Do I have to get buildings insurance from my mortgage provider?

In a word – no. Some mortgage lenders do include buildings insurance as part of the actual mortgage package. But if they don’t and it’s a separate agreement they may try and sell you a policy but you’re under no obligation to buy it from them. You should note that your mortgage provider can reject your choice of buildings insurance if they feel the level of cover isn’t adequate but you’re still free to choose an alternative.

It used to be that you did have to buy buildings insurance with your mortgage but that changed after the Office of Fair Trading ruled it was unfair and that customers should be allowed to choose insurance from wherever they fancied. But despite the ruling a whopping 1.5 million people have their buildings insurance with their mortgage provider because they think they have to in order to secure their mortgage. A further 2.83 million people admitted they had their buildings insurance with their mortgage provider because it appeared to be the easiest option. But taking the easy route or not knowing your rights, could be costing you money. And it doesn’t have to hard either to find an alternative insurance provider – by the time you’ve sat down, had a cuppa and a biscuit, you could have compared deals from our 70 trusted home insurance partners.

If you did compare the market, like nearly a third of our customers, you could save an average of £99.98^² on your buildings and contents insurance¹ – that’s enough for several celebratory takeaways when you move in. We also found that a lucky 10% of our customers found savings of £208.22¹ when they compared with us – which is a bit more than you’d find down the back of the sofa and certainly not a potential saving to ignore.