House insurance is specifically designed to cover your house and its contents against a number of possible eventualities. House insurance normally consists of buildings insurance and contents insurance.
Buildings insurance covers property should it be destroyed by fire, flooding or subsidence and the amount paid out will depend on how much the house would cost to rebuild. If you have added extensions since taking out your policy you need to tell the insurer. This type of policy does not cover the contents of the house, which are dealt with by contents insurance cover.
The cost of buildings insurance varies greatly, so it pays to shop around. Often, you can make a saving by purchasing your buildings insurance and contents insurance together from the same source. Also, remember that as with car insurance, there is normally an excess, which is the value of the claim you agree to pay yourself; the higher the agreed excess the lower the premiums and vice versa.
Contents insurance provides cover for damage to, or loss of, your house contents, such as appliances, furniture, jewellery and other movable possessions. It can also cover possessions such as bicycles and cameras when they are being used by you away from the house.
Fire and theft are the basic items covered and you get the cover you pay for; for example, cover for accidental damage would add to the premium. When taking items on holiday with you, these may be included in the policy already or you might have to take out a separate travel insurance policy to cover them.