According to Just Property, 295,989 residential properties changed hands in South Africa during 2023. If you include the old owners moving out and the new owners moving in, that’s 591,978 households that were potentially uninsured for at least a portion of their move.
READ: Insurance| How to avoid the pitfalls of underinsuring the contents of your home
King Price Insurance’s partner of client experience Wynand van Vuuren says that it’s easy to forget about the insurance implications during the stress of moving house, but keeping your insurance up to date should be at the top of your to-do list.
Here are Van Vuuren’s top insurance tips for consumers who’re planning a move:
- Let your insurer know in advance that you’ll be moving so that they can update your address and check whether your premium will be impacted. “Aspects like the security at your new home, as well as its proximity to open pieces of land, building sites and informal settlements, and more, could change the premium you’re currently paying for both your buildings and home contents.” Talking to your insurer upfront also means they’ll be able to cancel the cover at your old home and switch it to your new home-sweet-home so there’s no double cover and no gap in cover.
- Use a professional moving company that has insurance in place to cover your home contents while they’re in transit. Accidents happen, and so does theft and, unfortunately, your home contents aren’t covered for either if they’re on the back of a private bakkie or trailer (or in any privately-owned vehicle) en route to your new home. When you’re getting quotes from movers, ask for proof of this insurance.
- If you move your things from one home to another in stages, you should remember to insure them at both addresses. You can speak to your insurer regularly and adjust the insured values at each address as you go, to ensure that your home contents are always covered, and never over- or under-insured at either address.
- Packing is the perfect time to update your home contents inventory. “Many people purge while they’re packing, using the opportunity to let go of things they no longer want or use. This is also a great time to compile an up to date home contents inventory, which is a list of everything that goes inside your home and its value. You can use it to make sure everything reaches its destination after being loaded into the moving truck, and it’s also invaluable in determining the correct insured value for your home contents.”
Van Vuuren adds that if you’re building your new home from the ground up, or renovating it before you move in, you should check that the contractor/s have the correct commercial insurance for the building works, materials, and associated liability, for your property. The bonding bank may require proof of this insurance, but either way, it’s critical that the cover is in place before any work starts.
“Moving house is considered one of the five most stressful life events. Lean on your insurer to take care of the details, while you focus on the actual move knowing that your new home and all your treasured possessions are safely covered,” says Van Vuuren.
READ: Bond insurance: The one insurance policy you should never cancel
In a article published on 3 Sep 2020, Regional Director and CEO of RE/MAX of Southern Africa, Adrian Goslett, explains the importance of knowing exactly what your insurance covers.
If you’ve done some renovations or improvements, here’s what you should check when it comes to your home insurance policy. To start with, it’s important that homeowners understand the two different types of home insurance:
Buildings insurance.
As the name suggests, this covers the structure of your home and its outbuildings, and their permanent fittings, against fire, damage and theft. If you own a house, make 100% sure you have buildings insurance. Regardless of whether you have a bond or not.
Home contents insurance.
This covers your stuff. If you could turn your house upside down and shake it, what falls out is home contents – clothes, furniture, TV, wine glasses, the lot. A lot of people don’t have home contents insurance.
Do a post-reno buildings insurance review
If you’ve got a bond, it’s compulsory to have buildings insurance. This is usually taken care of by your bank, and the premium is ‘hidden’ in your monthly bond repayment. But you’re not obliged to accept your bank’s quote, and it’s possible you’ll get a cheaper premium from the insurer that covers the rest of your valuables. So do shop around!
Insure for replacement value, not market value
A building’s insured value isn’t its market value. Buildings insurance should cover what it would cost to rebuild your property from the foundations up, including your boundary walls, solar panels, swimming pool, taps and tiles. It should even include what you would need to pay in a worst case scenario, like demolition charges and waste removal, and the professional and municipal fees that are part of the building process.
Review your home contents coverage
If you’ve built onto your home, and filled the new extension with brand-new furniture and appliances, this is a great time to update your home contents insurance as well. As with buildings insurance, the key is to make sure you cover your home contents for their current replacement value – don’t guess. And remember, insurers can only protect what they know about. It helps to keep the original receipts for items like big screen TVs, so that you can prove their value if you need to claim. To help you assess your home contents correctly, here’s a handy home contents inventory.
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