Basically, home contents insurance is insurance protection against the replacement cost that you would otherwise have to pay to replace the contents of your home in the event of then being lost, damaged or stolen. As is the case with home buildings insurance, the main factors contributing to grounds under which you can make a claim against your home contents insurance include theft/burglary, damage due to floods, burst water pipes or boilers, etc.

There are, however, two very important factors that you need to keep in mind when insuring the contents of your home:

- First, in the case of home contents insurance, it is rarely the case that your mortgage provider is going to insist that you have this type of insurance as part of your mortgage agreement;

- Second, regardless of whether you own or rent the property you are currently living in, you should still be looking to insure the contents of your home - as these are your personal possessions.

Two further aspects of home contents insurance also need to be considered carefully when you are checking out the different kinds of policies on offer. In some, but not all, cases you can be insured for your home contents even when the items listed in your home contents insurance policy are not actually physically located on the home 'property'. So, for example,

- First, it is possible to claim when you are transporting items from one place to another and they are stolen.

- Second, home contents insurance is insurance against the replacement cost of the item being insured. It does not, nor is it intended to, insure you against the nostalgic value of the item damaged/lost. So, for example, if you insure a picture your deceased grandmother gave you, which would cost £20 to replace, it makes little difference that it was your deceased grandmother who gave it to you and that it cannot, therefore, be replaced.

Although home contents insurance is, in all but a few very rare circumstances, a completely voluntary scheme of insurance to subscribe to, if you are in any doubt as to the value of this insurance scheme, take a quick mental inventory of the contents on your home and their value and then get a few quotes off the internet and you'll soon be seeing the value of having your home contents properly insured.

About the author:

Joseph Kenny is the webmaster of the insurance site http://www.insure121.com/ where you will find information, news and links to the leading providers of home insurance in the UK.