Home and contents insurance covers your house and other structures on your property as well as your belongings for loss or damage caused by such events as fire, theft and flooding. Contents insurance covers the belongings inside your home, including furniture, electrical appliances, clothing, and so on.

Home insurance policies will not cover wear and tear. They are meant to cover damage caused by sudden and unexpected events, not things wearing out, breaking down or failing because they have not been maintained properly.

It can take several months to repair a property that has been severely damaged by flooding. Drying out the property can take many weeks. Trying to repair a property before it is properly dry is likely to lead to problems with damp and mould. The property may need to be decontaminated and cleaned, dried, repaired and redecorated, and this all takes time.

In short the answer is no. Many insurance policies will cover a limited amount of money as part of your contents cover. However, loss of cash will only be covered for the risks insured under the policy, including theft from the home. Standard policies will not cover money that is lost or stolen while you are carrying it. Usually this is provided as an extension to a standard policy and you would have to pay extra for it.

Cover for your belongings while you are away from your home is not part of a standard contents policy. Insurers will offer this as an optional extension with an increase in premium. Usually, this extra insurance will cover items up to a limit that you choose, without the need to list your belongings individually.

You can claim under either or both policies. You must not claim the overall value twice. In deciding which policy to claim under, look at the different limits and exclusions that may apply on each policy.

Check whether the policies have a no-claims discount that you don’t want to lose. Whichever policy you decide to claim under, you must provide the insurer with the full details of the other policy and they may each pay a share of the claim.

It is extremely important to get this right as not having enough insurance can mean that all claims payments you receive may be reduced to reflect wear and tear.

You should insure your contents for the amount it would cost to completely replace them with new items. As long as the amount you have selected is roughly correct, insurers will not unreasonably reduce any claims payments.

In all cases the contents amount insured, or limit that applies, is the maximum amount that the insurer will pay in the event of a total loss such as fire.