Contents cover - any point?

gospete

Any advice would be welcome on this...

We have a flat in the UK which we live in for just over 6 months a year - it's in a safe residential area and not on the ground floor.
(The rest of the time we spend abroad in a holiday home).


Up to now I've taken out separate contents insurance in addition to the obligatory buildings insurance paid to the management Co.

The fact is we don't keep any high value items in the flat. No expensive jewelry or gadgets etc. The premium I pay for contents insurance has a £300 excess. So am I wasting money on this?

All I'm really worried about is water or fire damage to the actual property which surely covered by the buildings insurance.

Quentin

Only you can decide if you want to self insure all possessions in the event of a catastrophe (eg fire burning the place to the ground)


(But does your policy cover you for a 6 month absence each year any way? If it does, maybe you can get a reduced excess, if it doesn't you may as well cancel every 6 months or do without)

EdGasket

Make sure they know it is unoccupied for 6 months; most policies have a limit of 90 days so if you haven't told them then you will be wasting your money. Otherwise it depends whether you can afford the loss or not as to whether you should insure.

gospete

It's not unoccupied more than two months at a time.

If the worst were to happen, would the communal building insurance cover damage to us. And importantly if our flat were the source of any damage, would we be liable for the contents of neighboring flats?

Basically what I want to confirm is that if I stop my contents insurance it will only affect our immediate contents - no other implications.

FutureGirl

If you stop your contents insurance, then it'll only limit your own possessions.

If you think you can afford to re-purchase every content in your flat, then cancel. (My 1 bed flat has about £20K worth of stuff, that includes everything IE every piece of cutlery, carpets, sofa's, every piece of clothing we own etc).

If a fire started in your flat, and you wasn't negligent, then your policy wouldn't pay for them anyway.

Kynthia

The building insurance won't cover your possessions. A common claim in flats is for flooding and water damage. If the flat above had a flood or the roof leaked in heavy rain and your carpets and belongings were damaged, you'd need to claim from your insurer. Unless you could prove the flat owner or freeholder had been negligent you wouldn't be able to recover your costs from them.