When you’re trying to decide what cover you need for your home and contents insurance, it’s fair to say that there can be a bewildering array of bolt-on options to choose from. One of the things you’ll have the opportunity to add on is legal cover, which usually increases the overall cost of your premium unless it’s automatically included. But what exactly is it for, and do you really need it? Let’s take a look in more detail.
Legal expenses cover
It could be a property boundary dispute. It could be that the buyers of your old house are suing you because you neglected to tell them about a fault with the central heating. It could be a contractual issue over the sale of your house. It could even be that someone is bringing legal action against you as a result of being injured on your property. Whatever they’re about, legal disputes can be costly – and unexpected.
The idea of legal expenses cover being bolted onto your home insurance is that if someone brings a lawsuit against you, or if you have to bring one against someone else, you’ll have insurance cover to meet the expenses associated with seeking legal advice, hiring a lawyer and fighting your case.
This kind of cover doesn’t necessarily apply only to issues with your house, either, so you might find it coming in handy in more ways than you might think. The kinds of cases typically covered by legal expenses on your home insurance could include:
- Property and boundary disputes
- Contractual disputes over property, goods or services
- Employment issues
- Personal injury or damage to property
- Tax investigations
Legal expenses cover isn’t mandatory – it’s up to you whether you want to take it or not. However, because there’s no guarantee you will recoup the costs even if you win, having the peace of mind that you won’t have to worry about paying a large legal bill makes the small additional cost to your premium very worthwhile.
Things to keep in mind
One thing it’s important to bear in mind is that legal expenses cover is there for just that – the expenses. If you’re ordered to pay compensation to the person or company who brought the lawsuit against you, you’ll need to cover this yourself.
Make sure you understand how much you’re covered for, too; if you’re involved in a complex and protracted case, you may not be able to claim enough to pay for all your legal fees. It’s also worth checking whether you have any legal expenses cover from other insurance policies or trade union memberships before adding this to your home insurance, so that you don’t end up being covered twice for the same thing.
Get legal cover for your home
Our home legal cover protects you against the costs of defending legal disputes and comes with a free 24/7, 365-day legal helpline. Call one of our insurance experts or request a quote to find out more.