From freezers to solar panels: What your home insurance actually covers

Momentum Insure’s Funeka Zimkita Ngevu breaks down the vital differences between building and contents cover, revealing how to protect everything from major home renovations to the food in your freezer.

By Zuko Komisa

Home insurance often feels like a maze of fine print, leaving many homeowners unsure of where the bricks and mortar end and their personal belongings begin.

Speaking on Kaya 959’s Drive 959, Funeka Zimkita Ngevu, Executive Head of Claims and Claim Procurement at Momentum Insure, broke down what it truly takes to protect your property, your possessions, and even your groceries.

A popular rule of thumb suggests that if you turn your house upside down, everything that stays put falls under building insurance, while everything that falls out is excluded.

Ngevu clarified that homeowners actually need two distinct policies: building insurance for the physical structure and permanent fixtures, and contents cover for everything you would take with you when moving. Because movable items face higher risks like theft, insurers calculate the premiums for each policy separately.

When valuing your contents, every belonging counts from socks and cutlery to vinyl records. Leaving items off your inventory leaves you underinsured, which can trigger the “average” clause and result in a reduced payout. Surprisingly, this inventory even includes the food in your kitchen.

“If there’s a power surge claim, as an example, and your fridge dies, a lot of insurers cover you for your contents inside of your refrigerator and freezer,” Ngevu explained.

“So you want to always have a rough estimate of how much meat you have in this freezer, so that if something goes wrong, you can justify claiming for the amounts that you want to be compensated for.”

Just as everyday items add up, home improvements can significantly alter your property’s value. Even without adding new rooms, upgrades like solar panels, inverters, or a swimming pool immediately increase what your house is worth. Ngevu stressed the need to update your policy after any major renovation so your sum insured reflects the true replacement cost.

“If that house burns down to the ground, you want to receive that property in the same condition that it was in prior to the fire occurring, including any improvements that you’ve made to the property,” she noted.

Policyholders also frequently worry about the excess the initial amount payable when making a claim—fearing a lack of cash on hand could void their payout. Ngevu reassured listeners that depending on the claim, insurers can often deduct the excess directly from the final settlement.

“If your claim is a total loss for example, it was a five million Rand house and now you don’t have the R25,000 what we would do is pay you five million less the 25,000 that you don’t have,” Ngevu said.

Listen to the podcast for the full conversation. Kaya 959 podcasts are available to download.