Contents Insurance For Tenants

If you have recently moved into rented accommodation or you are a tenant looking to renew your contents insurance policy, you should keep in mind some of the important things to consider when choosing a policy to protect your personal possessions and your deposit when it comes to the items owned by your landlord.

This article will set out as many of the main points as possible including how sharers living in a house with multiple occupants deal with things including how deposits should be divided. We’ll also cover furnished properties, accidental damage, home emergency cover and what happens at the end of the tenancy.

Your Personal Possessions And Furnished Residences

There are two different aspects of contents insurance for tenants namely the possessions that are owned by the tenant and those that are owned by the landlord. As a tenant you will most definitely be responsible when it comes to cover for the things you yourself own but it is becoming increasingly common for the landlord to require that your insurance policy covers freestanding items owned by them especially if you are renting a furnished or part-furnished pad.

If things owned by the landlord do get damaged or lost during your tenancy and you have not got tenants insurance to cover this, the landlord will most likely take the value of those items from your deposit. It is best to check with your landlord regarding where the responsibility for his/her items lies; if your landlords’ insurance policy covers damage or loss of his/her items then you can look for cover that specifically protects your own possessions only which will save you money on premiums.

What Will Landlord Insurance Cover?

Your landlord will want to protect his/her interest in the property and thus it is likely that such an insurance policy will cover all the permanent fixtures and fittings such as the cooker, washing machine, dishwasher, shower/bath, built in wardrobes etc.

Landlords are not required by law to provide building insurance for the residence but most mortgages companies do but even if he/she does not it is still their responsibility to repair any damage to the building itself. Landlords do not however have to provide rented property insurance that covers your contents or theirs.

What About Sharers In A House With Multiple Occupants?

If you are a renter in a house or flat that you share with others then you are still responsible for protecting your own possessions. You can either buy insurance for your room and your possessions individually (this might only be possible if each of the bedroom doors is lockable) or, and this is the cheaper option, you can buy a tenants home insurance policy between all the residents and just split the costs like you would with bills and council tax.

With multiple occupants it does take at least one person to step up and take responsibility for getting the quotes in and choosing the most appropriate policy but if nobody does it then you are liable for damages should anything happen. My advice would be to share out responsibilities and payments between tenants so if there is someone who has not done his or her bit yet, make them responsible for finding the best contents insurance for rented properties.

If you find yourself in a situation where you wish to get contents insurance but none of your housemates do then you should buy some anyway and because the policy is in your name, if anything should happen to your possessions then you are covered but if they find their things lost, stolen or damaged then they have nobody to blame but themselves and you have no responsibility to make a claim on their behalf.

Knowing Who Is Responsible For Home Emergency Cover

Things can go seriously wrong in a house or flat; pipes can burst, hot water can stop, walls can collapse (trust me I have had it happen!) but in these circumstances it will almost certainly be your landlord who is responsible for fixing the problem.

As a landlord, he/she is required to let the property in a liveable condition and should a situation arise where this is no longer the case then it is up to him/her to resolve the issue to bring it back to liveability.

Your Options When It Comes To The End Of The Tenancy

If you reach the end of the tenancy in a property but your home tenants rental insurance is still valid for months to come, you have one of two choices:

1. Transfer the contents cover to your new place – depending on the new residence and any changes to the amount of cover required you might have to pay an additional fee.
2. Ask for a refund on the remainder of your policy – if you have a significant number of months left on your policy, some insurers will allow you to claim a part repayment in your premiums but this is quite rare and you should check the fine print before taking out a policy if you know you are going to be moving before the end of the cover.

As with all forms of insurance, the devil is in the detail and it is always worth checking everything before you purchase. Speak to your landlord if possible and find out what exactly you need to cover of theirs (if anything) and shop around to compare prices across the insurance market.

Remember that while tenants contents insurance is technically optional, it is much worse to be on the receiving end of a huge replacement bill rather than pay what is actually one of the cheaper forms of insurance policy.