At the heart of any successful home renovation project is the renovation insurance that safeguards the existing structure and fabric of the building from loss or damage.
It is important not to lose sight of this critical safety net at a time when many people who are emerging from the restrictions and privations of lockdown look to extend their home to create more space, make better use of its internal layout, or create a home office.
While planning consent, architectural and engineering input, and your budget are all going to be important factors in any renovation project, underpinning them all and lending the whole undertaking the security you need is renovation insurance.
Insurance to the fore
With the importance of insurance to the fore, when you are planning any renovation project, therefore, consider the status of your home insurance cover – essentially, does it provide the cover you continue to need?
Unless your idea of renovation amounts to little more than a quick lick of paint, probably the best way of establishing what cover you do or do not have is to ask your current home insurance provider.
In some cases, your existing cover will be unaffected by your plans to refurbish or even remodel your home.
The big exception, though, comes when you are planning anything that changes – or threatens to impact on – the physical integrity and structure of your home. When knocking down walls, building an extension, or doing anything that affects the structure of the building, you are almost certain to find that your home insurance incorporates important exclusions.
This means that if those works are excluded, your home insurance policy will typically become invalid.
What is renovation insurance?
At its simplest, renovation insurance is specialist cover designed to restore the safeguards temporarily excluded from your regular home insurance while building works are in progress.
Renovation insurance provides standalone cover that replaces your regular home insurance for the duration – so that the existing structure and fabric of your home and, if required, its contents continue to be protected while renovation works are in progress.
Why do you need renovation insurance?
Specialist renovation insurance is necessary, therefore, to plug any gaps in your existing home insurance while the works are in progress.
Unlike most other types of general insurance, renovation insurance is extremely flexible, and you may buy the cover only for the period during which you expect work to be taking place, rather than the full 12 months. If the project is scheduled to take just six months, for example, your renovation insurance may also last only that long – but may then be extended if the schedule of works overruns.
What does renovation insurance cover?
As explained, the primary purpose of renovation insurance is to replace any areas excluded from your existing home insurance cover because of the building works you have planned.
For a full and considered explanation of the function of renovation insurance, you might want to consult our Guide to Renovating.
What if your property stands unoccupied while it is being renovated?
One of the contentious issues sometimes associated with insurance cover when you are renovating your home concerns the period when the property is considered unoccupied for insurance purposes.
As a posting by the Financial Ombudsman Service on the 26th of January 2021, suggests, you may be less than of the definition of an unoccupied property. Even though you have builders visiting the site every day, for example, most insurers will consider your home unoccupied if you have moved out for a period longer than 30 to 45 consecutive days while building works are in progress. Once it is considered unoccupied, the extent of cover may become severely restricted or even lapse altogether.
Specialist empty property renovation cover is then likely to be required to restore the safeguards your home continues to need.
Summary
It might seem that there are a thousand and one things to organise if you are planning to renovate or extend your home.
Planning consent, architecture and engineering drawings, and budgets aside, renovation insurance needs to sit squarely at the heart of your renovation planning to ensure the continued safety and security of your home. Please contact us to on 01702 606 301 if you are planning on renovating your property.
