Insuring your belongings as a tenant

If you are a tenant and you are renting your property from a private or social landlord then there is usually no need to arrange buildings insurance cover, as this is normally arranged and paid for by the landlord because it is effectively still the landlord that owns the building, even though you rent it and live in it. However, home insurance cover is made up of two parts, and this is buildings insurance cover and contents insurance cover.

As a tenant you may not need to buy buildings cover but it is still important to ensure that you have contents cover in place, as the items in the property are yours and therefore you need to protect them in case of damage or theft. When you arrange home insurance you can buy contents cover without having to purchase buildings cover, and you can get some very competitive deals on this type of cover.

When you arrange contents cover you need to determine what level of cover you need, and this will depend on the type and value of the items that you have in your home. Make sure that you are truthful about the value of the items in the property, and if you have expensive items such as computer equipment, jewellery, or other valuable items make sure that you tell the insurance firm to make sure that you are fully covered to an adequate level.

You will find that it is often cheaper to get your contents insurance arranged via the Internet, as many insurance providers offer discounted deals to online customers. In addition to this you can use the various price comparison sites that deal with insurance services to find some of the lower cost deals to meet your needs, although you should bear in mind that these only cover a percentage of the market, so it may be worth checking two or three comparison sites to look at different deals.

Always make sure that you read the terms and small print of the contents insurance policy so that you are clear about what is and is not covered. For example, you may not have accidental damage as part of the policy automatically, so you may want to add this on as an optional extra.

You do need to consider the cost of the cover, but you also need to ensure that you have adequate cover, so make sure that you don’t give up valuable benefits for the sake of saving a pound or two each month, as this could prove costly in the long run if you do have to make a claim.

The cost of premiums for your contents cover will depend on a range of factors, and this includes any past claims, the value of belongings in your home and the amount of cover you take, your postcode or area of residence, and the insurance firm that you go through.