Is my home insured?
As a rough guide, if you own your home it will only be insured if you’ve insured it yourself. If you have a mortgage, your mortgage provider normally requires that you have buildings insurance in place as a condition of the loan. However, there’s always the risk that you might have allowed the cover to lapse, if your policy didn’t auto-renew.
If you’ve paid off your mortgage, it’s up to you to make sure you have buildings insurance in place to cover your home, should something happen.
If you live in a leasehold property – a flat, maisonette or house – your freeholder (or whoever manages the building) may have taken out buildings insurance. However, this isn’t always the case, so it’s important to ask the freeholder or building manager whether buildings insurance is in place. You’re within your rights to ask to see the policy documents too.
If you rent, sorting out buildings insurance is the responsibility of your landlord – but there’s no legal requirement that they do this. If your landlord doesn’t have buildings insurance in place, they’d need to foot the repair bill if a fire, flood or storm damaged the property.
Whether you own your own home, have a mortgage, live in a leasehold property or rent, it’s down to you to arrange cover for your contents. If you haven’t bought a contents insurance policy, your possessions won’t be covered.
How can I check if I have home insurance?
If you think you have a home insurance policy, but can’t remember who it’s with, you can:
Check your bank/credit card statements for evidence of any payments.
Call your insurance broker or financial adviser if you have one.
Ask your mortgage provider for details of the buildings insurance information you gave them when you took out your mortgage.
Check your email history – if you can’t remember the insurance provider, you can always run searches for terms like home insurance, or buildings and contents insurance, in the subject line.
Check your paperwork – see if you can find any policy documents filed away.
If, on the other hand, you know the name of your insurance provider but can’t lay your hands on the policy documents, give them a call. They should be able to track down your policy using your name and address.
Unfortunately, unlike for car insurance, there’s no central database that holds details of all home insurance policies in the UK.
Did you know?
If you create an account with Compare the Market, you’ll be able to store policy documents and old and new quotes, and create reminders for your MOT or insurance renewals, for example. It also means you’ll be able to easily find out who you’re insured with.
How much is home insurance?
If you don’t have insurance, arranging it might not be as expensive as you think. According to our data, 51% of people could get a quote of less than £195[1] a year for their buildings and contents home insurance. And 10% of people could get both buildings and contents insurance for less than £115[2] a year.
The bottom line is that if you own your home and want it to be protected in the event of damage, theft or loss, you’ll need contents and buildings insurance.
[1] 51% of our customers were quoted less than £194.03 for their buildings and contents home insurance in June 2026.
[2] 10% of our customers were quoted less than £114.80 for their buildings and contents home insurance in June 2026.
How can I insure my house?
If you discover that your house isn’t insured, it’s easy to arrange. Just give us a few details about yourself and your property, and we’ll find you suitable quotes from a range of UK insurance providers.
If, on the other hand, you have insurance in place but want to get a better deal, it’s easy to switch to a different insurance provider. Just check your policy documents to see whether you’ll be charged a fee if you switch before your home insurance renewal date.
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As well as writing for Churchill and Privilege insurance websites, Karen’s CV includes working with M&S, Debenhams, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and John Lewis. With over 20 years of editorial experience for big household names she leads a talented content team with a focus on simplifying personal finance for everybody.
Stephen Maunder is an experienced personal finance editor, having spent more than a decade working for consumer print and online titles. He won several industry awards for his personal finance features at Which?, before becoming Deputy Editor at Compare the Market.
Amy helps make sure you get the best value when choosing insurance. Thanks to more than four years’ experience at Compare the Market, she understands what people look for, working closely with insurance providers to offer you deals and services that are fair, easy to understand and right for your needs.
Our content is written by a Compare the Market expert, backed by data and enhanced by technology. Find out how we ensure accuracy and quality in our Editorial Guidelines.