renting and contents insurance

londonlass001

Hi there,

We've been renting the same property for 11 years via a local agency who are well established and generally pretty good. It's now time to renew our tenancy and so we received the usual letter asking us whether we wanted to renew. Included in the letter was a paragraph indicating that under the terms of their new tenancy agreement, it is necessary for tenants to have a contents insurance policy which also covers the landlords possessions for accidental damage. Funnily enough they mention that they could provide a no obligation quotation with this in mind. I only received the letter yesterday so will be calling them to discuss this tomorrow. Thought I'd run it past this board first.

I have read a thread about this on here recently so know that other landlords/agencies are doing this. I thought this was what landlords insurance was for? I'm trying to get my head round the implications of this change, for example who has the final say about whether or not I claim on my insurance if accidental damage were to occur etc. Tbh apart from an oven and the carpets (which have seen better days as they're 11 years old), everything else in the flat is ours. I've not had to disclose before when renewing my contents insurance who owns what, will I have to do that now?

Any thoughts would be great

clangnuts

In my experience the policies offered by agents are not good value. Some agents attempt to hoodwink you into thinking you must have their insurance, which is nonsense.

Like anything, shop around for the best deal (for you, not the agent, who'll get a commission for any policy they sell you!)

lvm

When I worked for a property company (I did all the new tenant stuff - lease signing etc), we insisted that all new tenants had to take our recommend policy or they had to prove they had an appropriate policy in place which had to state "accidental damage".

Now, loads and loads of people complained about it - "why do I need this when the landlord has buildings insurance?" etc...

Our response was "the landlord can't insure other people who may damage his contents".

Not sure if this is correct though and this was just what we always said.

The policy we sold was from Letsure - it was very reasonable as far as I can remember. Think around £15 for the year although that could have changed.

Anyway, hope that helps a bit!

EDIT - Just checked and the cost is a bit more than I remember. £59.25 but looks like it's gone up to £62.11...covers £5000 personal contents and £2500 of accidental damage.

G_M

lvm wrote: »

When I worked for a property company (I did all the new tenant stuff - lease signing etc), we insisted that all new tenants had to take our recommend policy or they had to prove they had an appropriate policy in place which had to state "accidental damage".

Now, loads and loads of people complained about it - "why do I need this when the landlord has buildings insurance?" etc...

Our response was "the landlord can't insure other people who may damage his contents".

Not sure if this is correct though and this was just what we always said.

The policy we sold was from Letsure - it was very reasonable as far as I can remember. Think around £15 for the year although that could have changed.

This, of course, is rubbish. In fact it is the reverse!
Specialist landlords insurance covers landlords against.... damage by tenants. A good LL's policy will cover accidental and even malicious damage. That's one of the reasons LLs who are renting their own home should never rely on their normal domestic insurance, but shold switch to a LL's policy.

However I doubt that tenant's insurance covers anything except the tenant's own belongings (i haven't seen Letsure's so may be wrong).

Basically this is a scam by the agent to get commission on selling insurance.

Ignore it. Either

1) sign the new tenancy agreement and ignre the insurance (or if the agent insists, buy the insurance then use the 14 day cool-off period to quietly cancel it) or

2) politely decline the new tenancy agreement and say you'd be happy to continue the existing tenancy on a periodic basis. This happens automatically if you don't sign a new agreement, but stay one day beyond your current fixed term.

Of course you may actually want to insure your own belongings, in which case the advice is to do what you should do with any insurance. Shop around and compare both price and the extent of cover offered.

ashleypride

G_M wrote: »

2) politely decline the new tenancy agreement and say you'd be happy to continue the existing tenancy on a periodic basis. This happens automatically if you don't sign a new agreement, but stay one day beyond your current fixed term.

All great advice - OP has the agent been charging you every year to sign up for another year and not mentioning the periodic? If so, they aren't so great!

talulahbeige_2

Whitegates by any chance?

I saw a rental with them on rightmove earlier today and it said "All our landlords are now insisting........ accidental damage cover"
I dont even take AD cover on my own items, never mind the LL's. If I have to do this then what is the bond for?
AS GM says, LL's have their own insurance which covers these things, its just another way for a LA to sell priducts, like an EA insisting on providing your mortgage advise before you can view a house with them!