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Do Home Improvements Push Up Your Insurance?
Author : Mark Bartley
Home improvements can be an ideal way to transform your house, make additional space for a growing family or be a cheaper and less stressful alternative to moving house. From creating an extra bedroom or study to building a summer house in the garden, home improvements can vary and consequently can have a significant effect on the cost of your household insurance. Before you work out the cost and the feasibility of any home improvement it is important to find out if those improvements could have an affect on the cost of any home insurance related to the property. It is also worth considering that some home improvements are more likely to affect home insurance than others, although what will and won't push up the price of your cover can vary across insurers, as can the actual amount you pay.
Most home improvements that affect the structure, whether that's knocking through a wall to create a larger space or adding a conservatory to the side of your home, are more likely to affect your buildings insurance cover than your contents insurance. For example, a new study may affect the cost of your buildings insurance, but the items in it would usually be covered already by your contents insurance, unless they are new items of value or the space is designed to have a separate business use. For things like having your garden redesigned it could be worth getting separate specialist cover.
One of the first things to do before carrying out any home improvement is to establish whether you can do it yourself or if it is necessary to get some or all of the work done professionally. When you change the structure of your house or even create some simple improvements, it is important to ensure the paperwork side of the project is acceptable for insurance purposes. Any accidents or problems with the home improvement project will need to be covered, and for special jobs any workers – including architects, engineers, builders and plumbers - will need to have the correct registration and insurance when working on your home.
While a garage conversion may not necessarily add value to your home as it could leave the property without a garage, most home improvements could add some kind of extra value to your house. This could therefore affect the cost of your buildings insurance, as the cost of rebuilding your home would be increased to take into account the additions you have made. Many people find they can add an extra 15% to the financial worth of their home by converting their attic into a play room or guest bedroom.
For many home owners, home improvements both enhance the use of the property and add value to it for a fraction of the cost of moving to a bigger house. But it is worth factoring a possible increase in insurance premium to into the cost of the improvements and account for that potential increase in value, although that increase is unlikely to have a significant impact on the overall saving compared to the stresses and associated costs with moving house.
Home improvements and considerations for your exiting insurance cover.Before planning possible home improvements it is essential to find out from your insurer how they could affect your home insurance cover. It is also worth getting a quote from another provider, as the rules and costs of cover can vary across the insurance companies. It is best to approach any home improvements realistically. Expensive and difficult to build additions to your home could increase your insurance costs significantly while not necessarily adding extra value to your property. It is better to be practical and choose home improvements that are cost effective, and avoid anything too complicated unless you're prepared to do a lot more work and possibly pay a lot more in home insurance premiums. If in doubt, talk to a specialist, as expert advice can prove to be invaluable in such a major household decision.
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Get recent information on home insurance and other insurance products in this series by Mark Bartley.
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Tags: insurance, home insurance, house insurance
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Submitted : 2010-04-30 Word Count : 750 Popularity: 67 Times Viewed: 10
