Forced to take letting agents insurance...

bigjb1983

Hi,

In the process of renting a property with my partner. Have applied etc and have been given notice by the letting agent that I must put "Tenants contents insurance in place, that must cover accidental damage to the landlords property to the sum of £2500 per tenant" Unless I provide proof of my own policy, they're kindly going to charge me £80 for their own insurance. This is in addition to paying a bond. The problem is, any contents insurance policy I can see only covers our property, not the landlords (which would make sense as the landlord will have their own insurance).

Can the letting agent do this??

And does anyone know of any contents insurance that covers damage to landlords property?

Thanks in advance.

John

prowla

It seems dishonest to me.

G_M

This comes up regularly.

Take out the insurance, move in, then use the 14 day cool-off period to cancel it and get a refund.

There is no way the landlord can enforce that requirement once you are in, though of course they can refuse to give you a contract.

Read here

and here.

Annabee

Endsleigh do insurance for tenants which covers your own contents plus any of the landlords stuff you are responsible for. Quite cheap too! The insurance that some letting agents try and push is a bit pricey.

theartfullodger

G_M wrote: »

This comes up regularly.

Take out the insurance, move in, then use the 14 day cool-off period to cancel it and get a refund.
..........

Almost....

The essential thing is to take out the insurance on the Intenet or by 'phone but NOT IN PERSON FACE2FACE in their office.

The "Distance selling regulations" appear to mention 7 days cooling off not 14 - see...
http://www.oft.gov.uk/about-the-oft/legal-powers/legal/distance-selling-regulations/

The agent will btw be most p'dd off as he won't get his commission.. so expect bad service - but then that can be a good plan with letting agents anyway

Of course you may for your own reasons want contents insurance anyway - but I'd never ever take agent's deal...

dacouch

theartfullodger wrote: »

Almost....

The essential thing is to take out the insurance on the Intenet or by 'phone but NOT IN PERSON FACE2FACE in their office.

The "Distance selling regulations" appear to mention 7 days cooling off not 14 - see...
http://www.oft.gov.uk/about-the-oft/legal-powers/legal/distance-selling-regulations/

The agent will btw be most p'dd off as he won't get his commission.. so expect bad service - but then that can be a good plan with letting agents anyway

Of course you may for your own reasons want contents insurance anyway - but I'd never ever take agent's deal...

The distance selling regulations do not apply to Insurance, they have their own 14 day cooling off period from the date you receive the policy documents to allow you to inspect the policy and ensure it is suitable for you. As such whether you buy them on line or in an estate agents office etc is irrelevant.

prudryden

The contents insurance should come with liability cover attached. That is the most important bit e.g. you leave a sock in the washing machine door and you flood the downstairs flat. Obviously, that may not apply in your case but the principle can be applied to various other scenarios.

bigjb1983

Thanks for help,

The endsleigh tip is great - their policy doc states covers the landlords property I'm legally responsible for so you've just saved me a fair bit of cash, especially as had a letter saying the letting agent was going to charge £160 rather than £80!

Thanks again.