Frequently Asked Questions about our home insurance

Skipton Home Insurance is designed to cover certain unforeseen events. But it doesn't cover everything and an excess is payable on each claim you make. For more details of what is and isn't covered, please check your policy summaries and booklets. These documents are also available to download from our existing customers page and our landlords existing customers page.

Buildings and contents policies cover you for loss or damage caused by storm, fire, theft or other listed unforeseen events.

When you apply for buildings and contents insurance, you can personalise your Protect or Protect Plus quote with additional cover options:

• Extended Accidental Damage
• Personal Possessions (in and away from your home)
• Specified articles (like jewellery including watches)
• Pedal cycle cover (in and away from your home)
• Family Legal Protection.

These policies don't cover everything – for example, general wear and tear and damage that happens gradually over a period of time aren't covered.

Buildings insurance covers loss or damage to the structure of your home and its garages and domestic outbuildings. This includes damage to:

• walls
• permanent fixtures and fittings
• gates and fences
• drives and patios
• sheds, garages and greenhouses.

The policy doesn't cover:

• garages and outbuildings used for business purposes other than clerical
• outbuildings used for farming purposes.

For more details of what is and isn't covered, please check your policy summary and booklet.

If you own your home, you should have buildings insurance. If you're renting your home, your landlord is normally responsible for insuring the property.

Contents insurance covers the contents of your property and your personal belongings against insured events while in the home. It includes everything you'd normally take with you if you moved home, including:

• furniture
• kitchen appliances
• curtains
• bedding
• clothing
• television
• computer equipment
• jewellery.

For more details of what is and isn't covered, please check your policy summary and booklet.

This is the amount you have to pay towards each and every claim you make. You can see what your excesses are by looking at your policy schedule and/or by endorsement. You can find information about the minimum excess, and escape of water and subsidence excess in your policy summary.

Where more than one section of cover operates in respect of an incident of loss or damage only one excess applies. If there are differing levels of excess, the highest is applicable.

Please call if you'd like to know exactly how much your excess will be if you make a claim.

The buildings sum insured should be enough to cover the rebuilding cost of your home. This isn't the same as the market value of your home if you put it up for sale. If you need some help working this out, register on the Building Cost Information Service website. Once registered, you can use the calculator to help you work out how much cover you need.

The contents sum insured should be enough to cover the replacement cost, as new, of all your contents and personal belongings. It’s your responsibility to make sure you've got enough cover. If it's not enough, there’s a chance you might not recover the full amount of a claim you make.

Protect policies (buildings and contents) only include accidental damage to underground pipes or cables serving your home as standard under buildings. On Protect policies you can add full Accidental Damage cover, including Extended Accidental Damage for an additional premium.

Accidental Damage includes:

• fixed glass and sanitary-ware (under buildings cover)
• TVs and music equipment (under contents cover).

Extended Accidental Damage includes:

• if you put your foot through the ceiling (under buildings cover)
• if you spilled red wine on the carpet (under contents cover).

Protect Plus policies (buildings and contents) includes Accidental Damage cover as standard including accidental damage to underground pipes or cables serving your home, and you can add Extended Accidental Damage cover.

For more details of what is and isn't covered, please check your policy summary and booklet.

This is cover for loss or damage of personal items in your home. It also provides cover away from home anywhere in the world. You can choose one, two or all three options to cover the items that matter to you and your family.

• Personal property (includes clothing and possessions you carry, like handbag contents, mobile phones, MP3 players, jewellery and up to £500 cash; the maximum you can claim for any one item is £1,500).
• Specified articles (like the examples above, but for specified items over £1,500).
• Pedal cycles (loss or damage up to £500 per pedal cycle, or for a higher amount if you can provide us with the make, model and frame number).

For more details of what is and isn't covered, please check your policy summary and booklet.

You and your family can claim up to £50,000 to pursue certain UK legal proceedings with this additional cover option. This could help in situations where:

• a family member has died or suffered a personal injury
• you've bought or hired goods or services for your own personal use, for example your new bathroom suite is installed badly but the fitters refuse to put it right
• you've experienced an infringement of your legal rights from owning or occupying your home
• you've experienced a breach of your employment contract.

You'll also be covered for the costs of defending legal proceedings arising from:

• a motoring prosecution brought against you
• the sale of privately owned goods by you.

This protection will also pay your costs in connection with a formal enquiry by HM Revenue & Customs into your private tax affairs.

A £50 excess applies. For details of what's not covered, please refer to the policy booklet. Claims will be handled for us by DAS Legal Expenses Insurance Company Limited.

This is cover for the reasonable costs involved in tracing the source of a water or oil leak. It includes the replacement or repair of walls, floors or ceilings inside the home damaged as a result of these investigations (plus attached fixtures and fittings).

At renewal your premium will be recalculated taking into account a range of factors including your claims experience, which may affect the level of your discount.

Yes. When you apply, the online application will ask you if you’d like your policy to be in joint names.

Our Protect Plus policy covers you for up £500 for certain call out charges, labour and parts or materials so immediate repairs can be made to stabilise and remove the emergency. There is no Home Emergency cover with our Protect policy.

With Protect Plus, we send a repairer to assess the situation and carry out emergency work arising from:

• burst pipes or sudden leakage
• break in or vandalism affecting the security of your home
• storm damage causing water to enter your home or likely to cause further loss or damage to your home or its contents
• impact damage from falling trees or vehicles, or from a plane or aerial debris
• failure of your home's water mains supply, which has left you without running water
• failure of your gas supply pipe, which means you can't use your gas appliances
• failure of your electricity system, leaving your home without electricity
• failure of your home's hot water system, leaving you without hot water
• total failure of your central heating system, for boilers under eight years old, between September and April
• blocked drains
• a smashed toilet bowl or cistern, or breakage of the cistern's internal mechanism that prevents flushing
• emergency repairs if subsidence, heave or landslip causes sudden damage that allows water to enter your home or threaten its security by breaking external windows, doors or their frames.

Home Emergency cover is provided through AXA Assistance (UK) Limited. For details of what's not covered, please refer to your policy booklet.

Like most home insurance providers, our Legal & General policies don’t cover loss or damage to your home or contents due to maintenance, wear and tear, or damage that happens gradually over time.

We consider high-risk property to be:

• jewellery, pearls, precious stones, gold, silver and other precious metals
• works of art
• stamp and coin collections
• clocks and watches.

For details of the overall high-risk and single article limits that apply to your cover, please refer to your policy summary.

Our insurance provider Legal & General participates in the not-for-profit flood reinsurance scheme known as Flood Re. This scheme, which has been developed by insurers and the Government, supports households at highest risk of flooding. You can find out more on Legal & General’s Flood Re page.