What is Homeowners Insurance?
Home insurance, also commonly called homeowner’s insurance, is a type of property insurance that covers a private residence.
Homeowners Insurance In South Africa?
Homeowners insurance
For comprehensive homeowners insurance cover, great benefits and awesome service, make sure to get your homeowners insurance sorted at OUTsurance.
Why you need homeowners insurance
If you’re a homeowner, future homeowner or body corporate, you’d most definitely want to get homeowners insurance in place as soon as you possibly can. Why? Simply because you’ll need to ensure that any structural damage to your building gets fixed as soon as possible before this causes further damage. The problem with this is that you may not always have cash in hand to get the damage fixed and even if you do – this may just cost you a small fortune.
As a matter of fact, if you’re buying a new home, the bank will require you to put buildings insurance in place.
Thankfully, at OUTsurance, you can get a comprehensive homeowners insurance package that will cover you for unforeseen damage to your building as well as damage to all of the fixtures and fittings in your home. There is no flood, fire, explosion, storm or any act of nature big enough to stop us from providing you with homeowners insurance cover.
So, why wait? Simply give us a call on 08 600 60 000 and let us provide you with a great homeowners insurance package!
Understanding the different types of home insurance
There are three types of insurance homeowners can consider. These are namely; homeowners building insurance, home contents insurance and personal valuables insurance.
1. Homeowners Building Insurance
Home insurance is also known as building insurance. It is a policy which specifically covers the building structure of a home against accidental loss or damage caused by fire, theft or natural disasters like floods.
Depending on the insurance company, the cover can also extend to include other structures like your garages, greenhouses and swimming pools, as well as permanent fixtures around your house like baths, toilets and fitted kitchens.
Some policy suppliers also offer Personal Liability Cover in addition to the building insurance policy. This is to specifically protect property owners from any third party claims. The Personal Liability Cover offers financial protection for property owners should a third party lay a claim against a homeowner for accidental death, injury or illness which may occur on their property. It also offers homeowners financial protection for accidental loss or damage to a third party’s property.
2. Home Contents Insurance
While homeowners insurance protects against loss or damage to the physical structure of your home, it does not cover what’s inside, which is why there is Home Contents Insurance.
Home contents insurance is designed to cover your household goods against loss or damage caused by accidents like theft, burglary, fire, malicious damage, and/or natural disasters like storm and flood damage amongst others.
These household goods include the likes of furniture, curtains, home appliances and clothing. Fixed items within your home however, such as a tap or an immovable carpet are not generally covered by home contents insurance.
3. Personal Valuables Insurance
Personal Valuables insurance is an independent policy separate from homeowners insurance and home contents insurance. This policy covers any personal valuables that a homeowner would usually carry or wear outside of their home, like clothing, handbags, laptops, bicycles or even jewellery.
The policy has two types of cover, namely, specified items and non-specified items. The non-specified items policy covers a standard list of general items and will pay up to a certain amount should any loss or damage occur. The specified items policy allows you to individually insure your most expensive items, like cell phones and laptops against accidental loss or damage and will compensate up to the amount specified in your policy schedule.
Is home insurance compulsory?
While there is no specific law which makes home insurance compulsory, most banks make it an obligatory requirement for homeowners who are in need of a home loan.
When you apply for a home loan, the bank will request that you take out a comprehensive insurance policy to the value of your home. The purpose of this is to protect you (and the bank) from the risk of structural damage to your property. Should something unfortunate happen to your property, like having it burn down, the bank would want to know that home insurance is in place to cover such a catastrophe.
Remember, you don’t necessarily have to take the homeowners insurance that your bank offers, but it is still compulsory for you to prove that you do have this type of cover in place should your home be financed through a bank.
While mortgage providers do make homeowners building insurance compulsory, other property-related insurance policies, like Home Contents Insurance or Personal Valuables Insurance are not mandatory. It’s always a good idea to get insurance coverage, even if you are not financing your home through a bank. Insurance cover on your property is essential as you may not always have surplus funds to cover the costs of rebuilding your home, should something unfortunate occur.
Why home insurance is important
Aside from offering financial protection, there are many other benefits of home insurance:
- Should your house get damaged, you can get repairs done in a timeous manner and don’t have to wait an extensive period to rake up the necessary funds.
- If you have an emergency covered loss, home insurance will provide emergency repair services to protect and prevent your home from further damage.
- If you can’t live in your home because of a mandatory evacuation, your insurance policy will cover your temporary living expenses – provided that your insurance claim is approved.
- Some policy suppliers also offer a no-claim rewards incentive where homeowners can reclaim cash back after a specified number of premiums are paid.
- A number of policy suppliers also provide the option to include unique provisions above and beyond the normal coverage offered, to effectively accommodate homeowners.
What is the cost of homeowners insurance?
It is difficult to provide a specific figure of what property owners can expect to pay for home insurance. This is because the monthly premium paid for any insurance policy is tailored in accordance to each individual. The cost is calculated by weighing up a number of factors such as the individual’s personal circumstances, the value of the person’s property as well as any additional specific requirements that may be included in that particular person’s policy.
It’s important to take charge of your finances. Shopping around for your insurance premium is essential to ensure that you get the best deal. Even if you do have an insurance policy in place, you can still shop around and move your policy to a company that offers you a better deal.
Consider liaising with an independent property valuation expert or by visiting an insurance comparison website online. Doing so will provide you with essential information to help find the most suitable policy for you.
When insuring your home for its market value, it’s also important to keep in mind that replacement costs will differ in accordance with a variety of factors, such as the location of a property, as well as the property’s design and finishes.
What is the best home insurance in South Africa?
The best insurance companies in South Africa
# | Insurer | 2019 |
---|---|---|
1 | OUTsurance | 81.5 |
2 | Virseker | 83.2 |
3 | Old Mutual Insure | 81.2 |
4 | Momentum | 77.8 |