There is a statutory requirement to perform periodic inspections on certain types of plant or equipment. An engineering policy will provide access to and cover the cost of professional inspection services, and can be extended to provide sudden and unforeseen damage cover including breakdown. If you own or operate equipment that requires regular inspection, you may need engineering cover. Examples of plant or equipment requiring regular inspection include: lifts, forklifts, power presses, exhaust ventilation plant, stored air or steam pressure, plant fitted with hydraulics, chains, wires or ropes.

A comprehensive property owners/landlord insurance policy should include: All risks cover in respect of the building and contents, alternative accommodation costs and loss of rent cover following an insurance loss, property owners liability cover, trace and access cover for leaks, lock replacement.

If your premises were to suffer an insured loss such as flood, fire or storm damage and become uninhabitable for an extended period of time, you will suffer a loss of earnings (or rental income) while the property is unoccupied. Loss of rent cover replaces that lost income to help ensure you can continue to, for instance, meet mortgage payments. You will need to ensure that the period that the policy will pay your loss of rent is long enough to cover you until things are back to normal.

If, for instance, you suffered a fire that stopped guests entering and being able to use your facilities, business interruption insurance could compensate you for loss of earnings or additional costs incurred during this period. Extensions of cover can also be added to offer protections for additional risks such as denial of access, where something such as a police incident prevents access to your premises, public utilities, where damage occurs to the utilities such as gas or electricity supplying your premises.

Property owners liability insurance indemnifies you should a third party (tenant, visitor or workman) become injured or their belongings damaged as a result of a fault in your property.

All types of listed and protected properties can be covered and the sum insured needs to reflect the property’s listed status.

Your contents cover should include anything that is not built in - for example furniture, white goods, carpets, curtains, clothes, linen, kitchenware and so on.

Subsidence is the downward movement of the site upon which a building stands, where the soil beneath the building foundations is unstable. Subsidence often results in cracking within an affected building.

You can find out when your house was built by checking your mortgage valuation or a previous survey. If you don't have these consult a professional surveyor – remembering that insurers want to know the approximate year in which the property's foundations were first laid.

Rebuild cost is calculated on the gross external floor area of your home and guidance can be obtained form the ABI who provide a guide of rebuild costs (www.abi.bcis.co.uk). However, for the more complex properties, many insurers offer a free appraisal service which will calculate the correct rebuild cost taking into account internal finishes.