Have You Insured Your House and its Contents?

Your house, furniture & fittings, consumer durables and jewellery will, put together, amount to a very large sum. Consequently, any loss or damage to them is going to not only hurt you emotionally but also financially. Here, household insurance policy comes to your rescue.

A household insurance policy provides cover for
a) Damage to the Structure of your house and
b) Loss/damage of Personal property inside the house [such as furniture, clothing, computer, electronic goods, jewellery etc.]


The risks against which a typical household policy will provide you cover include
- Fire and allied perils (i.e. fire, lightening, floods, earthquake, riots, landslide, pipe-bursting, etc.)
- Burglary and theft

Besides you can optionally buy cover for 
- Terrorism
- Rent for alternate accommodation

Any damage or loss due to war, wear & tear, willful damage etc. is, however, not covered. Also excluded is the loss of cash, bullion, paintings, works of art and antiques. Further, if you are away and the house is locked for 30/60 days, the burglary cover will not be allowed.

Such covers are not expensive. The premium cost would typically be a few thousand rupees only.

The structure can be insured for 10 years. One important point to note here is that you will get only the cost of rebuilding your home of similar construction (i.e. Reinstatement Value) and not the market value of the property.

For the household appliances and personal effects, you will get the cost of buying a similar item of the same age. Hence, the amount of cover would be current cost of the contents minus the depreciation (there is no depreciation for jewellery but must be supported by a valuation report). The contents can be insured for 5 years.

Needless to mention, understand the terms & conditions and read the fine print very carefully before you buy the policy.
(e.g. theft by your domestic servant may not be covered under the policy.)