Tenants contents insurance - landlords fixtures and fittings

-chapperz-

My girlfriend and I will be renting our first house this coming week. But before the agent hands over the keys, they've told us we must show them proof of contents insurance which includes cover for minimum of £2500 to cover damage to landlords fixtures and fittings. See below...

At the commencement of the tenancy as new occupiers of the above-mentioned property you are required to comply with clause 2.54 of the Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement. This clause requires tenants to insure their possessions introduced into the property for the duration of the tenancy and to pay all premiums and renewal premiums to ensure continual cover. Please note that your policy must also include liability to a minimum of £2500 to cover damage to the Landlords fixtures and fittings. On average, tenants Insure contents of up to £15000 to include accidental damage cover to the landlord’s possessions.

Can they force us to take out this level of cover?
All the quotes I've had from comparison sites just cover accidental damage with no mention of cover for landlords fixtures and fittings, and certainly no mention of the actual quantity.

So far I've only found Endsleigh who will cover fixtures and fittings, but only up to 10% of total contents cover - so we'd have to insure contents for £25000, which works out fairly expensive!

Does anyone know of any other companies which offer this particular cover?

rs65

-chapperz- wrote: »

Can they force us to take out this level of cover?

Your contract forces you to take it.

My policy provides £10k of tenants liability as standard (I don't need it). I thought that most provide a similar amount.

Pick an insurer and have a read through their policy.

InsideInsurance

Most home insurance includes tenant liability as standard even if you own the property.

If the contract requires it then yes they can demand it but certainly in all my years of renting no one has ever actually asked to see it

emilybean

Isn't that what the bond is for?

InsideInsurance

emilybean wrote: »

Isn't that what the bond is for?

Insurance covers individual events and so would really be there for one big loss, eg you set fire to the kitchen.

Your deposit is more to cover the attritionaly losses that inevitably happen and is unlikely to be the same value as all the contents in a furnished property.

-chapperz-

Thanks for the help

I looked more into the matter... there is lots of information online, particularly on this site. Turns out the OFT state that it is "unreasonable" for an agent to make specific contents insurance a contractual requirement.

We have been told by our agent that if we don't supply them with sufficient proof of correct insurance that we will have to take out insurance through them. Therefore I am guessing they have some agreement with an insurance firm where the agent gets commission. There's no way we're doing that since the agent has already robbed us of £600 in fees and provided nothing in return!

I'm still not entirely sure why we should have to take out insurance for the landlords fixtures and fittings when they will be covered by their buildings insurance and we have paid a very hefty deposit which I would have thought it is the idea of a deposit.

We found that many companies offer tenants liability, which appears to cover landlords fixtures and fittings as long as it states in our tenancy agreement that we are liable for them. So we've done just that with the AA