If you are in the fortunate position of owning an especially high value home, protecting the building and its contents with the appropriate type and level of high net worth home insurance is likely to be an even more than usually important consideration.

Whilst many of the considerations relevant to high net worth home insurance may be similar to those for standard building and contents cover, there are some to which you may want to pay particular attention:

An insurance provider who knows their business

• when the stakes are so high, you might want to make especially sure that the insurance provider you choose is professionally competent, experienced and expert;

• at GSI Insurance, for instance, we have the experience in understanding the particular needs and requirements of owners of high value homes;

• in this price bracket, no two homes are going to be the same, and your needs are likely to be highly individual to the property you own – our skill lies in understanding those individual needs;

• based on that understanding, we also have the expertise and knowledge of the entire insurance market to identify the most comprehensive cover you need;

• whilst doing so, however, we also recognise that a high value home does not necessarily need high cost insurance – the quotes we provide are designed to value for money in terms of the comprehensive cover provided, but at a competitive market rate;

Non-standard construction and listed buildings

• one of the reasons for your home being especially high net worth may be because it is a listed building or its design, age or use of materials represent a non-standard form of construction;

• in either of these cases, you may need a specialist form of building insurance, which takes into account the potentially much higher rebuilding or restoration costs in the event of a major incident;

Subsidence

• if your home is in the high net worth category, it might be even more important to protect it against the potentially extremely expensive risk of subsidence;

• not all home insurance policies – even those for high value homes – might include cover for subsidence, so you might want to draw on our experience and knowledge in identifying those policies which offer the over you need;

Contents

• high net worth homes typically have similarly high value contents – such as antiques, works of art, wine collections, rare libraries, jewellery and timepieces;

• expert valuations may be necessary for such items of special value, often with each one being insured separately and specific provision for cover for matched sets and articles;

• professional valuation takes into account the fluctuating values of such possessions and helps to ensure that you remain comprehensively insured – without being so underinsured that you have insufficient funds to replace lost, stolen or damaged items, yet also avoiding the unnecessary costs of overinsurance;

• some of the pitfalls in leaving expensive contents insufficiently valued and covered by insurance are mentioned on the Money Saving Expert’s website;

Replacement

• contents insurance for high net worth homes is typically based on replacement values of lost, stolen or damaged items;

• this ensures that any settlement of a claim leaves you with sufficient funds for the replacement of those items – although you may still want to choose those contents which you want to insure on a “new for old” basis and those for which any claim reflects an agreed deduction for “wear and tear” or depreciation.

High net worth home insurance, therefore, is likely to be a specialised matter requiring input from various professionals from valuers to connoisseurs of fine art, wine or books. You might want to start your search for all the appropriate professional input by first seeking the advice of a specialist provider of high net worth home insurance such as ourselves.