Contents insurance for tenancy

9wizard9

Hi - I'm hoping someone can give me some advice.

I'm about to move into a rental property for the first time in ten years, and I've just been sent some preliminary stuff from the letting agent.

One of the things they have mentioned that I will require to comply with the tenancy agreement is 'home contents insurance which includes accidental damage to landlords possessions'.

They have kindly provided a leaflet and application form for Tenant's Contents Insurance from HomeLet - I suspect this is a ploy to get some commission for a referral, so I'm inclined to shop around.

Two questions:
Is anyone familiar with this insurance from HomeLet? Is it likely to be competitive or provide a decent level of cover? I'm planning to go and have a look at their website to review the full policy terms, but was interested in any opinions people may have.

Does anyone have any recommendations for other insurers who might be able to provide this type of cover? It's not something I've ever seen before - currently my contents insurance is with MoreThan (I like the fact that they offer cover for a high value of contents as standard without asking you to work out how much it's all worth), but I don't believe my current policy offers cover for a landlords possessions.

It doesn't sound like I have long to research this, as they want to see evidence of cover prior to moving in on 29/8, so any help would be much appreciated.

I'm sure moving house used to be simpler than this :-)

olly300

Are you in England and Wales? If so I suggest you look at the OFT guidelines on Unfair Terms in Tenancy agreements. Remember letting agents don't have to be licensed.

If you are in Scotland I suggest you search this forum as this question has come up a lot of times before.

Also as you have indicated you don't normally insure items you don't have ownership off.

FlameCloud

You should be just fine with the more than policy you have (and it is far, far better than the Homelet one)

http://www.morethan.com/process/documents/home_policy_wording.pdf

Assuming this is yours, page 16 (definition of contents) and page 20 (tenants liability to landlords) should suit your needs.

FlameCloud

olly300 wrote: »

Also as you have indicated you don't normally insure items you don't have ownership off.

You never actually insure items anyway.

9wizard9

Thanks flamecloud - I've just been re-reading the policy wording for the MoreThan policy myself actually, and I also came to the conclusion that this probably covered me for the required liability.

Definitely looks like a better policy (which was the main reason I selected it in the first place), and currently offers £70 cashback on Quidco!

I'll send the policy wording to the letting agent and check that this provides suitable cover. I don't think the agent will be messing me around too much - they were certainly OK when I rented a property through them ten years ago, and they seem to have played it straight down the line so far, so hopefully this will be OK.

9wizard9

Annoyingly, having compared the HomeLet and MoreThan policy wording, I've found the key bit of cover that HomeLet includes and MoreThan doesn't:

up to £2500 for accidental damage to your home, its fixtures, fittings and your landlord's furniture and furnishings for which you are responsible

This is the section that the letting agent have pointed out as well - seems like a good idea as you're effectively protecting your deposit against stupid stuff like spilling a galss of wine and staining a carpet.

However, HomeLet's cover isn't the best in some other areas, and to insure £60,000 worth of contents they've quoted £700 for the year! As opposed to MoreThan's £135 for up to £75,000 of contents cover.

Does anyone know of any other insurers that offer decent contents cover for this amount of stuff, but that also include cover for accidental damage to home, fixtures & fittings (even as an optional extra)? Any ideas how I'd go about finding one if no-one can recommend any?

dacouch

Flame Clouds advice was correct, the Morethan Policy (As do most policies) include Tenantsl Liability Cover.

This covers you for : Tenants’ Liability
(not as owner, leaseholder or landlord):
If you are legally liable under the terms of your
tenancy agreement for damage to your home,
we will indemnify you against your liability at
law under paragraphs 1–10, 12 and 13 of the
Buildings section of this policy.
Exclusions:
• Any amount exceeding £2,000.
• Any amount exceeding £500.
• The first £25 of each loss or damage
• Loss or damage by any process of repair or
restoration
• The cost of repairing mechanical breakdown.
• Damage by a cause listed in paragraphs
1–10, 12 and 13 of the Buildings section of
this policy and which is specifically excluded
in that paragraph
• Any amount exceeding 20% of the sum
insured on contents applicable at the time the
loss or damage occurred, subject to inflation
protection adjustment.

The keywords in the Homelet policy are "For which you are responsible" (This means for which your tenancy agreement makes you liable for under UK law).

The Morethan policy has a wording that means they will cover damage that you are liable for under UK law in line with your tenancy agreement.

There is nothing wrong with the Morethan policy and its a much better policy than the Homelet Policy. Don't let the Estate Agent bully you into taking the Homelet policy just because he will make a nice commission on it.

dacouch

The relevant wording in the Homelet Policy is in this link on page 12 http://homeletuk.com/policyWordings/HomeLetTenants.pdf

Remember your Landlord cannot make you pay for damage to the rented home caused by the normal wear and tear of you living there.

9wizard9

I'm happy that the MoreThan policy includes tenants liability, but it's only under the first 12 sections of the building cover, which doesn't include accidental damage, so if (for instance) we spill wine on a carpet that then needs replacing, I don't believe the MoreThan policy covers us, even if we take out the accidental damage cover. Unless I'm wrong?

The letting agent has been very up front about it, and has happily admitted that the Homelet may well not be the best/cheapest policy, and has also advised me freely that although their standard tenancy agreement specifies we should have accidental damage cover for the LL fixtures and fittings, this isn't legally enforceable.

I just don't want to end up replacing a load of carpets because we've managed to stain them all (never happened in either of our current houses, but sod's law and all that).

Endsleigh seem to have a policy that includes Landlord's fixtures and fittings under the contents category and therefore includes them in accidental damage cover. Anyone have any experience of this policy?
http://www.endsleigh.co.uk/policydocs/RenterInsurancePolicy.pdf

dacouch

The More Than policy covers you for damage you are liable for under the tenancy agreement and that you are legally/contractually liable for.

consumer

9wizard9 wrote: »

I'm happy that the MoreThan policy includes tenants liability, but it's only under the first 12 sections of the building cover, which doesn't include accidental damage, so if (for instance) we spill wine on a carpet that then needs replacing, I don't believe the MoreThan policy covers us, even if we take out the accidental damage cover. Unless I'm wrong?

The letting agent has been very up front about it, and has happily admitted that the Homelet may well not be the best/cheapest policy, and has also advised me freely that although their standard tenancy agreement specifies we should have accidental damage cover for the LL fixtures and fittings, this isn't legally enforceable.

I just don't want to end up replacing a load of carpets because we've managed to stain them all (never happened in either of our current houses, but sod's law and all that).

Endsleigh seem to have a policy that includes Landlord's fixtures and fittings under the contents category and therefore includes them in accidental damage cover. Anyone have any experience of this policy?
http://www.endsleigh.co.uk/policydocs/RenterInsurancePolicy.pdf

I've recently taken Endsleigh insurance policy after lot of search and comparing with Homelet. There is currently £20 quidco cashback as well with Endsleigh. I have had Homelet Tenants policy previously. Their quotes are generally non-competitive and have high excess. If I am right, Endsleigh policy does not cover accidental damage to fixtures/carpets etc...but covers against few other things for which you are liable under tenancy agreement like fire/storm/oil leakage etc.