This site attempts to break down both Homeowner Insurance & Tenant Insurance to give a QUICK guide to the differences found in each. In addition to this we provide text links to much more complete sites that can service your needs better. These links are found within the text. In Breaking down these domestic policies we also skirt the origins of modern day insurance policies.
Insurance in the modern sense i.e. methods of transferring or distributing risk, was practiced by Chinese & Babylonian traders as long ago as the 3rd & 2nd millennia BC, respectively. The need for risk management to protect ones possessions from a large & potentially devastating loss, was clear to even these civilizations. Homeowners insurance as we know it today is the legacy of Nicholas Barbon.
After the great fire of London, which devoured 13,200 houses in 1666, Nicholas Barbon opened an office to insure buildings, in the aftermath of the disaster to prevent such grave loss & devastation in future. In 1680, he established England's first fire insurance company, "The Fire Office," to insure brick & frame homes. The massive loss incurred in London in the aftermath of this tragedy showed the importance of insuring our homes. A number of companies have grown up on transferring the risk away from the ‘insured’, to be assumed by the ‘insurer’ in exchange for a small sum.
– 35% of all homes in the UK do not have any property insurance, in the event of any serious damage to the property these home owners/landlords face high risks of massive bills for repairs*.
– 25% of homes do not have content insurance, leaving residents open to financial loss for their possessions in the event of fire, flood, burglary, storms or natural disasters*.
– The average home in the UK has a contents value of between 40-50 thousand pounds.
– In the UK there is a burglary every 20 seconds*. (*Office of National Statistics 2007).