Listed property insurance is home insurance that’s designed specifically for listed properties. It takes into account the different risks and insurance pitfalls you face when your home is historic, characterful and protected by extra laws and regulations – which regular home insurance is unlikely to cover properly. Like all home insurance, you pay a premium either annually or monthly.

Listed properties are subject to extra legal protection in the planning system, which means you have to apply for special permissions to make any changes that could impact your property’s character or structure. As the owner, it’s your legal duty to preserve your property – so if your home is changed without permission, damaged or destroyed completely, you may be required by law to rebuild it using its original building techniques. This can be complex and very expensive, and standard home insurance is unlikely to offer the right level of cover for these sorts of risks, so having specialist insurance is crucial.

You can search for listed properties online depending on the country you live in. In England you can check on the Historic England website and in Scotland on their Historic Environment portal. You can also search Welsh records here and if you’re in Northern Ireland, check the government website. You can also ask your local authority if you’re unsure.

Yes, we cover all types of listed property, whether they’re residential or for business use.

Yes, we can insure thatched buildings. We’ll ask for the details of your thatch roof to make sure you have the right level of cover and your policy may include stipulations you need to meet, such as regular chimney-sweeping, to make sure you’re as protected as possible from the risk of fire.

All listed properties are different, so there’s no one-size fits all policy that will be suitable for your home. We always ask the right questions about your home to help us understand key details, from its age to how it’s built. This enables us to find the right cover for you and to give you an accurate quote, which we are always happy to talk you through personally. It might take a little longer than buying a policy from an online comparison site – but it means you’ll be speaking with specialists to make sure that you have the right level of protection so it’s always worth it.

It’s very important to make sure the maximum sum you’re insured for is enough to completely reinstate your property. If you’re unsure of figures, it’s a good idea to have a professional rebuild survey carried out and we can always recommend someone suitable for you. Just remember – never assume the rebuild cost is the same as what you paid for your property. As a rule, it’s usually higher, especially for traditionally-built listed buildings.

It’s very easy to underestimate how much insurance you need. Many people presume that the rebuild costs for a property will be about the same as the price they pay for their property, but in reality it’s nearly always higher. If you insure your property for less than it costs to reinstate all your buildings and contents, this leaves you ‘underinsured’ – where the maximum figure your insurer will pay out is less than what your claim might actually cost. This means your insurer won’t pay for the full cost of your claim and you have to fund the rest yourself.

Many insurance policies are also bound by something called the average “waiver clause”, which gives your insurer the right to reduce the amount they pay you by the same proportion that you’ve underinsured your home for. So your best course of action is to have your buildings and contents valued professionally and tell us, so that you’ve got the peace of mind that you’ll be properly covered if you need to claim.

If you discover that the previous owners of your property made changes without the appropriate permission, it’s your responsibility to fix them if you are instructed to do so by your local authority – even though you didn’t make them. This is simply because you’re now legally responsible for the listed building in order that its heritage can be protected for the future. We understand this can be unexpected and expensive, so we offer insurance that covers this as standard, if your conservation officer requires you to make good.

Most local authorities employ a conservation officer to help look after listed properties in the area. Your conservation officer can offer expert advice on all sorts of matters relating to historic buildings and areas, including planning applications, and they may even have a say in any significant claims you make. They can be a useful point of contact if you own an older home, so it’s always worth finding out who your local officer is.

Buildings or ancillary structures that sit within the land of, or are attached to, a listed property may be considered curtilage listed buildings and could have the same protection and restrictions on them as the primary building.

If you own a property within the ancillary area of a listed building, even if the property does not have a listing of its own, you may still require listed property insurance.