The importance of insuring your home for the right value

When it comes to insuring your home it is important to ensure you have considered all the costs that need to be covered. Many insurance companies changed from replacing and rebuilding homes to paying out up to a maximum of the amount of the replacement value figure they are charging their premiums upon. This makes it critical to ensure your replacement value figure is up to date. This is not the fair market value of the property nor is it the value produced by Quotable Value that Council uses to apportion rates to property owners across the district as discussed in the previous article.

This is a value calculated for the total rebuild of your property including any built improvements such as fences, buildings and retaining walls. It is also important to include the estimated cost of removing any damaged buildings from the site in the figure insured. Lastly there may be other costs such as compliance, soil remediation etc. Remember that generally these policies exclude coverage for chattels so a valuation and policy for these is usually completed separately. Talk to your insurance broker about the value your home is insured for and if in doubt, contact a registered valuer to complete a full replacement valuation for insurance purposes.