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It's a New Year; when was the last time you checked your Home insurance policy? It's time to make sure your home insurance is up-to-date!

Unfortunately, things aren't as easy and smooth-going as they were for President Obama when it comes to moving house or dealing with home insurance. Firstly, seeing as President Obama is not the owner of the White House he wouldn't have had to worry about buildings insurance. Secondly, with protection from 4,400 members of the United States Secret Service and the United States Park Police, it seems unlikely the President needs to worry about the security of his home and its contents!

Whether you are a homeowner or a tenant, your home insurance policy is something you should be checking on a regular basis. In order to ensure you are getting sufficient cover for your home, it is vital to review your policy especially when you've moved or made changes to your home. You may think you haven't made drastic enough changes for them to affect your home insurance needs but be warned, the devil is always in the detail!

General tips for homeowners and tenants:

• Make sure your buildings and contents insurance policies are up-to-date; Inform your insurance provider if you are moving or if there are new additions to your contents- research has shown that 70% of UK households are under insured.
• Take into consideration the possibility of any accidental damage that may be inflicted on either your building or your contents…children and pets increase the risk of accidental damage, which is often an optional extra as opposed to being included in your standard buildings and contents policy.
• Although package deals consisting of combined buildings and contents insurance may appear as the cheapest and easiest option, it's worth checking to see if you’re not better off with two separate and more extensive policies.
• Take notice of the 'reasonable care' clause in which insurers expect you to lock your doors and windows and keep valuables out of sight. Additionally, make sure you have the correct security measures in place.
• Shop around online using insurance comparison sites to find the best prices and most extensive policies which best meet your home insurance needs.

Homeowners and tenants - Moving home:

• Check to see if you are covered for goods in transit to ensure your contents is insured whilst you’re moving things around.
• Consider the new location of your home, in terms of flooding and property crime rates, as it may affect the level of cover you will need for both buildings and contents insurance.
• Make your insurer is aware of your move as there may be administrational charges for changing address as well as the modification of other policy details.

Knowing the difference between buildings insurance and contents insurance:

Although a lot of insurance companies will sell buildings and contents insurance together in package deals, the two types of insurance are completely different to one another. First of all, buildings insurance is a legal requirement if you have a mortgage, whereas tenants, who are not financially or legally responsible for the accommodation they live in, do not need to worry about this type of insurance. Buildings insurance covers the actual building in which you live whereas contents insurance covers the contents of your home, that is to say, the items inside your home. Contents insurance is important to have for both homeowners and tenants…unless you are an extreme minimalist and don’t have any contents!

Homeowners and tenants - Contents insurance:

With the economic recession in full swing the government warns that burglaries are expected to go up by almost 10%. With this is mind, now is probably a good time to check your contents policy and make sure you are getting adequate cover. Think about all those snazzy new gadgets and expensive presents you got for Christmas: widescreen televisions, stereos, ipods, cameras, laptops, playstations, jewellery etc. If you were to be robbed of all these precious new valuables, the worst scenario would be for your insurer to turn around and say they won't cover you for your losses. To avoid this:
• Inform your insurer of any new additions to your home in order to make sure they haven't taken you over your cover limit.
• You may have to upgrade the level of cover you are receiving or even change your insurer, depending on the policy's cover limit, which on average is £50,000.
• You might also have to consider taking out individual insurance for certain high-value items as there is usually a single-item limit of £1000-1,500 within most basic contents policies.
• If you want your possessions to be covered when they are outside the home, you probably need to add 'Personal Possessions' or 'Risk All' cover to your policy as it is often not included in standard contents insurance policies.
• Check the small print! It is sometimes a requirement for certain items to be insured with specialist insurance. A benefit of doing this is that your no claims bonus status stays intact if you make a claim on one of the individually insured items.

Homeowner- Building insurance:

Buildings insurance is designed to cover damage to the structure of your home as well as damage to permanent fixtures and fittings. As a homeowner, even if you don't have a mortgage it is 100% recommended for you to have a buildings insurance policy. If anything were to happen to your home, the last thing you would want is to have to foot the bill for damage expenses or worse, have to rebuild your entire house from your own pockets. In order to avoid this you should:
• Inform your insurer of any changes you have made to your home, including moving.
• Ensure that your buildings insurance policy covers the rebuild cost of your home, not just the market value of the property.
• If you choose to take out a mortgage, your lender will probably try and sell you that particular company's buildings insurance policy but it is worth shopping around before you sign anything.
• Avoid living in a flood-prone area as you will have limited insurance options. However, if you do live in a known flooding area, it's usually best to stick with your current insurer as it will be hard to find another adequate and competitively priced policy.
• Review your buildings insurance policy regularly to check that any changes in the value of the property have been accounted for by your insurer.

General home insurance tips:

• Security- Make sure you implement government-approved safety precautions such as a mortice deadlock or rimlock conforming to British Standard 3621 as well as a NACOSS approved burglar alarm.
• Payment - Avoid monthly payments on your premium as most insurance companies charge high APR on the instalments. Check to see if this is the case with your insurer and always try and pay your premium annually.
• Online Discounts - You will find that there are often online discounts on premiums if your purchase your policy over the internet but check to see if it’s actually cheaper as this is not always the case.
• Policy exclusions - Read the small print in your policy documents to see what the exclusions are as well as to make sure you are not paying for any add-ons you don't need.
• Travel plans - Be sure to inform your insurer of any long-term travel plans if your house is going to unoccupied for a long period of time. Check to see how long your policy allows you to leave your house empty and still be covered.
• Excess - Always check excess levels as cheaper premiums often carry a huge excess.
• Changes - Inform your insurer of any changes made to your home and review your policy regularly to ensure you are getting the right level of cover.
• Shop around - Use insurance comparison sites to help you find competitively priced policies which best meet your insurance needs.