Best home insurance companies in 2024

Promoted for buildings cover

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Trusted by 1m+ people
24/7 claims team
5 star Defaqto rated

Promoted for home emergency cover

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24-hour emergency helpline
Three levels of cover
Boiler cover as standard

Promoted for ease of claims

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Can claim online
Six cover options
5-star Moneyfacts-rated

Your home is your castle (even if it’s a rented one) and you want to ensure that it’s covered. “Home insurance” can mean cover for a building, its contents (your possessions) or both. There’s a wide variety of policies and prices – some companies even offer several tiers of cover, as well as additional extras – and the excess you pay can differ too. So it’s worth knowing what to look for when you’re buying cover so you get what you need and don’t pay over the odds for it.

Some of the best home insurance companies in the UK

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Admiral home insurance

• Info
• Pros and cons

There are three tiers of home insurance from Admiral – a standard policy, a Gold version and a Platinum one. The standard contents policy gets you up to £50,000 of cover for your possessions, while the Platinum level extends this up to £150,000. With the standard buildings policy, you get alternative accommodation cover up to £30,000 (Platinum is £100,000) and it covers garages and outbuildings. In Finder's 2020 customer satisfaction survey, Admiral achieved 3 out of 5 stars.

• Clear access to policy documents and policy information.
• You can tailor your policy to suit your own requirements with a range of optional extras including increased bicycle cover.

• Claims service is not open 24/7.
• Limited cover on Admiral's basic buildings and contents policies.

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MoreThan home insurance

• Info
• Pros and cons

You can choose from Primary or Upgraded home cover (buildings, contents or combined) from MORE THAN. With buildings, one of the key differences is alternative accommodation cover (£30,000 for basic vs £100,000 for Upgraded). With contents, the Upgraded policy adds cover for possessions when a member of the family is away from home (for students, for example), and up to £2,000 of cover for garden contents, such as barbecues. The claims hotline is not 24/7. MORE THAN is part of the RSA Group.

• More Than's different cover options suit different requirements.
• More Than's home insurance policies can be enhanced with extra protection.

• Accidental cover is not included as standard.
• You will have to pay an admin fee if you decide to amend your policy.

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Aviva home insurance

• Info
• Pros and cons

The largest general insurer in the UK was joint second in our 2020 customer survey, with a great 4-star satisfaction rating and 78% of customers happy to recommend it. Aviva offers a home insurance package of buildings and contents, but you can buy them separately, too. The cover is 5-star rated by the policy analyst Defaqto. Buildings cover includes alternative accommodation up to £80,000; contents when away from home up to £5,000; and items in the garden up to £1,500. Damage to a garage and outbuildings, and their contents, is included.

• Aviva's home insurance policies can be enhanced with extra protection.
• 15% discount for buying home insurance online.

• Accidental damage is only included in the highest level of cover.

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HomeProtect home insurance

• Info
• Pros and cons

HomeProtect offers cover online and has a range of specialist policies (for listed buildings, and for people who run a business from home, for example) as well as standard buildings and contents cover, which you can get as standalone or combined. Buildings cover gets a 5-star rating from the policy data analyst Defaqto. The policies are underwritten by AXA and Legal and General, and basic legal expenses cover and home emergency cover are included as standard. There's a 24/7 emergency helpline and up to £30,000 for alternative accommodation if you have to move out.

• HomeProtect's buildings and contents home insurance is 5*-Defaqto-rated.
• HomeProtect's different cover options suit different requirements and budgets.
• Claims can be made online.

• You will have to pay an administration fee if you decide to amend your policy.
• You will have to pay a cancellation fee in order to terminate your policy after the 14-day cooling off period.

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M&S bank home insurance

• Info
• Pros and cons

The brand best known for fancy food and reliable underwear launched home insurance in 2000. You can choose between buildings, contents or both, and Premier or Standard cover. A Premier contents policy gets you accidental damage that extends to visitors' belongings and students' possessions while they're at college. If you make a claim (there's a 24/7 hotline) that affects both buildings and contents, M&S Bank will apply only one excess, and you can pay your premium in monthly instalments at no extra cost. The policies are underwritten by Aviva and have a 5-star rating from the data analyst Defaqto.

• Flexible claims service.
• Extra protection against household emergencies.

• Only two cover options.

How to find the best home insurance cover

1. Figure out the value of what you’re insuring. There are various calculators to help you estimate the rebuild cost of your property, for example, the free BCIS calculator which is backed by the Association of British Insurers. You’ll need this rebuild figure before you apply for buildings cover. For contents, policies typically have an upper “per item” limit so you’ll need to state if you have particularly valuable items to ensure they’re covered. Remember to take into account anything you want covered when away from home. Are you taking your laptop out of the house for work? Will members of the family be away at university? Some policies include this as standard.
2. Decide what add-ons you want. Do you want accidental damage cover or home emergency cover? These are typically bolted on.
3. Don’t double up. If you already have legal expenses insurance – for example, through your bank account or as a standalone policy – you don’t want to pay for it again in your home insurance. Or you might not want it at all.
4. Compare policies and get a range of quotes. Check for exclusions and that you are comparing like with like, for example, that the excess is the same on deals you’re comparing. Don’t forget that you can adjust your excess too.
5. It’s not just about price. /strong> You can see what customers think of their insurer in our satisfaction score league table at the end of this page.

Our 2024 home insurance customer satisfaction league table

We asked policyholders to rate their satisfaction with their insurance company, and whether they’d recommend it to a friend. We’ve shown both for each brand in the table below. Our independent survey of 750 home insurance customers was carried out in December 2023.

Brand	Logo	Overall satisfaction	Customers who’d recommend	Review	Link
Saga		★★★★★	90%	Saga is a specialist insurer catering to over-50s, offering 2 levels of home insurance cover – Select and Plus. It had an overall customer satisfaction score of 4.8 and customers praised the specialised service and helpful support.	Read review
Direct Line		★★★★★	85%	Direct Line has 3 levels of home insurance cover to choose from, including Home Insurance, Home Insurance Plus and SELECT Premier policy. It had a 4.4 overall satisfaction score, with customers highlighting the efficient service.	Read review
Nationwide		★★★★★	84%	Nationwide is a well-known building society that works with Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance to offer home insurance. Its overall customer satisfaction score was 4.3 with customers describing Nationwide as trustworthy.	Read review
Urban Jungle		★★★★★	88%	A relative newcomer to the home insurance market, Urban Jungle is a modern take on insurance and is aimed at a younger audience – particularly younger renters. Urban Jungle’s customers like the price and service and it had an overall score of 4.1.	View deals
Aviva		★★★★★	85%	Aviva is the largest insurer in the UK. It offers cover for buildings, contents or both, with a good range of optional add-ons and it had an overall score of 4.	Read review
AXA		★★★★★	81%	AXA has 3 levels of home insurance cover – HomeSmart, HomeSure and HomeSafe. The benefits offered get more comprehensive with each level and customers gave it an overall score of 4.	Read review
Admiral		★★★★★	83%	Admiral has 3 levels of home insurance; buildings and contents can be separate or combined. The standard cover is fairly limited, but Gold and Platinum are very comprehensive. Its overall score was 3.9 and customers said they liked being able to hold several policies in one place.	View deals
LV=		★★★★★	77%	With 2 levels of cover – Home and Home Plus – and a flexible approach to contents insurance, LV= had an overall score of 3.8. LV= customers praised the helpful and professional service.	Read review
Churchill		★★★★★	77%	Churchill home insurance has 2 levels – Home Insurance and Home Plus – which includes accidental damage in both buildings and contents. It had an overall score of 3.6 with customers appreciating the expertise of the service team.	Read review
Co-op		★★★★★	77%	Co-op has been providing insurance for over 150 years. It had an overall customer satisfaction score of 3.6, with customers mentioning great service and clear instructions.	Read review

Customer satisfaction ratings methodology

In December 2023, we ran a customer satisfaction survey on home insurers. 750 people replied and told us their thoughts on their home insurance provider.

The survey asked respondents how satisfied they were with their current insurance company (on a scale from 1 to 5, and also whether they would recommend the brand to a friend or not). We turned the results into star ratings and shortlisted the top-performing brands for our awards. When there was a draw, we used the recommendation score (that is, the percentage of customers who said they’d recommend the brand to a friend) as a tie-breaker.

Full details of our star ratings for this sector are on the insurance ratings methodology page.

Bottom line

When you’re looking at home insurance policies, the devil can really be in the detail. Policies differ widely so it’s worth checking what you’ll get for your money. Beyond that, it’s worth knowing about the customer service, especially when it comes to making a claim. Our customer satisfaction scores, in the table above, show you what existing customers think of the provider. If the worst happens, you’ll want to be dealing with a company that treats customers well.

Frequently asked questions

• What's usually excluded from buildings insurance?

  Insurers have different exclusions but some policies won’t cover storm damage to gates and fences, or damage caused by pests, or by poor maintenance or negligence. And if you’re having building work done, you need to tell your insurer.

• Is it worth buying buildings and contents together?

  It’s certainly worth getting quotes for a combined policy if you need to get both, as some insurers will offer you a discount for this.

• Can I cancel a home insurance policy?

  There is a 14-day cooling-off period after you buy your policy and you can cancel in that time, but your insurer might charge you a small fee for this. The fee should only cover the cost of the service you’ve received. After 14 days, terms can vary but you’re unlikely to get the whole premium back.

Written by

Liz Edwards

Editor-in-chief

Liz Edwards has been a consumer writer and editor for more than 20 years. She led award-winning teams at the campaigning publisher Which?, and has covered a range of consumer rights and personal finance topics including pensions, credit, banking and insurance. Liz has appeared frequently in national media such as The Sun, Metro, HuffPost and The Independent. She loves to cut through waffle to give consumers the real lowdown. And she loves puns. See full bio

Liz's expertise

Liz has written 106 Finder guides across topics including:

• Consumer rights and protection
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