Your policy in detail

This page has been designed to give you an outline of the cover provided by RHS Home & Garden Insurance. A specimen policy giving full details is available to download in our useful documents section, complete the enquiry form to request by post, or contact one of our advisors on 0845 222 0041.

Buildings
Our policy protects your buildings and outbuildings against damage by all major perils and automatically includes wider cover for accidental damage (such as spilling paint down your wall or onto your patio). We also include cover for your boundary walls, fences, gates, paths, drives and swimming pools.

If you have to live somewhere else whilst your home is repaired, our policy will cover the cost (limited to up to 20% of your buildings sum insured).

Calculating your Buildings sum insured
It is important that you are not under-insured so please make sure you get your sum insured right. This is not as difficult as it sounds: if you?ve had a recent survey then this will usually include the correct figure. If you want to re-calculate or check your sum insured, then you will find more useful information at the ABI?s site.

Once you have selected the correct sum insured, we will link it to the House Rebuilding Cost Index to keep up with inflation in future years. If you make sure that the figure is right to start with then under-insurance should never be a problem.

Contents
As you?d expect, our policy provides wide-ranging protection for your household contents, but we also include the following cover as standard:

• Accidental damage to your TV, hi-fi, video or computer equipment
• Food in your freezer (up to £1000)
• Home office equipment (up to £5000)
• Theft from outbuildings (up to £5000)
• Items kept in your garage (up to the contents sum insured)
• Loss of metered water or oil (up to £1000)
• Personal Liability (up to £2 Million)
• Temporary alternative accommodation (up to 20% of the contents sum insured)
• Automatic increase of sum insured by £3000 during December and one month before and after your wedding day, or that of your son or daughter
• Lock replacement, if your keys are lost or stolen anywhere in the world

Most claims are settled on a ?new for old ?basis (only clothing, household linen and pedal cycles are subject to any deduction for wear and tear).

Cover applies to any family members who live at your address, so if any of them are temporarily away from home ? at school, university or in a nursing home ? their possessions are covered there too.

Whilst the standard cover ensures quality protection against the major causes of damage to your contents, you can also extending your cover to protect all your contents against other types of accidental damage (such as spilling wine or paint on your carpet or knocking over an ornament).

Calculating your Contents sum insured
It is important that you are not under-insured otherwise your claim may not be paid in full. To make our policies as flexible as possible and allow you to get your sum insured right, we offer a choice: you can specify the exact amount you wish to insure, or you can opt for an automatic limit based on the number of bedrooms in your home. The bedroom-based calculation can only be for homes with up to five bedrooms. If you wish to check that your cover is adequate you can use our on-line contents checklist or download a useful checklist here, alternatively you can request by post.

Personal Belongings
This section is designed to protect your personal belongings against accidental loss or damage, anywhere in the world.

It will cover portable items that you take with you outside the home, such as watches, jewellery, luggage, handbags, sports equipment, mobile phones and clothing. Personal money and credit cards are also covered, together with pedal cycles. Choosing the correct amount of cover

All you need to do is tell us the total value of all the items you wish to insure, based on the maximum amount you will have with you outside the home at any one time. Typically, this might be when you are away on holiday, travelling as a family.

The minimum amount is £1,500 and there is also a single article limit of £1,500. Items of a higher value may be insured as ?specified items? and will need to be listed on your policy schedule.Back to Top

Family Legal Protection
Sadly, legal disputes are becoming all too common. It is easy to find yourself in dispute with a neighbour over legal rights relating to your home. Or you may be dissatisfied with goods you have purchased need to take action against the seller.

With the Legal Expenses option, you have the peace of mind of knowing that, should a problem arise, you have cover of up to £30,000 to pursue or defend certain personal legal actions.