Home insurance: Do I need cover with top-notch home security?

A reader from Swansea wants to know how important home insurance is, if she has solid home security.

Our team of experts at insurance company LV= offers a helping hand.

Kate from Swansea asks:

How important is home contents insurance if I have good home security?

The team at LV= responds:

It depends what you need cover for.

The better the security the less chance of you getting burgled, but home contents insurance doesn’t just cover you for theft, rather for a whole range of potential risks to your belongings.

The vast majority of standard contents policies would include cover if any of your belongings were damaged in a fire or a flood. It will cover you for alternative accommodation if you were unable to live in your home as well as the costs of repairing or replacing everything that was damaged.

Other elements of cover commonly include replacement of keys if you lose yours and need to call out a locksmith, loss of freezer contents in the event of a power cut, cover for any contents you might keep in your garden, cover for Christmas or wedding presents and personal liability cover.

Optional extras include:

Personal possessions – this covers your belongings whilst you are out and about.
Accidental damage – covers you for any damage you, or anyone you have invited in to your home, accidentally causes to any of your belongings – for example, if you knocked a pot of paint over the sofa whilst decorating, or if your friend split a glass of red wine on a light carpet.
Legal cover – this covers you for a wide range of legal advice including that involving your property and your employment.

If you have a question for LV=, go to the myfinances.co.uk Ask the Expert section.

For more information on the issues discussed here, go to LV=.

Liverpool Victoria Insurance Company Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority and is a member of the Association of British Insurers (ABI).