Home insurance FAQs

Buildings, and contents insurance

Make a home insurance claim online and one of our colleagues will be in touch.

If it's an emergency claim such as your home being unsafe, unsecure, uninhabitable, or you've lost essential amenities such as gas or electric, please call us.

Legal expenses

To make a claim call Co-op Legal Services on 0330 606 9504^{^}.

Home assistance (HomeRescue Plus)

To make a claim call AXA Assistance (UK) Ltd on 0345 607 6472^{^}.

All lines are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

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This is the number of floors. Do not include:

• cellars
• basements
• loft conversions.

Two and three storeys

Usually have a ground floor used for the living space and kitchen. Examples of these kind of houses include:

• semi-detached
• detached
• terraced
• town-house.

Single storey

Usually have the living space, kitchen, bedrooms and bathroom on the same floor. Examples of single-storey properties include:

• bungalows
• most flats.

If you live in a block of flats, count the number of floors within your own flat.

If you are still not sure how many storeys you have, get in touch on 03457 46 46 46^{^} and our advisors will help you to decide.

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Cover in your home

We’ll insure your hearing aids under our standard contents insurance. We cover them against loss or damage caused by:

• fire
• theft.

Cover away from home

You’ll need to add optional personal possessions cover. This will cover you for up to £2000 against:

• accidental loss of your hearing aids
• accidental damage to your hearing aids.

We’ll send you a renewal invitation at least three weeks before your renewal date.

Paid monthly?

Your policy will renew automatically.

If any details have changed please call us on 0345 600 2918^{^}.

If we’re unable to take the first direct debit payment we’ll cancel your policy on your renewal date.

Paid annually?

Please get in touch on or before your renewal date on 0345 600 2918^{^} to:

• renew with a debit or credit card
• switch to monthly direct debit payments.

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Co-op Legal Expenses cover offers up to £50,000 in costs to pursue your legal rights. Common uses of legal expenses cover include:

• personal injury claims
• employment disputes
• disputes arising from the buying or selling of goods or services
• costs arising from prevention of damage, nuisance or trespass to your property.

You’ll also get access to a 24/7 legal advice helpline for you and your family on any personal legal matter.

This cover comes as part of your home insurance policy as standard.

We will not cover any legal costs incurred before we have accepted your claim in writing.

Your no claim discount (NCD) will go up each time you renew if you have not made a claim in the last 12 months.

When you reach 40% NCD you can protect your discount for an extra premium.

If you make a claim

Your discount stays the same, but not the cost of your premium.

For example:

• you’ve got 40% discount on your premium, discounted to £150, based on a standard premium of £250
• you make a claim you’ve protected your no claim discount, so you keep your 40% discount
• the cost of your policy may go up at renewal. Next year you’ll pay £156 based on a standard premium of £260 even though you’ve still got a 5 year no claim discount.

Cover at home

Our contents insurance will cover your bike against:

• fire
• theft
• malicious damage.

A limit of £2000 applies if your bike is stolen from outbuildings. A limit of £500 applies for loss or damage that happens in the garden.

Cover away from home

We will not accept claims for bikes left in a public space and not locked to a fixed point.

To add cover for your bike away from home, get in touch on 03457 46 46 46^{^} or add the extra cover when you buy your policy.

Bikes worth less than £1000

You’ll need to add personal possessions cover.

Bikes worth between £1000 and £2,500

You’ll need to add your bike as a specified personal possession.

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Within 14 days

We’ll refund the premium for the time on cover you have not used.

You’ll need to get in touch within 14 days of receiving your policy documents to do this.

Cancelling after 14 days

We’ll refund the premium for the time on cover you’ve not used at our short-period rates.

Get in touch

Call us on 03457 46 46 46^{^}

Write to us at:

Co-op Insurance
General Insurance Operations Processing
PO Box 67
Mitcheldean
GL17 0ZA

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Get in touch on 03457 46 46 46^{^} to make a change to your policy cover.

We will not charge you a fee for making the change.

Your premium may increase or decrease as a result of the change you have made.

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Our contents insurance covers accidental damage to some items as standard.

For example, accidental damage caused to:

• televisions
• audio equipment
• video equipment
• games consoles
• computer equipment
• glass in furniture, fish tanks and mirrors
• ceramics in hobs.

What’s not covered as standard

Portable items such as:

• smartphones
• laptops
• tablets.

You can add personal possessions cover to your insurance to cover portable items against loss or accidental damage.

We define accidental damage as:

physical damage caused suddenly by an external event that's unexpected and not deliberate.

For example:

• we would cover a television damaged by falling off the wall
• we would not cover a television that had suffered an internal fault.

Adding optional cover

Optional accidental damage cover insures you against, for example:

• spilling paint on your carpet or furniture
• dropping an ornament.

We can only give you a quote if your home's built with:

• brick
• stone
• concrete.

and has a roof mainly made of:

• slates
• tiles.

We cannot provide a quote online if you or anyone living with you has:

• been convicted of any criminal offence (other than motoring)
• any prosecutions pending
• any convictions not spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

To get a quote for home insurance get in touch on 03457 46 46 46^{^}

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If you have optional personal possessions cover we'll cover you for up to 60 days in any one period of insurance.

High-risk items include :

• computers, including their components and accessories, but not office equipment
• televisions, audio and video equipment, DVD/Blu-ray equipment, digital receivers and recorders
• photographic equipment
• valuables including jewelry and watches.

You need to arrange specific cover for high risk items or personal belongings worth over £2,000.

You can add these items to your policy by calling 03457 46 46 46^{^}.

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The law considers grey squirrels as vermin so HomeRescue Plus will cover you for their removal.

Red squirrels are protected by law and may not be removed.

We can only cover existing customers where subsidence is a known problem.

Insurers will not generally insure buildings that suffer from existing subsidence.

If your home has suffered from subsidence, your current buildings insurer is your best option.

Our home insurance excludes damage to your home caused by your pets:

• chewing
• scratching
• tearing
• fouling.

We’ll provide third-party liability cover for damage or loss caused by your pets. This is only available if your pet is not insured elsewhere, for example as part of dog insurance.

This cover only applies to the following domestic animals:

• cats
• dogs
• rabbits
• rodents (for example guinea pigs, hamsters and rats)
• horses
• fish
• birds
• poultry
• pigs
• goats
• sheep.

Cover at home

Our contents insurance will cover your instrument against:

• fire
• theft
• malicious damage.

Cover away from home

This cover is useful if you take your instrument to music lessons or band practice, or even on the road gigging.

To add this cover, get in touch on 03457 46 46 46^{^} or add the extra cover when you buy your policy.

Instruments worth less than £1000

You’ll need to add personal possessions cover.

Instruments worth between £1000 and £5000

You’ll need to add your instrument as a specified personal possession.

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You must report any circumstances which may result in a claim to us as soon as possible.

You must call the police immediately if there’s any damage or loss caused by:

• theft
• riot
• malicious acts
• vandalism.

We’ll cover your child’s possessions for up to £5,000 as long as:

• your home is their permanent address
• they intend to return their contents to your home in the future.

You may need to add optional personal possessions if they have:

• a laptop or smartphone
• a bicycle
• a musical instrument
• any high-value items such as jewellery or watches.

We won’t cover your child at university for:

• tenant’s liability
• third-party liability.

They will need their own contents insurance policy if they need this sort of cover.

You can take in up to 2 lodgers or paying guests.

Both buildings and contents insurance are available, including optional accidental damage cover.

Theft and malicious damage to buildings and contents will only be covered when:

• there is forced entry to or exit from your home
• the damage was caused by someone who was not lawfully on the premises.

If you want to rent out your home, or any part of it, you need to get landlord’s insurance. Our home insurance will not cover you.

You should take all the necessary precautions to protect your home to prevent any loss or damage.

We assess your security when you apply for our home insurance. We may specify that you have to add locks or other security to be covered by our insurance.

If so, we’ll let you know about these when you apply for cover.

Cover at home

Our contents insurance will cover your mobility scooter against:

• fire
• theft
• malicious damage.

We’ll also cover you for legal liability, as long as your scooter is not one designed to be used on the road.

Cover away from home

You’ll need to add personal possessions cover to your contents insurance. We’ll cover each mobility scooter for up to £1,000.

To add this cover, get in touch on 03457 46 46 46^{^} or add the extra cover when you buy your policy.

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If your laptop is worth less than £2,000, you need to add personal possessions cover to your contents policy.

If you need more cover than this you'll need to add it as a specified personal possession.

To add this cover, get in touch on 03457 46 46 46^{^}.

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No. We only cover buildings and contents at the address covered by your policy.

If your garage is on the same site as your home, it's covered by your home insurance policy.

Find out more.

We’ll send a renewal notice out to you 3 weeks before your renewal date.

Paid monthly?

If you do not want your policy to renew please get in touch on 0345 600 2918^{^}. If you do not do this, your policy will renew automatically.

Paid annually?

You don’t need to do anything. The policy will expire at midnight on your renewal date.

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Buildings and contents insurance

Your chosen excess of £50, £100, £150 or £300 applies. This is the level of excess you chose when you bought your policy.

Extra excesses may also apply:

• buildings claims for subsidence, heave, or landslip have an excess of £1,000
• escape of water claims have an excess of £250 (buildings and contents count as separate claims).

Optional extras

The following excesses apply:

• personal possessions claims have an excess of £50
• legal expenses have an excess of £250 for nuisance and trespass claims.

There’s no excess to pay for HomeRescue Plus claims.

If you leave your home unoccupied for more than 60 consecutive days then we reduce your level of cover.

Some of the main exclusions are against loss or damage caused by:

• malicious acts or vandalism
• escape of water or oil
• theft, or attempted theft
• freezing of the water or heating system
• accidental damage to televisions, computers and other audio-visual equipment.

You will still be covered against loss or damage caused by:

• fire
• subsidence
• storm
• flood.

We’ll cover loss or damage to food caused by:

• failure of the freezer or fridge/freezer
• failure of the power supply.

There is a limit of £1000 for each time this happens.

Our buildings and contents insurance covers:

• domestic garages
• greenhouses
• sheds
• summer houses.

The outbuildings must be at the address of the home you’re insuring.

If the claim is for theft, there's a limit of £2,000 in total for contents.

Our buildings insurance covers flat roofs as long as they consist of any of these materials:

• slates
• tiles
• asphalt
• concrete
• metal
• sheeting.

Carpets are covered under contents insurance.

Yes, we give a no claim discount (NCD) on both our buildings and contents insurance policies.

Buildings and contents have their own NCD, so a claim on one will not affect the NCD of the other.

We offer:

• up to 30% NCD for new policy holders with no claims or losses in the last 12 months
• up to 40% NCD for renewals.

If you have 40% NCD, you can protect your NCD for an extra premium

Yes, except for clothing and linen.

Your policy will not cover wear and tear to contents not caused by an insured event.

For example, the policy does not cover a carpet that has worn through due to use. We would replace the carpet new for old if your home was flooded, whatever its condition.

Our buildings insurance covers you as standard against accidental damage to:

• underground pipes
• drains and cables (including their inspection covers) as long as you're legally responsible for repairing the damage.

What's not covered?

• maintenance
• routine redecoration
• the cost of clearing blockages from pipes and drains if there is no damage to the pipe or drain itself.

We define accidental damage as: physical damage caused suddenly by an external event that's unexpected and not deliberate.

Cover in your home

We’ll insure your false teeth under our standard contents insurance. We cover them against loss or damage caused by:

• fire
• theft.

Cover away from home

You’ll need to add optional personal possessions cover. This will cover you for up to £2000 against:

• accidental loss of your false teeth
• accidental damage to your false teeth.