competitive premium. These premium rates are definitely worth paying when you look at the coverage that you get in return.

👉🏻Liability coverage: Your home insurance policy will also cover you against any claims that may arise out of accidental death or damage to property faced by a third–party, including domestic workers