Part furnished contents Insurance

JAHL

MY friend is about to take on a part furnished rental and organize home contents insurance.

Can he take ordinary home contents insurance or is there some special insurance that tenants have to take out?

The letting agency are suggesting he take out theirs which is 3 times higher and less cover than an ordinary one found on a comparison site? Any advice please? Thanks

BlaEm

Your friend should ignore the letting agent and just take out their own tenant's contents insurance. If he goes for specialist tenants insurance, there should be some options to cover e.g. accidental damage to the building.

He could either exclude the value of the existing furnishings from his policy, or include in case of damage. If there was e.g. a fire, the LL should really have their own insurance for their furniture but I doubt it would increase the premium much for your friend to include.

Kynthia

Does your friend only want to insure their contents or also cover their landlord's in case they damage anyhhing? If the firmer then standard contents insurance should be fine but they may need something more specialist for the latter.

kinger101

Your friend should read the tenancy agreement carefully, and determine if it is a requirement that insurance should cover the landlords furnishings as well. Even if it's not a requirement, it's something worth considering as if damage is caused to the LL's property, it well come out of the bond and their pocket if it exceeds the amount of the bond.

Get your own independent quotes as the one recommended by the letting agents will have a nice chunk of commission attached to it. All the major search comparison sites can provide you with quotes;

http://www.gocompare.com/tenants-insurance/
http://www.moneysupermarket.com/home-insurance/tenants/

JAHL

Thanks everyone