Home Insurance When You Move House
Buildings and contents cover are two different products with two different triggers — one usually needs to start the moment you exchange contracts, the other doesn’t follow you to a new address on its own. Here’s what actually needs to happen, and when.
General information, not advice. This guide explains how things typically work — it isn’t legal, financial or professional advice for your specific situation, and Reloca8 isn’t liable for decisions made based on it. Always confirm current rules directly with the relevant council, provider or government website before acting.
The short version
If you’re buying, arrange buildings insurance to start from exchange of contracts, not completion — you’re legally on the hook from that point even before you get the keys. If you’re renting or already own, your contents policy almost certainly won’t follow you automatically — update the address or start a new policy. Never round your contents value down to shave the premium: most insurers apply an “average clause” that cuts any payout proportionally if you’re underinsured. And because renewing customers can no longer legally be charged more than an equivalent new customer, a move is a good moment to actually re-shop rather than auto-renew.
Buildings vs. contents — two separate products
“Home insurance” is really shorthand for two different policies that can be bought together or separately. Buildings insurance covers the physical structure — walls, roof, windows, fitted kitchens and bathrooms — against things like fire, storm, flood and subsidence. Contents insurance covers what you actually own inside it — furniture, electronics, clothes, valuables. If you’re moving, both usually matter, but on different timelines: buildings cover is tied to the property itself and to your mortgage lender’s requirements, while contents cover is tied to you and what you own, wherever you happen to be living.
Buildings insurance
The structure- Covers walls, roof, fixed fittings and permanent structures.
- Almost always required by a mortgage lender as a loan condition.
- Tied to the property, not to you personally.
Contents insurance
Your belongings- Covers furniture, electronics, clothes and valuables.
- Not legally required, but a landlord's or previous owner's cover never protects your things.
- Usually address-specific — doesn't follow you automatically.
A mortgage lender’s own financial interest in the property is normally protected even if you personally lapse on a buildings payment — lenders typically build safeguards into the arrangement for exactly that reason. That protection is for the lender, though, not for you, so it’s never worth treating “the lender will probably be covered anyway” as a reason to let a buildings policy lapse.
The timing detail that catches buyers out: exchange, not completion
This is the single most commonly missed, highest-stakes timing detail in a UK house purchase. Exchange of contracts is the point at which both sides are legally committed to the sale — after exchange, you can’t simply walk away without serious financial consequences, even though you won’t actually get the keys until completion, which can be days or weeks later. Because you’re legally committed to buy the property from the moment of exchange — regardless of whether it burns down, floods or is damaged before you move in — buildings insurance cover should typically be arranged to start from the exchange date, not the completion date. Waiting until completion to buy a policy can leave a real gap where you’re contractually obligated to a property you have no insurance on at all.
- 1
Offer accepted
No legal commitment yet on either side — either party can still withdraw.
- 2
Exchange of contracts
You're now legally committed to buy. Buildings insurance cover should be in place from this date.
- 3
Completion
You get the keys and move in — this is not when cover should start, it's typically well after.
Renting, or already own? Contents cover doesn’t follow you
If you’re not buying — you’re renting, or moving between two properties you already own or rent — the exchange timing above doesn’t apply to you, but a different trap does. Contents policies are usually written against a specific address, and that address doesn’t update itself just because you’ve physically moved your belongings. A policy still pointed at your old address may not pay out for a loss or damage that happens at the new one — you need to actively update the address on your existing policy, or take out a new one, before you can rely on being covered at the new place.
The “average clause”: why under-declaring value backfires
A genuinely underappreciated risk: when people set up (or renew) a contents policy, there’s a temptation to declare a lower total value for their belongings to bring the premium down. Many UK insurers build in a mechanism called the average clause specifically to discourage this. If you insure your contents for less than their true replacement value, the insurer applies a proportional reduction to any claim you make — not only large ones.
A simple worked example: say your contents are actually worth £40,000, but you insured them for only £20,000 — half their real value. If you then make a claim for a stolen laptop worth £1,000, the average clause means the insurer pays out roughly £500, not the full £1,000 — because you were insured for only half of what your total contents were actually worth, that same 50% reduction applies across every claim, however small.
Sum insured matches true value — the full claim is paid.
Insured for half the true value — the average clause pays roughly half of this claim too, not just a large one.
Renewing after a move? The loyalty penalty ban changed the maths
Since 1 January 2022, the Financial Conduct Authority’s general insurance pricing rules — sometimes called the “loyalty penalty” or “price walking” ban — have required insurers to offer an existing or renewing customer a price no higher than an equivalent new customer would pay for the same risk. Before the reform, insurers could quietly raise a loyal customer’s premium year after year, on the assumption most people would never bother switching. Practically, for someone renewing a policy shortly after a move, that means loyalty itself is no longer supposed to cost you a premium markup on paper — but the reform reduced rather than eliminated the incentive to shop around, since insurers can still price the same risk differently between providers, and a new postcode is exactly the kind of change that can shift what “the same risk” costs from one insurer to the next. Moving house is a natural trigger to actually get fresh quotes rather than simply letting a policy auto-renew.
Your duty to tell your insurer when you move
Under the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012 (CIDRA), which brought its consumer-duty provisions into force on 6 April 2013, a consumer must take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation when answering an insurer’s questions. A change of address is precisely the kind of material change an insurer asks about — whether at renewal or mid-term — and it can affect flood risk, crime rates, and other factors that feed directly into your premium and your cover. Not updating it isn’t a minor administrative oversight: it risks a future claim being reduced or refused outright if the insurer later finds the address on file was wrong at the time something happened.
“It is the duty of the consumer to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation to the insurer.”
Are your belongings actually covered during the move itself?
It’s worth checking this explicitly rather than assuming it either way. Some contents policies include limited cover for belongings while they’re physically in transit between addresses; many don’t, or only do so with restrictive conditions (professional removers only, a specific value cap, or exclusions for self-drive van hire). Separately, a professional removal firm may offer its own goods-in-transit insurance, which is a distinct product covering loss or damage while items are in the firm’s care, custody or control. Don’t assume either one automatically has you covered — ask your contents insurer directly whether transit is included, and ask your removal firm directly what their goods-in-transit cover actually includes and excludes, before moving day rather than after something goes wrong.
Leaving a home empty during the move? Check the unoccupied clause
A gap that’s easy to miss on either end of a move: the property you’re leaving, and the one you’re moving into, can each end up standing empty for days or weeks — because of a delayed chain, a gap between tenancies, or work being done before you move in. Most UK buildings and contents policies treat occupancy as a genuine policy condition, not an afterthought, and start restricting cover once nobody has stayed overnight for a set number of consecutive days. That threshold is commonly as little as 30 days, sometimes up to around 60, but it’s set by your own policy document, not a single industry-wide rule.
Inside the vacancy window
Cover as normal- Buildings and contents cover generally continues as usual.
- A short, ordinary gap between moving out and moving in isn't normally something you need to declare separately.
- The exact window — commonly 30 to 60 days — is set by your own insurer, so check your policy document rather than assuming.
Once you're past it
Cover narrows sharply- Often drops to a short list of named perils — typically fire, lightning and explosion.
- Theft, escape of water and accidental damage are commonly excluded outright.
- An undisclosed vacancy can mean a later claim is refused entirely, not just reduced.
This matters most when there’s a real gap between the two properties — a sale and purchase that don’t complete on the same day, or a new build that isn’t quite ready. Tell your insurer as soon as you know a property will be sitting empty, rather than waiting to see whether anything actually goes wrong. Some insurers offer a short grace period or a specific unoccupied-property extension, but neither is something to assume you already have.
A practical checklist for moving day
Pulling the above together into what to actually do:
Tell your insurer the move date early
As soon as you know it, not after the fact — for both the exchange date on a purchase and any period either property will stand empty.
Don't assume cover transfers
Check explicitly for both buildings and contents — a policy pointed at the old address doesn't automatically follow you.
Get quotes for the new address early
Postcode-level flood risk and local crime rates can shift premiums significantly, even between two addresses a short distance apart.
Confirm transit cover in writing
Ask whether items in transit are covered by your contents policy, your remover's goods-in-transit cover, or neither — before moving day, not after.
Check for an unoccupied-property gap
If either property will sit empty for more than a few weeks, tell your insurer before the vacancy starts, not after.
One less exchange-day deadline to track yourself
Reloca8 tracks your exchange and completion dates and reminds you exactly when buildings cover needs to start, when to update your contents policy address, and when it’s worth re-shopping instead of letting a renewal auto-pay — alongside everything else a move touches.
Start your move checklistSources
Disclaimer. This page is general information, not advice on your specific circumstances or policy wording. Insurance terms, the average clause and specific pricing rules vary by insurer and can change — always check your own policy document and current FCA guidance directly before relying on anything above. Reloca8 is not a law firm, financial adviser, or government body, and accepts no liability for actions taken based on this guide — see our Terms of Service.