What is High Value Home Insurance?
High-value home insurance is a type of property insurance that provides coverage for homes worth more than the average policy limit. It is designed to protect homeowners against losses that could potentially exceed the limits of a standard homeowners policy.
Cover can include for your buildings, outbuildings, general contents, fine art and paintings, jewellery and luxury watches, liabilities, travel, family protection legal expenses, home emergency, cyber and other subsidiary covers. Although, it’s important to check your policy to discern your exact cover.
What are the benefits of high value home insurance?
One of the main benefits of high value home insurance is peace of mind. You can sleep easy knowing your most treasured items are usually covered on an all-risks basis, including theft, damage, or accidents. Here are some other popular benefits:
Multiple UK homes on the same policy
Worldwide “all risks” are covered as standard for general contents and valuables
Accidental damage and loss cover as standard
Replacement or cash settlement for valuable items
Home Emergency cover up to £1,500
Legal Expenses cover up to £150,000
Family Protection cover including kidnap and ransom, carjacking and assault
Identity Theft and Cyber Cover include up to £50,000
Cover for children’s possessions at university or parents in a care home
Interest-Free Direct Debit
Each case is underwritten on its own merits, offering flexibility and nuance
Warranty-free policies!
Alternative Accommodation for up to 5 years
£0 excess for valuables (available on some policies)
Building reinstatement cost survey included as standard for rebuilds of £1 million plus
Do I need high value home insurance?
Suppose your home rebuild value is greater than £1.5 million and you have general contents of at least £150,000. In that case, you should seriously consider high value home insurance. This is because the cover limits imposed under a standard insurance contract may mean that you could be under-insured in the event of a claim.
It is important you know the difference between the market value and the rebuild value of your property – read our guide to learn more.
For example, under a standard insurance policy, the alternative accommodation provision in the event you have to move out of your home due to a flood might only cover you for a short period vs a high value home policy which could cover you in a like for like a house for up to five years.
The barrier to entry is also lower than you would think but a minimum premium on the majority of high value home policies is around £2,000. You can insure as much as you want or typically as a minimum, just £75,000 of general contents. If you do not own any jewellery, luxury watches and art but have some valuable contents and an expensively assembled home, you would still benefit from high value home insurance. Browse our article on 5 ways to keep your high value home insurance down for actionable tips on keeping the costs down on a top of the range product.
A simple way to know if you qualify
It’s simple: read the four high value home questions, find out how many you can say ‘yes’ to and check out the qualifiers. The more ‘yeses’, the higher the probability you may benefit from a high-value product!
Four indicators that you may benefit from high value home insurance
Will it cost you more than £1,500,000 to rebuild your property? (Read our guide to rebuild value vs market value)
Will it cost you more than £150,000 to replace all of the general contents in your home?
Is the total value of your jewellery, watches, artwork and other collectables more than £50,000?
Are you paying more than £2,000 per annum for your home insurance?
Four possible high value home answers
If you can answer ‘yes’ to:
All four questions, without doubt, you should consider a high value home insurance product
Any three of the questions, it’s very likely you would benefit from a high value home insurance product
Any two of the questions, you could require a high value home insurance product, but we may have lower premium off-the-shelf products available that would be better suited.
Why high value home insurance matters
Protecting Your Valuable Investment: Your luxury home represents a significant financial investment. High-value home insurance can safeguard your property against potential damage caused by perils such as fire, theft, natural disasters, or accidents. This coverage helps you to restore your home to its original glory without incurring substantial financial losses. Following your building survey, most high-value home insurance products offer guaranteed replacement cover up to 150% of the declared sums insured, offering additional peace of mind.
Comprehensive Coverage for Premium Assets: High-value home insurance offers extensive coverage for high-end assets, including luxury furnishings, artwork, antiques, jewellery, watches and valuable collections. In the event of loss or damage anywhere in the world, your insurance policy will provide adequate compensation, enabling you to replace or repair these valuable items. Some high-value home products will cover up to 150% of the declared value, subject to approved valuations.
Personalised Coverage for Unique Features: High-value homes often boast unique coverage features for custom-built structures, high-end finishes, smart home technology, and specialty amenities. High-value home insurance considers these distinctive elements and offers tailored coverage to protect these valuable assets specifically, ensuring you’re put back in the same financial position prior to any loss.
Enhanced Liability Protection: Luxury homes often play host to gatherings and events – we’ve written a guide about insurance coverage for house parties. High-value home insurance can provide enhanced liability coverage to protect you from potential legal claims arising from accidents or injuries sustained by guests on your property. This coverage offers peace of mind and financial security in case of unforeseen incidents. Most products include liability of up to £10 million!
“Purchasing a High-value home insurance product for your home is like purchasing organic and free-range food during your weekly food shop. It may cost a little more, but it’s good for you. There will always be lower-cost options in a world full of choice but recognise they are lower-cost for a reason. You shouldn’t take any risks when it comes to one of your most valuable assets. ”
Matthew Ashton, Director Stanhope
Key considerations for high value home insurance
Comprehensive Coverage: A high-value home insurance policy offers all-risk coverage, including protection against perils such as fire, theft, water damage, natural disasters, and more.
Agreed Value Coverage: Seek an insurance policy that provides agreed value coverage for your luxury home and assets, especially your valuables, like artwork, jewellery or watches. Agreed value ensures you will be compensated for the full insured amount without any depreciation, ensuring an accurate reflection of your property’s worth. See our blog on valuations in case your current valuation is greater than five years old.
Specialised Valuation Services: Choose an insurer that offers specialised valuation services to accurately assess the value of your high-end possessions. These services may include professional appraisals of the buildings or access to a network of experts who can provide accurate valuations for unique items such as an artwork collection.
Dedicated Claims Handling: Select an insurance provider that offers dedicated claims handling services for high-value homes. This ensures that the claims process is efficient, streamlined, and sensitive to the unique needs of luxury homeowners.
Risk Mitigation Services: Inquire about additional risk mitigation services offered by the insurance provider, such as security assessments, smart home monitoring systems, home leak detection systems and recommendations for preventative measures. These services can help reduce risks and potentially lower your premiums.
Dedicated Broker Service: High value home products, for the most part, are exclusively sold by an insurance broker. When purchasing such a product you should expect a high-quality brokerage service, readily available to help with claims, adjustments, renewals, and anything else. See our blog on the 8 top tips to choosing an insurance broker.
How to get your high value house valued
We would advocate the use of a specialist surveyor to physically or virtually appraise the rebuild value of the property. If you use the standard RICS calculator you will likely undervalue and therefore underinsure your property.
At Stanhope, we work in partnership with high value home insurance products which include a rebuild value assessment as part of their offering. Further, we work closely with Rebuild Cost Assessment, and offer our clients a discount if they choose to have an assessment done.
How can Stanhope help?
High Value Home Insurance is an insurance product tailored to protect you throughout every scenario of your busy, fast-paced lives. Whether at home or travelling, online or offline, you can have peace of mind knowing that we are protected every step of the way. Get in touch with our expert team today to find out more about our high value home insurance.
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