Insurance for liability in shared flat rental?

JB123

I own a house and have buildings and content insurance for that. If I were to for example accidentally set fire to by house my leaving an iron on and it damaged my house and my neightbours house my insurance would likely cover the damage to my house and my liability for damage to my neighbours. My house was damaged in such a way recently by a fire caused accidentally by my neighbour and my insurance fixed it and then claimed from his insurance for the cost. All good.

However I'm looking at renting a room in a shared flat to live in part of the time while away for work. I've seen I can buy insurance for the property I own such as TVs etc to protect that against fire and theft etc. And I would expect the landlord to have building insurance to protect their interests. But what protects me? If I was accidentally responsible for a fire which damaged my landlords properly and the surrounding ones, then presumably his insurance would pay out to fix it but then would try to recover the costs from me as the responsible party? Clearly I could not afford to pay that. I'm assuming some kind of silly accident here such as accidentally leaving an iron on or or perhaps some electrical equipment I own accidentally catching fire, not really gross negligence.

Have I misunderstood the position here? Would the landlords insurance protect me in this case or would they expect me to compensate them for any damage which could run into many £100,000 worst case.
Would any insurance I could obtain insure me against liability for accidental damage to third parties in this case?

InsideInsurance

Actually if you left your iron on and it burnt down your and your neighbours house then they may not pay out on your neighbour as whilst you shouldnt really do this at the same time an iron shouldnt spontaneously combust any more than your fridge/ freeze which is left on all the time. For you to be liable you have to have negligence.

If you were (grossly) negligent then your insurance covers you, if there is no negligence then its the neighbour/ landlord to cover their losses.

Standard Home insurance includes Tenant Liability under the Contents cover, though in those not billed highly in policies that arent sold as "tenant insurance". This would protect you against one off events that you are liable for. Of cause a dozen minor scuffs on walls, a scratch on the work surface and a host of other things that have happened from separate incidents technically would also be covered but it would be one claim per incident and one excess per claim.

petebarnes16

I own 2 houses semi detached, to each other, one is insured, and the other empty so not insured. Arsen was commited on the occupied and insured property, and the insurance co have accepted liambility and paid out to me . But the fire in my insured house peirced through to my other empty uninsured house, causing electrics to be burned out, and floor beams burned and windows smashed. So i said to my insurance company that surley they would pay out for the damage cased to my other house, as it was my insured house that has caused the damage. They said i can not claim at all for that house, as they only insure the other house, so i can not claim for that. But it makes no sence, as surley if your neighbour causes damage to your property via a fire in theres, there insurance would have to pay, so would it not be the same in my case. HELPPP

forgotmyname

petebarnes16 why not start your own thread?

Dont post in someone elses reply box. Click new thread in the correct section.