Can A Landlord Insist On A Tenant Having Contents Insurance?

meatandtwoveg

From another site, but good question.


This is urgent, i am just about to sign a tenancy agreement, but the thing is, in the offer it states; You are required to have appropriate contents insurance, and we are unable to move you in until you have this in place.

In the pack there is a homelet policy, its a tenants contents policy, it states it protects the landlords contents against accidental damage thereby protecting your deposit.

IS THIS LEGAL, can i protest, it is £110.00 for a year. £5000.00 worth of contents cover for £11.00 per month.

Are they taking the michael, any advice???


Cheers

Gingernutmeg

AFAIK, they can't force you to have Homelet insurance, but why would you not want contents insurance? That would protect you in case of anything terrible happening, and would also (I think) cover stuff like carpets etc. If you call around I'm sure you'd get a better deal that than, I know we do and we've got a lot covered.

mlz1413

not sure on point of law but I'm aware of that some agents insist on tenant having contents insurance - and that they offer insurance to you from a particular company, you do not have to use the company offered and as already said shopping around should save you cash.

tbs624

The Office of Fair Trading has said that requiring a tenant to take out insurance may be an unfair contract term - a LL/LA should apparently only *recommend* that insurance is taken out by the tenant

If I can find the link via my bookmarks I'll add it later.

Premier_2

But the tenant hasn't signed any contract yet

Perhaps the LA won't let the prospective tenant sign the contract without insurance in place?

Having said that, perhaps the insurer won't agree to underwrite the risk without a valid TA in place.

It might just be easier for the tenant to find a different LA.


What site was the question posed on, btw? link? Would be interesting to see the replies there too.

lil_me

£5000 of cover wouldn't cover some peoples contents, therefore making the policy invalid. If they won't budge and let you arrange your own insurance, don't move in.

Premier_2

Compulsory insurance
Unfair term
[FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]The tenant agrees to insure the permitted occupiers and their invitees against personal injury and against damage to or loss of personal effect and other belongings that might be on the property. [/FONT][/FONT]

Way of revising term
[FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]The landlord's insurance does not cover the tenant's possessions. The tenant is strongly advised to insure his own possessions with a reputable insurer. [/FONT][/FONT]

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/reports/unfair_contract_terms/oft356.pdf
page 108

stationaryace

i've found getting insurance for a furnished rental one of the most irritating things about renting. having filled in many many MANY online forms the majority come back saying they cannot give a quote unless its for a homeowner or the rented property is unfurnished, and the few specialist sites quote waaaaaaaayyyy too much ie £400+. eventually found one as i'd never go without insurance just in case, but as you only insure your possessions and LL insures theirs *building, white goods if furnished* how can that be part of the contract?

(it's a slow day a work therefore i'm taking this opportunity to learn stuff )

Snooze

meatandtwoveg wrote: »

From another site, but good question.


This is urgent, i am just about to sign a tenancy agreement, but the thing is, in the offer it states; You are required to have appropriate contents insurance, and we are unable to move you in until you have this in place.

In the pack there is a homelet policy, its a tenants contents policy, it states it protects the landlords contents against accidental damage thereby protecting your deposit.

IS THIS LEGAL, can i protest, it is £110.00 for a year. £5000.00 worth of contents cover for £11.00 per month.

Are they taking the michael, any advice???


Cheers

They're taking the pi$$ but this is a LA so are you surprised? :rolleyes: The sooner people wake up to the scam that is LA's, the better.

Rob

AJ1982

Shouldnt the landlord protect his OWN property. I assume you are renting furnished, or with appliances anwyays, if they belong to the LL, THEY should protect them IMO. If you wanna buy contents for your own things thats your choice...

LittleMissAspie

We had contents insurance in our old furnished flat. It was only £60 a year but I can't remember where from now. Might have been the letting agency.