Legal & General Home Insurance Review
By Sam Gilbert 
In Summary
Legal & General offers two levels of home insurance – Essentials and Extra – which have been designed to accommodate those on a limited budget, as well as customers with more extensive insurance requirements. Legal & General Home Insurance has been highly rated by a number of industry experts, although its cover has received more mixed feedback from customers.
How does Legal & General compare to other home insurance companies? Read our Top 10 Home Insurance article to find out.
Background to Legal & General home insurance
For over 175 years, Legal & General has been providing financial services to the UK public. These services include general insurance, pensions, mortgages, investments and retirement planning.
Legal & General has been insuring homes for more than 90 years.
Overview of the cover provided by Legal & General home insurance policies
Legal & General offers two levels of home insurance cover: Essentials and Extra. Essentials is designed for those on a budget, whilst Extra has been created for those requiring more comprehensive cover.
For both policies, customers have access to a UK-based claims line, which is open 24/7, 365 days a year.
With its contents cover, the total sum insured can be set by you, depending on the value of your possessions. There are some differences between the two policies that are worth noting – for example, the minimum compulsory excess is £100 with Extra cover, but £150 with Essentials cover.
In addition, its Extra policies cover up to 33% of the total sum insured for high risk items, compared to 20% under Essentials cover, while there is no garden contents cover under the Essentials policy. The extra policy also includes additional cover for accidental damage, theft from outbuildings and personal money theft.
There are also differences in Legal & General’s buildings cover. Again, the total sum insured is decided by the policyholder, and the compulsory excesses are the same as the contents insurance policies. Essentials cover offers up to £25,000 towards alternative accommodation, in comparison to £50,000 for Extra insurance.
Its Extra buildings insurance has further benefits, including up to £500 home emergency cover, protection in the event of water escape or oil leakage, and accidental damage cover as standard.
In addition to choosing between Essentials and Extra cover, you can select further products such as extended accidental damage protection, increased personal possessions cover and family legal protection.
How much does home insurance from Legal & General cost?
Legal & General promises that its cheapest offers are available through online quotations.
Naturally, Essentials home insurance is going to be cheaper than Extra cover, as that’s the way the policies have been designed. However, cheaper doesn’t always mean better – if it results in you finding yourself not covered when you come to make a claim.
Even if you choose the cheaper policy option, the exact price of your home insurance will vary according to your property’s age, location, condition and any external environmental influences. If you’ve made a home insurance claim in recent years, this can also push the cost up.
Contact Legal & General directly for an accurate quotation, but remember to make sure you’ve got the right level of cover you need, as well as the right price.
Read our Home Insurance reviews to see how Legal & General compares to other providers.
What do Legal & General home insurance customers say?
Online feedback site Review Centre has awarded Legal & General home insurance 1.3/5 stars, based on 66 reviews. There is a broad spectrum of feedback, ranging from "excellent customer service" to "terrifyingly awful".
However another review website, Money.co.uk, rates Legal & General home insurance more highly, receiving an average score of 3.9/5 stars. This places it in the "good" category, with more than 50% of customers likely to recommend Legal & General to others.
What do experts say about Legal & General home insurance?
For 5 years running, Legal & General has been voted Best Online Home Insurance Provider by Your Money magazine.
Legal & General is also a recommended home insurance provider by Which? magazine, with an average score of 64%, while it has been rated the maximum possible 5 stars by financial organisation Defaqto.
