Buildings insurance is a type of property insurance that covers the cost of repair or rebuild in case your home gets damaged. This can be due to various events, such as fire, storm, flood, subsidence, burst pipes, vandalism, or other unforeseen incidents.

It’s important to note that buildings insurance typically only covers the structural aspects of your home, including the walls, roof, and floors, as well as fixtures and fittings such as fitted kitchens and bathrooms. What’s known in Scotland as Heritable Property.

While buildings insurance isn’t legally required, it is usually a requirement by mortgage lenders as a condition of the loan. This is to protect their investment, ensuring that if anything happens to the property, you’ll be able to afford to repair or rebuild it.

When getting buildings insurance, it’s important to ensure that your coverage is for the rebuild value of your home (how much it would cost to rebuild the property from scratch), not the market value (how much you could sell it for), as the two figures can be significantly different.

It’s also worth checking what exclusions your policy has, as not all risks or damages may be covered. For instance, some policies may not cover damage due to normal wear and tear or due to acts of war or terrorism.

If you also want to cover the contents of your home (Movable property like furniture, electronics, and personal belongings), you’d need to get a separate contents insurance policy, or a combined buildings and contents policy.