Insurance for your home

To help you calculate how much cover you need you can complete a short, do-it-yourself valuation sheet here to help work out how much cover you need.

Your home contents are covered on a ‘new for old’ basis – which means that, in the case of a reported theft, loss or damage, they’ll be replaced with brand new items of the same value. The only exception is linen and clothing, which will be replaced at their current cost (minus an amount for wear and tear).

When you’re working out the cost of your insurance, you need to work out how much it will cost to replace the full contents. If you under-value your contents, this means you may not get the full value of your claim.

How much you pay (called the ‘premium’) depends on the amount you want insured.
You can pay the premium monthly or annually.

The lowest amount that can be insured is £4,000. The prices are set out below. They include the Insurance Premium Tax at the current rate.

You don’t need to pay any excess under this scheme if you need to make a claim.

Click on the links below to learn more about the rates:

• Cost of insurance (standard cover)
• Accidental damage (optional)
• Add-on covers (optional). These include personal belongings, wheelchairs, mobility scooters and hearing aids. 

You can pay either:

• Monthly (by Direct Debit)
• Annually (by cheque, postal order or Debit/Credit Card)

You must keep up with your payments to make sure you’re covered.

Wessex Group (WIMS Ltd) can cancel the policy if you miss your premium payments. You may not be able to make a claim unless your payments are up to date.

Apply online here. 

Or download and complete and application form here, and then post it to:

Wessex Group (WIMS Ltd) 
Jewry House, Jewry Street
Winchester
SO23 8RZ.

To request a hard copy of the application form in the post, please call Eastlight’s Customer Services Team on 0330 128 0330 and we’ll send one out to you.

If you would like support or have any questions regarding the Contents Insurance application form, please call Wessex Administration on 01962 892 086.

You can also apply by phone. Call Wessex Administration on 01962 892 086.

Read the privacy notice here for information on how Wessex Group (WIMS Ltd) uses your personal data after you apply.

If you do not buy Contents Insurance cover and experience an incident that leaves you facing financial hardship, Eastlight may be able to offer some limited support. To request this support, please get in touch with us here.

However, as our financial support available is limited and will not be sufficient to place you back in the financial position you were in prior to the loss, damage or theft, we always recommend buying Contents Insurance, if possible.

For some Shared Owners, buildings insurance is currently managed separately from their rent and service charge account, meaning they receive an annual invoice for buildings insurance. If they pay by Direct Debit, this is taken on the first of each month.

If this applies to you, it means you have more than one payment to keep track of with limited choice over when your payments are taken.

We know this approach can feel inflexible and confusing. That’s why we’re making changes to bring everything together so it’s simpler for everyone to manage in future.

From April 2026, all Shared Owner buildings insurance charges will be included within their overall rent account. This is in line with how newer Shared Owner accounts are managed.

It means you will have one bill to pay, instead of two – making it easier for you to manage your payments in future, without the need for additional Direct Debits or separate invoices.

Depending on the terms in your lease, this may provide you with greater flexibility on when you can pay your costs to Eastlight. For example, if your lease states that you must pay on the first of each month, then you should be able to pay your charges at any point before then if you’d like to.

As your costs will all be in one system, our teams will also be able to support you faster and provide a better, more efficient service to you when you need our help.

From March 2026, your annual rent increase letter will now include your buildings insurance costs. 

In this letter, we will remind you about the recent changes we’ve made to how your insurance costs are managed. It will also detail the different options you can pay your costs to Eastlight.

While adding your buildings insurance to your overall rent account does not incur any additional costs itself, you will still need to pay any annual inflationary increases to your rent and service charges, including buildings insurance.

These new charges will be communicated to you in your annual rent increase letter. You should receive this letter from March 2026, and it will now include your buildings insurance charges.

If you have any outstanding buildings insurance invoices, the balance will be automatically transferred to your rent account by the end of April 2026.

As we add your buildings insurance charges into your rent account from April 2026, your overall rent balance may naturally go ‘in debt’.

If you have any concerns or feel you may struggle to pay your rent and other charges for any reason, please contact Eastlight for support. We will help you in any way we can, either by setting up a payment plan or signposting you to external services for further help and advice.

You can see this website page for more information: www.eastlighthomes.co.uk/my-rent/ 

If you pay your buildings insurance and rent payments to Eastlight through separate Direct Debits, there will be no action for you.

Please pay your buildings insurance charge up to and including March as normal. 

Once this instalment has been processed, Eastlight will then cancel your building insurance Direct Debit and automatically add these charges to your rent Direct Debit from April 2026, if you have one.

Your charges will then be split across the year in line with your monthly rent payments.

Your annual rent increase letter will detail all charges clearly, and you should receive this from March 2026.

For most of you, this will be in time for your April Direct Debit. For others, the adjustment will be made in line with the terms in your lease and the rent review date.

If you currently pay your buildings insurance charges and rent by Standing Order, Bank Transfer or Credit Card, for example, you will need to:

• Pay your buildings insurance charges up to and including March as normal
• Wait until your March instalment has been processed before you take further action
• Once this has been processed, please contact your bank to cancel the payments for buildings insurance, and change the value amount of your rent payments to now include your insurance charges

From March 2026, your annual rent increase letter will include your new rent, service charge and buildings insurance amount all together. You should use these new combined figures to amend your rent payment amount to Eastlight through your bank.

Please contact us if you’re unsure what your new charges are, if you need Eastlight’s bank details, or if you need further advice on how to set up the right instalment.

If you don’t pay for your buildings insurance by Direct Debit, but do pay for your rent by Direct Debit, we will automatically adjust your rent Direct Debit to include the insurance charge.

However, you will need to cancel your buildings insurance payment if you pay this through your bank.

Yes. If you would like to contact Eastlight about changing your payment options, please contact us by emailing allincometeam@eastlighthomes.co.uk or by phone on 0330 128 0330 (local rate), and someone will be in touch.

From April 2026, you will be able to see your combined rent and service charges, including buildings insurance, on the ‘My Eastlight’ customer self-service portal. Your insurance costs will be included in your rent balance and can be accessed at any time.

You will need to sign up to the portal using an email address or phone number. You will also need your Tenancy Reference Number (please call us if you don’t have this already).

You can see this website page with useful registration guides and portal information here: www.eastlighthomes.co.uk/my-eastlight-support/ 

If you’ve already created an account, simply log in here: https://portal.eastlighthomes.co.uk. 

Or, you can simply download the mobile app by searching ‘My Eastlight’ in the Apple App or Google Play stores.

From April 2026, all Shared Owner buildings insurance charges will be included in your overall rent account. You can see this anytime, anywhere on the ‘My Eastlight’ self-service portal.

• Click here to see our support page, or click here to log in: https://portal.eastlighthomes.co.uk  

Alternatively, contact Eastlight by email at allincometeam@eastlighthomes.co.uk or by phone on 0330 128 0330 (local rate). We’d be happy to help you.

From April 2026, your Neighbourhood Lead or an Eastlight team member will be able to see your buildings insurance costs alongside your rent and service charges in one place on our systems. They can answer any questions you may have, and provide support if you need it.

Policy Cover

For details about your policy cover, please view it here.

Claims

Please contact the insurance company directly to make a claim or an enquiry about the cover and type of support available as soon as possible.

Eastlight monitors the claims performance of our insurers, and would like to be informed of any complaints or disputes that customers have about the service. We would also like to be informed of any challenges to any decisions made by our insurance company.

If this applies to you, or if you wish to report positive or negative experiences with the service, please let us know by emailing the Insurance Manager at insurance@eastlighthomes.co.uk.