The largest insurance market in the whole of Europe, the UK has a range of insurance products available to its residents. In fact, the industry is so large that it is also said to be the third largest in the world, demonstrating how Brits are offered numerous ways in which to protect themselves, their family and their possessions.

With such a large insurance industry, UK households are therefore likely to have a number of different insurance policies ranging from car insurance and life insurance through to home insurance.

Home insurance is one of the main products embraced by Brits but not all of them are aware of exactly what is covered by these policies. Why? Largely because home insurance is available in multiple forms and can therefore offer different levels of protection. 

A fully-inclusive policy will combine two different products to offer a full level of home insurance protection and these are buildings insurance and contents insurance. The former of these covers any physical damage to the building and its integral features, such as doors and windows whilst the latter covers the possessions which are contained within the home.

A number of mortgage providers require buildings insurance to be obtained prior to approval and some landlords may have their own buildings and contents insurance before taking on tenants. It is therefore vital that consumers check whether they are already covered before paying for the same product twice.

Of course, this is not the only fact about home insurance that is not widely known, with a few more being listed below:

1. More than 5 million UK households are not covered by home insurance leaving themselves vulnerable. This figure was reached when homeless charity Shelter teamed up with a insurance provider to research the situation. They found that around one fifth of people had no home insurance cover at all with 42% of people claiming they could not afford it.

2. According to The Telegraph, people who live at house number 243 are twice as likely to make a claim on their home insurance, with 45% of people living at this number having made a claim between 2008 and 2011. In comparison, those living at number 13 (a number often considered to be unlucky) made far fewer claims with just 18% of them making a claim over the same period. Of the claims made at number 243, three quarters of them were said to be associated with accidental loss or damage. 

3. Whilst we may all think of home insurance claims as being connected to weather and unexpected circumstances, visitors and pets are also common causes. According a list compiled by North Orion, accidents to visitors and pet attacks two of the five most common causes of home insurance claim. This demonstrates how important it is for Brits to invest in the right insurance for their home (whether that is contents insurance, buildings insurance or both), needing to protect themselves against potential dangers from all angles.