Insure Your Most Valuable Asset - Your Home

Home insurance, also known as homeowners' or building insurance, is essential for any homeowner. We insure our cars, our laptops and sometimes even our phones, and yet some people underestimate the importance of insuring their most valuable assets - their homes.

While we live in a country which has thus far been sheltered from most natural disasters, South Africa has been warned to expect an increase in the coming years. Scientific reports have concluded that climate change is causing the western provinces to become drier and the eastern provinces to become wetter. This means that South Africa can expect to experience an increase in the frequency of severe weather events such as floods, tornadoes and droughts. Circumstances which are completely out of our control, but which can cause immense damage to our homes. Fire is another unforeseen factor which can strike with little warning. Large sections of Cape Town were ravaged by fire earlier this year - leaving many families with severely damaged or completely destroyed homes. Cape St. Francis experienced something similar when over 100 luxury homes were destroyed by a raging fire in December of 2012. Many of these homes were uninsured - something which their owners bitterly regretted.

Emergency management officials have also recently raised concern over a rise in the number of house fires this year - a direct result of an increase in load shedding. An elderly couple's double storey home in Johannesburg was burnt to the ground when a candle fell to the floor. A woman was also reported to have returned to her burning house after leaving her hairdryer on her bed before going out. She had been using the hairdryer when the power had gone out due to load shedding. When the power returned, the hairdryer switched back on and caused a house fire.

While we can't always protect our homes from such devastation, we can protect ourselves from having to suffer the financial blow that comes with it. Compendium's home insurance covers the buildings on your private premises - your private home and any outbuildings.

In the event of fire, lightning, storms, explosions, earthquakes, rain, hail, and a number of other destructive circumstances (link to www.cig.co.za/home-insurance.aspx), the following items will be repaired or replaced:

Fixtures, fittings, walls Gates, gate monitors, fences, intercoms and security systems Swimming pools, filters, safety nets, covers, pumps Sauna baths and hot tubs Tennis courts (with the exception of clay, gravel or grass surfaced tennis courts) Ornamental ponds and fountains Borehole motors, underground pipes and cables, public supply connections Satelite dishes, aerials and antennae Air conditioning units, irrigation systems and solar heating systems Brick, tar and concrete driveways, paths and patios

Insure your home today and rest in the comfort of knowing that come rain, fire or tornado, your most valuable asset is covered. If you'd like to find out more about how our home insurance policies could work for you, why not call one of our friendly brokers on 031 242 6800.