Cutting Costs, Not Corners: Contents Insurance For Rentals
Home insurance is usually made up of two parts, buildings insurance and contents insurance. The former covers the actual structure of a home, while contents insurance is designed to protect the possessions inside it.
What are you responsible for?
If you’re renting, your landlord should have building insurance, however it’s important to remember that this will not cover any personal items you bring into the house.
Although there are strict laws governing rentals, living in someone else’s property leaves you with less control over your surroundings. There is no legal requirement to do so, but it can be very important to take out contents insurance, especially if this is your main family home.
What’s Covered?
Contents insurance should protect your possessions in the event of theft, vandalism or fire. In order to purchase contents insurance you need to calculate how much your items are worth. When you start moving from room to room adding everything up it could surprise you how quickly the total value of all possessions mounts up. Norwich Union recently reported that the average home actually contains £40,000 worth of goods.
Be sure to check which items could be excluded from your policy. Depending on the type of policy you go for valuable items such as jewellery, watches, antiques and artwork can require separate, specialist cover. Remember that your policy may or may not include protection for your personal possessions, and if it does the amount they’re covered for could vary.
Before you sign your tenancy agreement check your responsibilities. You may find that furniture in the house is already covered. If you rent items such as electrical goods or furniture it is also important to make sure these are covered.
Different Budgets, Different Levels of Cover
Some policies replace old items with new, but if you’re looking to save money you could consider taking out a policy that swaps like items for like. This means that the standard of your possessions will be matched in the event that they must be replaced.
Another way to save money on your home insurance while times are tight is to consider forgoing optional extras. Some insurance policies require you to pay an additional amount for features such as accidental damage cover. It’s important to review any potential policy in detail, as optional extras and features that are included as standard tend to vary from one insurer to the next.
Don’t forget, if you encounter any problems with your rental, you can always check your rights with the Citizen’s Advice Bureau. After all it’s important to feel comfortable and safe in your home, regardless of whether you own it or not.
Greenbee offers a range of insurance services selected by the John Lewis Partnership. These include: home insurance, contents insurance, travel, pet, wedding, life and contents insurance products. Customers can visit www.greenbee.com for further information.
Greenbee PR
Josie Anderson
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