Almost 3.5 million UK homeowners don’t have adequate home contents and buildings insurance, according to research from MoneySupermarket.com.
The comparison site found that 9% of homeowners are missing out on some form of home insurance and only have either buildings or contents insurance – not both.
Nearly 1.5 million say they have contents insurance only, while 1.3 million homeowners only have buildings cover.
A further 2% of homeowners have no form of buildings or contents insurance whatsoever.
Peter Harrison, insurance spokesperson at MoneySupermarket, said: “The recent spate of bad weather and flooding highlights just how important it is to make sure your home is fully covered. Homeowners without adequate buildings and contents insurance are taking a huge risk by leaving their homes unprotected, and are potentially storing up a financial catastrophe in the event of a major incident which could even leave them homeless. At the very least, those homeowners with a mortgage on their property should have a suitable buildings policy in place since the terms and conditions of the mortgage agreement will require it.
“Although it may be tempting to take either buildings or contents cover, the chances are you may need to make a claim against both of them. For example, if your home was flooded during storms, you would have to claim for any damages to fittings and fixtures such as electrics or a fitted kitchen through your buildings insurance, while a claim for damage to goods such as televisions and furniture would be made through the contents policy.
“Only having one type of insurance could leave you heavily out of pocket. Taking both buildings and contents cover in a joint policy can be great value for money and worth considering if you currently only have one type of insurance for your home or both buildings and contents cover with separate insurers.”
The MoneySupermarket research also found people who rent their homes are also taking big risks when it comes to covering their possessions, with 33% having no cover in place at all. Additionally, a further 7% don’t know whether they have any cover in place or not.