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Contents insurance advice please? Sharing tenant with valuables
GlynG
Posts: 89 Forumite
I really need to sort insurance as I let my last policy lapse several months ago and I'm very foolishly without any at the moment. I live in a houseshare with friends and my landlord has cover on the house itself, but I need insurance for contents if any should ever be stolen, the house burnt down, etc (probably cover for if lost or damaged on certain things like my cameras and perhaps the blackberry too). I previously had cover with Endleigh for a few years paying a bit over a £100 a year (never had to claim) but I'm not sure if they're the best and I also have more now than I had in the past and wanted advice.
I have a large room full of stuff and some particularly valuable possessions:
2 PCs and a Laptop
Some *very* expensive surround sound speakers and an amp
2 digital cameras with a combined worth of £400-500ish
A massive collection of expensive Games Workshop toy soldiers, worth some thousands and including a lot of out of print / irreplaceable ones.
The expensive computer and the speakers are in our lounge so I require a policy that covers my possessions throughout the house. I work full time but am also a part time student if having a student card helps with cheaper insurance (my housemates aren't students and I do live in the property all year round). I don't mind paying a bit more for a policy that properly covers my possessions, rather than just going for the cheapest basic policy that might be dotted with exclusions that mean some expensive things aren't covered. I'm not sure whether I can get a policy that will fully cover my wargaming model collection or perhaps even if this should be insured separately.
Any suggestions or advice as to where to go for please? Should I just go in and sign up with the local Endleigh branch again or is there a better alternative?
I have a large room full of stuff and some particularly valuable possessions:
2 PCs and a Laptop
Some *very* expensive surround sound speakers and an amp
2 digital cameras with a combined worth of £400-500ish
A massive collection of expensive Games Workshop toy soldiers, worth some thousands and including a lot of out of print / irreplaceable ones.
The expensive computer and the speakers are in our lounge so I require a policy that covers my possessions throughout the house. I work full time but am also a part time student if having a student card helps with cheaper insurance (my housemates aren't students and I do live in the property all year round). I don't mind paying a bit more for a policy that properly covers my possessions, rather than just going for the cheapest basic policy that might be dotted with exclusions that mean some expensive things aren't covered. I'm not sure whether I can get a policy that will fully cover my wargaming model collection or perhaps even if this should be insured separately.
Any suggestions or advice as to where to go for please? Should I just go in and sign up with the local Endleigh branch again or is there a better alternative?
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Comments
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No don't go to endsleigh.
have a look on the biba website or in your yellow pages to find a local broker (not Swintons either) and go and have a chat to them. The house share situation mean's it is trickier for you to get cover so a broker will be able to get you a policy you need. Endsleigh do market these types of products but are often more expensive than some other options.
What are the rest of the house doing? You would be best to try and get a joint policy with them too. How many people are there?
Regards to valuables etc - on that list you don't really have anything most insurers class as valuables. The laptop, pc and speakers are classed by some as "high risk" items. The laptop needs to be insrued under personal posessions section or listed depending on the insurer as most household policies will exclude laptops from standard contents, regarding them as portable and higher risk.
You would be best to start with an inventory of all of your stuff in a spreadsheet, putting the replacement value (the cost of replacing the item for a new item of equivolent specification). The exception is clothes and bedding which will be insured but a deduction for wear and tear would be made by the insurer in the event of a claim.0 -
Follow Dogbots advice, a decent local broker will probably recommend the best solution is a policy with all three tenants as joint policy holders. This will cover all of the tenants contents and also has the advantage of covering any items you have bought jointly plus you can share the cost with them.
Make sure you read the terms and conditions as they may exclude theft unless there are signs of a violent or forcible entry0 -
You can't do a joint policy with the other tenants - you each have to insure the items you personally own.
Most insurers for house-sharers will state that items are only covered in your room which should be under lock and key.
You may find that if your belongings were stolen and there was no evidence of a break-in that you wouldn't be covered.Not really comping any more as too ill - but hoping to win £1000+ in 2017 in cash prizes - watch this space!0 -
Treacle1983 wrote: »You can't do a joint policy with the other tenants - you each have to insure the items you personally own.
Most insurers for house-sharers will state that items are only covered in your room which should be under lock and key.
You may find that if your belongings were stolen and there was no evidence of a break-in that you wouldn't be covered.
This is wrong, there are some (Not many) Insurers that will happily arrange a contents policy in joint names, normally two but I have managed to write a policy in four joint names before.
If you arrange a policy in joint names it will normally cover each policy holders contents AND any contents jointly owned eg furniture you have jointly paid for irrespective of whether its in your room or in shared parts of the home.
If you each have locks on your door it sometimes complicates it but is not always a problem.
I agree the policy might only pay claims if there are signs of a violent or forcible entry.
The simple answer is to contact a decent local broker and they should know of an Insurer (Its generally Aviva under their Home Plus Policy) who can offer a joint policy. If they have problems finding an Insurer then try a broker in an area where there are a lot of students as they will have experience of arranging policies for tenants sharing a house0 -
I've been bad and let another month slip past and not sorted this out, really must get round to it as I'd be screwed if anything happened...
Responding to things:
I am definitely just looking for insurance for my own possessions and not jointly (some of us are staying in the house longer than others and I think at least one of the others may have their own insurance for their own already anyway).
There are locks on our individual doors but I never ever lock mine (and never intend to). I need insurance that will cover my possessions in my room regardless of the internal bedroom door being unlocked. I have well over £1,000 of possessions in communal areas anyway so I need cover that applies to my possessions generally whether they are in my room or the communal areas.
I'm a bit dubious about going for insurance requiring violent or forced entry, if would be useless if a door or a window should be left open and someone gets in. Do some insurers offer insurance that does still cover you in such circumstances but you pay more initially? Or is it just not available like this at all? If the former was the case I'd consider it, depending how much extra it was.
Looking at the different options I'm be more comfortable with 'new for old' style cover. I'd rather pay a bit more unpfront to be properly covered should anything catastrophic happen like the house burn down or something.
I'll work out how much cover I need and contact a local broker. What sort of detail do I need to go into for an inventory? For example I have a large bookshelf with a few hundred books, can I put this as one entry or do I need to list every single book? Similarly but worse with my wargaming model collection, I have perhaps several thousand models and components, mostly without a current price for me truly to estimate. Can I put an overall price for the lot as a whole or a price overall for each of the 15 or so armies that make it up? Can I just name a price and pay for insurance as appropriate from that? It's not really something I can be exact about nor something they can really check the pricing of.Dogbot: You would be best to start with an inventory of all of your stuff in a spreadsheet, putting the replacement value (the cost of replacing the item for a new item of equivolent specification). The exception is clothes and bedding which will be insured but a deduction for wear and tear would be made by the insurer in the event of a claim.0 -
Only the broker will be able to tell you.I've been bad and let another month slip past and not sorted this out, really must get round to it as I'd be screwed if anything happened...
Responding to things:
I am definitely just looking for insurance for my own possessions and not jointly (some of us are staying in the house longer than others and I think at least one of the others may have their own insurance for their own already anyway).
There are locks on our individual doors but I never ever lock mine (and never intend to). I need insurance that will cover my possessions in my room regardless of the internal bedroom door being unlocked. I have well over £1,000 of possessions in communal areas anyway so I need cover that applies to my possessions generally whether they are in my room or the communal areas.
I'm a bit dubious about going for insurance requiring violent or forced entry, if would be useless if a door or a window should be left open and someone gets in. Do some insurers offer insurance that does still cover you in such circumstances but you pay more initially? Or is it just not available like this at all? If the former was the case I'd consider it, depending how much extra it was.
Lots of insurers now will only insure you if there is forcible entry, and have other conditions like all ground floor windows have to be closed at night. One I seen stated that any unoccupied rooms must have the windows locked.Looking at the different options I'm be more comfortable with 'new for old' style cover. I'd rather pay a bit more unpfront to be properly covered should anything catastrophic happen like the house burn down or something.
I'll work out how much cover I need and contact a local broker. What sort of detail do I need to go into for an inventory? For example I have a large bookshelf with a few hundred books, can I put this as one entry or do I need to list every single book? Similarly but worse with my wargaming model collection, I have perhaps several thousand models and components, mostly without a current price for me truly to estimate. Can I put an overall price for the lot as a whole or a price overall for each of the 15 or so armies that make it up? Can I just name a price and pay for insurance as appropriate from that? It's not really something I can be exact about nor something they can really check the pricing of.
Just put collection of x and put the total price then particular item which is valuable record it separately. It's actually better to have a list of items though in case something does happen i.e. water leak.
Just go and see a broker and see what they can get you.I'm not cynical I'm realistic
(If a link I give opens pop ups I won't know I don't use windows)0 -
please bear in mind that for most policies for shared accomodation:
theft or attempted theft will only be covered if if is a result of forced entry.
also your room will need to have it's own locks - 5 lever mortice deadlocks or similar to be covered at all.Not really comping any more as too ill - but hoping to win £1000+ in 2017 in cash prizes - watch this space!0 -
The room does not need to have 5 lever mortice dead locks unless the Insurer specifically requires them (Or any other type of lock). To be able to claim if their is a violent forcible entry / exit requirement you just need to be able to demonstrate the forcible entry. This can be done by a simple padlock or normal lock0
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