Lodger wanting contents insurance

Manchesterlodger · 6 October 2019 at 10:25PM

Hi there, I returned to live in the UK last year and took out contents insurance in a hurry - I ended up paying a lot of money to Endsleigh as they considered me to be an insurance newby having been out the country for several years even though I've always had contents insurance and never claimed on it! I've also moved around a bit this past year (6 times) and each time they've charged me 30 pounds for change of address details - which has added up on top of the large amount I paid them for the original policy.
Fast forward to 2019 and my policy is coming up for renewal early November and I'm looking around for a better deal. I lodge in a house with an owner and one other lodger (who is a 3rd year student nurse). I'm in my fifties and in full-time employment. The room I rent has a separate lock on the door. I only moved in last month.
I don't have a lot of belongings - my most valuable item is a laptop which would cost around 2,700 to replace. I also have a smart phone worth around 300. Everything else isn't really of much value - charity shop clothes, cheap printer, yoga mat and some boxes of papers and a few books. So I don't think my belongings can be worth more than around 10K to replace (and that includes the laptop and phone values!).
I did some searches on this site using the recommended quote sites but a lot of them don't ask questions about lodgers that are directed specifically at the lodger so I'm not sure how valid the results are that I'm getting back.
I got a quote on Endsleigh's site today of 238.34 for basic cover which is a lot.
Companies in the recommended quotes sites range from very low to very high. Eg Liverpool Victoria quote 116 pound (annual premium) but I don't know whether this covers the lodgers contents (I've got to call them tomorrow).
There's also Admiral - but there customer reviews aren't the greatest.
On the other end of the scale I'm getting quotes of 300 - 400 pounds per year - which is a lot for the few belongings I have.
If anyone has got any recommendations with respect to contents insurance cover for lodgers, please do post here. I don't necessarily want to go with the cheapest quote but it would be nice to pay 200 or less.
Thanks.