Cheap Home Insurance

If you're looking for cheap home insurance, you'll be very happy if you're over 50, live in a quiet area and have a burglar alarm; you'll be less happy if you're a student who works in a nightclub and rents a flat. Internet insurance firms offer incredibly cheap home insurance, but only to people who are pretty much a safe bet.

To qualify for very cheap home insurance, you'll need to own your own home and live in a house rather than a flat. Rented accommodation is usually a no-no, as is business use – although some firms such as SAGA offer homeworker policies, while most firms will cover you for office equipment provided you don't actually work from home full-time.

Certain careers are no-nos too: if you're a second-hand car salesman, a jeweller or a pop star, insurers won't touch you – or at least, their cheap policies won't be available.

If you've had some quotes and think they're too steep, the first step is to shop around – but you can do a few things to make a big premium smaller. You could reduce the level of cover (but don't be daft and reduce it so much that you're underinsured), or raise the voluntary excess: the more you're willing to pay in the event of a claim, the cheaper your home insurance will be.