Accidental Cat damage insurance

Frank1964

Hi all, Am moving to a new rented home and the landlord is nervous that we have cats and they might urinate on the new carpet. They said they spoke to a professional cleaner that told them nobody can get cat urine out of a carpet which I don't believe btw. I've just found 3 companies online that say they can do it.
They want me to get accidental pet damage insurance to cover it but it's a nightmare to find one.
Does anybody know of a company that will provide this or add it to a contents policy for a fee?

Thanks very much.

Mr.Generous

I purchased a house where the cat(s) urinated in an alcove in the bedroom under the boiler. As I hate boilers in a bedroom I was making a cupboard anyway, so where the threshold was I cut off the carpet - having machine cleaned it a couple of times anyway because of the smell, and it still whiffed. The underlay beneath also stank. When that was taken up the floorboards still smelt. I had to clean the floorboards with bleach and let em dry out a couple of times before I re-carpeted (with an offcut - do you think I'm made of money??) which finally got rid of the smell. So it's not easy.

Anyone who has replaced a bathroom in an old property will probably tell you the same, the actual floorboards around the toilet stink of !!!!!! from where people (preumably men or children) have missed the target. So yes, landlord is right to be concerned. I doubt anyone would insure against such an eventuality though - it would be so easy to make a claim as and when the carpet was worn and dirty.

DullGreyGuy

Frank1964 said:

Hi all, Am moving to a new rented home and the landlord is nervous that we have cats and they might urinate on the new carpet. They said they spoke to a professional cleaner that told them nobody can get cat urine out of a carpet which I don't believe btw. I've just found 3 companies online that say they can do it.
They want me to get accidental pet damage insurance to cover it but it's a nightmare to find one.
Does anybody know of a company that will provide this or add it to a contents policy for a fee?

Thanks very much.

Accidental Damage insurance you buy is going to be subject to an excess per incident so unless its a one off that the pet pees on the carpet you'd be making multiple claims and paying multiple excesses such that it wouldn't be cost effective and make your future contents insurance over the next 5 years unaffordable. 

Frank1964

Mr Generous & DullGreyGuy,
Thanks for your comments.
Yes, I hear what you both are saying but fortunately our cats don't pee on the carpet, it is simply to reassure the landlord.

Mr Generous, I agree with you that if left and not dealt with then pet or human urine can be a tricky problem when it seeps underneath to the floorboards but if on the extremely unlikely chance our cats peed on the carpet it would be dealt with immediately.

DullGreyGuy, Yes, you are right about the excess and the claims nightmare but I would never claim, it's my policy and not the landlords, I'm only getting the policy to give her peace of mind.
If ever their was an incident (which we have never had yet in 10 years) then I would deal with it myself and not make a claim.

Thanks again for your thoughts.

Frank1964

Update:
If anyone else is in the same position I find myself in then I have found a policy from Alan Boswell Insurance Brokers and the policy is by SAGIC which is actually The Salvation Army!
I didn't know they did insurance but I got the policy which means it secures the house for me.

Not cheap though, I listed contents only at £7,500 which was the minimum allowed and with the pet damage add-on and taxes it came to £160 for the year but it's worth it for what I need.

DullGreyGuy

Frank1964 said:

Update:
If anyone else is in the same position I find myself in then I have found a policy from Alan Boswell Insurance Brokers and the policy is by SAGIC which is actually The Salvation Army!
I didn't know they did insurance but I got the policy which means it secures the house for me.

Not cheap though, I listed contents only at £7,500 which was the minimum allowed and with the pet damage add-on and taxes it came to £160 for the year but it's worth it for what I need.

Thats fairly toppy!

If you live in a Flat then Urban Jungle will give £20k of cover inc pet cover and a £1,000 Excess for circa £80; they dont insure houses unfortunately. 

Obviously depends on how much you value your time