Buildings & contents cover

Our unique product ratings are designed to help you choose a quality insurance policy. We rate policies on the key features that are most important for the majority of customers.

We focus on core cover features, and don’t give extra marks for unnecessary bells and whistles. We also only give marks to features that are included as standard - not optional extras.

Please bear in mind we don’t rate by price and our ratings are not advice. You should do your own research to find cover that best suits your needs.

In order to achieve a 5 star rating, a home insurance policy must:

• Offer more than £500 of cover for replacing stolen or lost keys and damaged locks.
• Offer more than £5,000 of cover for repairing damage caused by finding and fixing the source of a leak.
• Have a 24 hour telephone helpline.
• Have a compulsory excess less than £100.
• Have an excess for water-related claims less than £250.
• Have no extra excess for flood claims.
• Offer more than £40,000 of cover for alternative accommodation if you're unable to live in your home.
• Replace non-damaged items that are part of a set.
• Not void your cover if you're away from your home for more than 28 consecutive days.
• Offer more than £1 million of cover for property owner liability.
• Guarantee any repairs for at least 12 months.
• Have an amendment fee less than £30.
• Have a cancellation fee less than £55.
• Offer more than £350 of cover for bicycles in the home.
• Offer more than £2,000 of cover for anything stolen from outbuildings – such as your garage.
• Offer more than £10,000 of cover for liability for tenants.
• Offer more than £1 million of cover for liability to your domestic employees - such as cleaners.
• Offer more than £100 of cover for money kept at your home.
• Offer protection against inflation - this is when the amount you've insured your contents for increases alongside the cost of living.
• Replace your damaged or stolen items with new ones.

Some of the companies in our tables are brokers, which means that they sell one or more insurers' policies through their own business.

Take a look in the policy document you receive to find out who the insurer is.

Find out how we calculate our product ratings