After you’ve spent so much time looking for a property to rent and paid your deposit and first month’s rent, contents insurance could well be the last thing on your mind. It is important, however, to make sure you have adequate cover in the event of something unexpected happening.
1. Do You Need Contents Insurance?
The obvious answer to this is yes but you’d be surprised at the number of tenants who think it’s covered under their rental agreement or simply don’t feel it’s worth it. While the landlord will have building’s insurance, this does not cover the loss or damage to your personal possessions. And most people don’t realise the real value of their own property – until it’s stolen, damaged or broken and needs to be replaced.
2. Do Your Research and Shop Around
It pays to do a little research on what sort of cover you need. Moneysupermarket.com suggests taking out dedicated insurance that is designed specifically for people renting a property. Take the time to find out about premiums, excesses and what’s covered and what’s not. Northwood offer a specific tenants insurance, click here to get a quote.
Our other big tip is to shop around. This is a lot easier nowadays because of price comparison sites. Be careful, the cheapest offer is not necessarily the best. Make sure you compare like for like and that you take a close look at the policy and what it covers.
3. The Cost of Replacing Your Possessions
A student moving into digs is more likely to have fairly few items to insure. They could have a laptop and a TV, maybe a mobile phone. However, the average family home will have an awful lot more to consider. Start by listing everything you own. Check online for how much it would cost to replace these. Remember most policies are “New for Old” which means in the event you lose your possessions they are replaced with brand new. This should give you a good idea what level of insurance you require.
4. What Impacts the Cost of Contents Insurance?
There are a few things that will increase or decrease the amount you pay for contents insurance. The area you live in and its crime rate are just two. Whether you live in a flat or house is another. The options you choose can impact the premium cost, for example whether you want to insure high risk or high value possessions such as mobile phones, jewellery and bicycles when you are out of the home.
5. More Expensive Items
Some of your possessions may well be covered in the general insurance schedule, but if you have more expensive items then you may need to detail them when applying for cover. This can include things like computers, TVs or mobile phones. It is worth checking the limit on these high worth items as you may need to list them separately.
6. The Excess
The cost of your insurance will reflect the excess. This is the amount that you need to pay if you make a claim, before the insurance company pays out their share. The higher the excess, the lower your premium should be. You need to make sure that you can cover the cost of any excess in the event of a claim.
7. Adding Accidental Damage
Your insurance policy will cover you for events that damage or cause the loss of your property that are not your fault. It can be a good idea to add accidental damage which covers other eventualities that may be your fault. In some policies it is included, in some it’s not. Read each policy carefully when you are comparing them.
8. Your Landlord’s Property
Finally, you may be moving into a home where there are fixtures and fittings supplied by the landlord such as a cooker and freezer, even carpets, lighting and furniture. You can add cover to pay for accidental damage to these caused by you and which you will have to recompense the landlord for in the event they are damaged.
