Your home is probably the most expensive item you will ever buy.

And you'll be filling it with a wide variety of your most valuable possessions in the world.

So it's vital that you protect yourself in this area, and the way you do so is through home insurance.

House insurance is an insurance policy that combines insurance for your home, the contents, loss of use (additional living expenses) and home liability insurance.

Personal possessions are also usually included, but policies and prices vary from company to company.

There are two main types of home insurance: buildings cover, which is a condition of any mortgage you take, and contents cover, which is optional.

They can be bought separately, but its often more convenient and cost effective to take them under one policy.

We will now look at buildings and contents insurance in more detail...