High Value Home Insurance
High value home insurance is a straightforward way to protect a house and everything in it without having to go looking for the right policy yourself. We arrange it for owners of large, listed and architecturally distinctive homes, and for families whose property and possessions sit across more than one address. One of our advisers talks through what matters to you, goes to the insurers who write this class properly, and reads the wording against the kind of claim we would expect it to have to meet. And if you ever need to use it, the claim is handled here in Durham, by the same people you already deal with.
Arranged, Read and Looked After
It is a product category rather than a judgement about the owner. We use high value household insurance for houses that would be slow or difficult to rebuild, for contents that cannot simply be re-bought, and for arrangements that run across more than one property or more than one name. Insurers set their own entry points for it, and those are commercial positions rather than a definition of anything.
What we do with it is the part that matters. One of our advisers will go through the house, the contents and how you actually live in it, and then approach the insurers who write this properly rather than the first panel that will quote. Prestige home insurance is a small market, the wordings differ more than the premiums do, and knowing which is which is our job rather than yours.
Then we read it. The finer detail of a high net worth home insurance policy is what decides a claim, so any wording we recommend is checked against the losses we would expect it to have to carry: a long reinstatement, a specialist restoration, a family out of the house for months. We would rather find a limit in October than in the week it is tested.
And we arrange it as one thing, not six. High-value motor, collections, travel, personal liability, anyone employed at the house, a renovation project and anything held through a trust or a company all sit alongside the buildings and contents. Private client insurance works when those are placed deliberately, rather than assumed to be inside the home policy.
Where this page stops. This is cover for your own home and possessions. Property you let out is property owners insurance, several let properties held together are property portfolio insurance, and premises you trade from are commercial property insurance. We would happily arrange both sides for the same family.
What We Ask, and Why
Four things shape what we take to the market, and only one of them is about the building. We go through them with you on the phone rather than sending you a form to fill in, and it is usually a short conversation.
We start with what it would cost to put the building back, not what it would sell for, because on this kind of house the two rarely match. A listed or period home may have to be rebuilt in matching materials by trades who still work in them, and we would rather have it assessed than inherited from a previous insurer.
We go through the contents with you at the level that matters: the jewellery and watches, anything that would need an expert to value or restore, and whether anything is worth more than a standard policy would pay for one item. You do not need a catalogue for this conversation, and we will not ask you to send one.
We ask how the year actually runs. A second home, long spells away, a house that stands empty for part of the year, pieces that travel with you or go out on loan. Whether cover follows you or stops at the front door is a wording question rather than a price one, and it is a great deal easier to settle now than it ever is afterwards.
We ask who holds the financial interest in the house and in anything significant inside it, including anything held by a trust, a company or jointly within the family. It takes ten minutes now. Discovered at a claim, when the policy names one person and the asset belongs somewhere else, it takes considerably longer.
None of this is homework we are setting you. It is the conversation we would have anyway, and most of it we can do in one call once we know roughly what we are looking at. What we need from you at the start is a sense of the house and the contents; everything after that is ours to chase, including the valuations and the schedule, which we will arrange a secure way of collecting.
After It Is Arranged
A period house is not simply a larger version of an ordinary one. Matching stone, lime mortar, a slate no longer quarried and a joiner who can reproduce a staircase are the difference between a house being repaired and a house being replaced with something that resembles it. A wording written for modern construction never says so, which is why we read for it.
Where a house is listed, consent is a separate question from cover, and we raise it early. Work affecting the listed character of a building needs consent in its own right, and no insurance policy supplies that. If putting the house back after a loss would change its character, that question lands in the middle of the claim unless somebody has thought about it first. We would rather have it at the outset.
Tell us before the scaffold goes up, not after. A renovation, an extension or a restoration changes the risk fundamentally, and the arrangement that covers a house being lived in is usually not the one that covers a house being worked on. A short call before the first trade arrives is normally all it takes; the same call after the work has started is a harder conversation with the insurer and occasionally a much more expensive one.
And because this is a personal policy rather than a business one, the questions are ours to ask. A policy on your own home is generally a consumer contract, where the duty is to take reasonable care not to say anything wrong, rather than the fuller duty a business carries on our commercial property insurance page. We ask the questions properly so nothing is left out by accident, and we are careful where a house is owned through a trust or a company.
Then, if it is ever needed, the claim is ours too. A loss in a house like this is rarely one straightforward claim: a specialist restorer, a long reinstatement, somewhere for the family to live while it happens. It is handled in house by a named claims manager from the first call, and what you do on the morning it happens is set out plainly rather than left to the back of a policy book.
That is the pattern across all five. The policy is one document, the house and the family around it are not, and the work is keeping the two describing each other. It is why we would rather hear from you about a change in March than read about it on a claim form in November.
The Detail That Decides a Claim
Four answers decide how a policy behaves when something happens. None is on the schedule, all four are in the wording, and we check each one before we recommend anything.
We check whether valuables are covered away from the house, anywhere or only in named countries, and whether that covers things in transit and a piece lent to an exhibition. A watch worn abroad and one in a safe are a single item in two positions, and plenty of wordings treat them differently without saying so plainly.
We check whether an item is insured for a figure agreed in advance, for what it happens to be worth on the day, or on a basis that moves with the valuation. The three pay very different amounts for the very same painting. We check too how recent a valuation must be before an insurer stops treating it as current, which is the commonest argument on this class.
We check what happens when one earring, one chair or one volume goes from a set, and whether the policy restores the set or only the piece. And we check how something bought recently is treated before anyone has been told, because the limit and notification period on that cover vary more than most people expect.
We check whether restoration is covered, whether any drop in value after a repair is recognised, and what the policy provides if the house cannot be lived in. Alternative accommodation for a family, pets and staff through a long reinstatement is expensive to find missing, and it is routinely the limit nobody looked at.
We go through these before recommending anything, and we put the answers in writing so you have them rather than having to find them later. Most owners can tell us what their contents are insured for. Far fewer could say on what basis any single piece would be paid, and that is the answer that decides what actually arrives after a loss.
How We Present It
Insurers price what they can see. The better we describe the house, the less they assume, and assumptions on this class rarely favour the owner.
We have the main house assessed on its own and anything separate assessed separately: outbuildings, a pool or leisure building, a home office, staff accommodation, an annexe. Each is a different construction doing a different job, and one figure covering all of it is the commonest reason a rebuild turns out short.
We tell the insurer how much of the year the house is lived in, whether there is a second home, how long it stands empty and what happens to the valuables while you are away. Long absences usually attach conditions to the policy, and a condition nobody mentioned is the one that is unmet on the night of a loss.
We set out the alarms, safes and locks and the standard the insurer expects them to be kept to, along with leak detection and the precautions for an empty period. Escape of water does more damage to houses like this than fire does, and the prevention requirements are usually written as conditions rather than as advice.
We cover anyone employed at the property and on what terms, and any renovation, extension or restoration planned or under way. Both change how the risk is read, and both are a great deal better declared in advance than explained afterwards, which is the other reason we would always rather know about them early.
Rebuild cost is not market value, and on this kind of house the two are rarely close. A market figure reflects the address, the land and what somebody will pay. A rebuild figure reflects lime mortar, matching stone, a slate no longer quarried and a joiner who can reproduce a staircase. One of those numbers is in the estate agent’s particulars and the other has to be assessed. Where a house is listed, bespoke or extended several times, we would rather arrange a proper assessment than inherit a figure uplifted each year and measured once.
Named People, Not a Call Centre
A private client account at Park usually sits beside a commercial one, and the people who look after it already know the family and the business. Four names, all on direct dials, and you deal with them rather than with a service centre.
Donna Hall is our Sales Director and brings over thirty years of industry experience, with a professional and pragmatic approach to client service and long-lasting relationships. That is the right description of this kind of work, which is judged over years rather than at one renewal. Paula Hunter has been involved in the insurance industry for over thirty years, looks after a full range of commercial clients and works closely with the team on renewals and new client acquisition, which is how most of these arrangements begin.
David Park is our Managing Director and is responsible for leading the business and making sure our values run through it. He is named here because the private side of Park is a small book held personally, generally for the directors of businesses we already insure, and it is looked after that way on purpose. Colin Thompson is our Claims Manager with over eighteen years in the role, and a loss in a house like this is rarely straightforward, so it is handled in house from the first call. The rest of the team is on our team page.
High Value Home Insurance Enquiry
We would love to hear from you. Leave a few details and one of our advisers will come back to you within one working day, and we will take it from there. Seven questions, none of which asks you to list anything. Please do not type an inventory of jewellery, art or security arrangements into this form. Tell us roughly what the house and contents are worth, and when we reach the point of needing valuations or a schedule we will agree a secure way of getting them to us. No fee and no obligation either way.
Common Questions
There is no legal threshold, and the honest answer is that insurers set their own entry points as commercial positions rather than definitions, so the same house can be inside one appetite and outside another. The practical test is whether an ordinary policy still describes your position: if one watch is worth more than the single item limit, if the house could not simply be rebuilt in modern materials, or if the contents could not be re-bought, you have outgrown it. Tell us roughly what we are looking at and we will tell you.
No. Finding the right policy is the part we do, and the conversation starts with what the house is and what matters to you rather than with a specification. We will ask about the building, the contents, how the year runs and who owns what, and most of that is a single phone call. Anything that needs assessing properly, such as a rebuild figure or a valuation, we will arrange or point you at rather than leaving you to it.
No, and please do not email one. A detailed inventory of valuables, with where they are kept, is exactly the document to be careful with, and we do not need it to start. Tell us the overall contents figure, roughly how many items sit above a high single value and whether anything is kept away from the house. When there is something worth quoting on, we will agree a secure route for the valuations and the schedule.
Ring us before the first trade arrives. Renovation, extension or restoration changes the risk fundamentally, and the arrangement that covers a house being lived in is usually not the one that covers a house being worked on, so a separate arrangement for the works period is often the answer. On a listed building there is a second question alongside it, because work affecting the listed character needs consent in its own right and no policy supplies that.
Not if we know. It is one of the commonest mismatches we find, because a policy in an individual's name may not properly describe a house owned by a trust or a company, and that usually surfaces at a claim rather than at renewal. Tell us who holds the financial interest in the house and in anything significant inside it, including anything held jointly in the family, and we will have the arrangement written to match the ownership.
That depends on the wording, which is exactly the sort of thing we check before recommending a policy. Lending a work moves it out of the house and usually into someone else's care, and policies differ on whether that is covered at all, for how long and up to what value. The same question applies to items in transit. If you are planning to lend something, tell us first and we will confirm the position in writing rather than afterwards.
Yes, though not on this policy. Private high-value home cover is for your own home and possessions and does not replace commercial cover for property you let out or business stock kept at the house. One let property belongs on property owners insurance and several held together on property portfolio insurance. We would normally arrange both sides for the same family, as two arrangements that know about each other.
