Overview Of Home Insurance

One of the most valuable and expensive possession in someone's lifetime is of Home. Buying a Home has become one of the herculean tasks for the citizens of India because of growing prices due to multiple progressions and developments going on across the country which impacts the rates of available homes either new or old.We often think only up to how to buy the home, get the loans sanctioned and then how to repay it with as much saving our interest rates as possible. We often forget that with a sweet home comes a risk and responsibility of keeping it secure and safe.

Even though Home Insurance is not mandatory in India like Motor Insurance but still its importance does not get reduced because of this fact. Having a Home Insurance insures your Home from multiple types of situation which can arise any time irrespective of your awareness and alertness. You need to be proactive in ensuring your peace of mind by insuring your home from any kind of damage or unfortunate risks such as fire eruption, disasters created or caused due to mankind, natural disasters or theft which is very common in unprotected or even protected locations.

A Home Insurance not only protects your home's structure and architectural components but also takes care of the expensive/inexpensive possessions and belongings, household appliances and electrical and non-electrical objects.

There are few terminologies that you should be aware of when you are going ahead to get your first Home Insurance Policy:

• Ownership of property: - If you wish to get a home insured, you need to be owning the home property or at least have some stake in the same.

• Types of Home and Property Insurance: - There are two basic types of Home or Property Insurance:

• The primary type of Home or Property Insurance is "Standard fireplace and Allied Perils Policy". It covers the following perils:
  • Fire
  • Lightning
  • Explosion/Implosion
  • Aircraft damage
  • Damage caused due to Riot, strike or malicious acts
  • Cyclone, Storm, Hurricane, Flood, Tornado etc.
  • Landslides, rockslides etc.
  • Overflowing or bursting of water tanks, pipes, water connections etc.
  • Missile and satellite testing operations
  • Bush or forest fire
• The second type of Home or Property Insurance is "Burglary and House Breaking Insurance Policy". This type of policy covers the following:
  • Burglary
  • Theft
  • Stocks, furniture
  • Damage to premises caused due to burglary.
  • Cash, jewellery, valuables and securities if it's defined in the scope of the policy.

The above inclusions/covers are also subjected to the definitions of the Insurance Company as per their Policy Plan.

• Insured Value for Home or Property: - The Insured Value or say, Insured Declared Value or Sum Insured means the value of your Home or Property which you can claim in case of any damage caused to your Home or Property. You need to make sure that the Insured Value of your property has been defined with some serious thoughts applied otherwise you shall end up suffering great loss in case you under-insure your possession.

The basic Inclusions in a common Home Insurance Policy are as follows:

• Damage by fire, riot, strike
• Damage by lightning
• Hurricane, Storm, Cyclone, Floods
• Earthquakes, Landslides
• Damage by aircraft, missile and terrorist act

The basic Exclusions in a common Home Insurance Policy are as follows:

• Consequential loss, Wear & Tear, Depreciation
• Damage by War, Nuclear War, Invasion, etc.
• Negligent usage, unnecessary work resulting in injury
• Property that's still under construction
• Harm or loss of things like jewellery, sensitive documents and cash (unless specified).

Best of Luck on your purchase of Home Insurance Policy!