home insurance confusion

kirstypea

Hi everyone, I'm looking for a little advice...

I phoned Endsleigh on Friday to get a quote on tenant's insurance as I'm moving into a flat that requires me to insure the landlords building, fixtures and fittings. All I wanted was contents cover plus the above. Today I phoned back and arranged payment. I registered an online account to check it was all ok and at first I was confused because my quote history showed a quote of £92.98 which is less than what I'd paid. Then I had a look at the policy document and it shows this:


£92.98 contents Zurich Insurance Company
£11.29 home emergency expenses Europ Assistance Holdings
Included legal expenses DAS Legal Expenses Insurance Company
£17.50 house garden personal accident Ultimate Insurance Solutions
total premium(including £5.80 insurance premium tax) £121.77

First of all I'm confused because I thought I was buying insurance from Endsleigh not Zurich!
Secondly, why have I been charged for these extra things? The person I spoke to asked if I wanted various extra things, mobile insurance etc but I said no to all of them! I'm not sure if maybe the home emergency expenses bit is for the landlords buildings, fixtures and fittings bit or not... And I really dont know why they've given me personal accident cover... Can I opt out of these things or are they all compulsory to the tenants contents insurance?

I'm sorry if these are stupid questions, I dont have much experience of home insurance and direct line were so straight forward last year but they dont do the landlords building bit

Unfortunately they charge £2.50 each time I want to change something... although I'm going to have to phone back anyway because when I said the building was early 19th century he put 1870-1919 :rolleyes:

Thomas_Crown

Firstly Kirstypea, Endsleigh are insurance advisors & they have arranged your insurance with Zurich who are an insurance company.

Endsleigh should not have include the 'add ons' unless you specifically requested them. Home emergency cover can be very useful & reassuring in the event of a water leak or central heating failure. DAS legal protection is very good.

Back in 1998/99 I ran up a £965 legal bill trying to get compensation from a dodgy damp course/timber 'surveyor'. If only I had paid the £8 pa additional premium to Royal Insurance!

Many years later I used DAS or a similar company to pay for legal action against a company for a serious injury I sustained. I was very glad that I had paid the additional premium.

If Endsleigh have charged you for cover that you didn't ask for then you should ask them to delete these items from your policy without charge. You should also get a full refund for the unwanted cover assuming that you havn't made a claim.

kirstypea

thankyou.

The legal expenses cover is included in the price so I'll leave that as it is.

In the event of a water leak or heating failure, wouldn't it be the responsibility of the landlord? I know that I have to have insurance to cover "accidental damage caused by the tenant to the landlords furniture, fixtures and fittings" which the letting agent told me is basically to protect my deposit in case I spill red wine on the carpet or something, but would a water leak be classed as accidental damage? I'm struggling to work out which part of the policy covers accidental damage caused by the tenant to the landlords furniture, fixtures and fittings, as I dont even have accidental damage cover for my own possessions. The man on the phone did however assure me that it was covered, although I'm not sure in which part.

Thomas_Crown

A water leak would normally be the responsibility of the landlord unless you happened to knock a nail into the wall or a floorboard & the nail punctured a water pipe. It has been known for people to drill into an electric cable.:shocked:
Accidental damage would cover you for spilling red wine or paint on to a carpet.

It seems as though the insurance advisor asked you loads of questions in quick succession & because you are not familiar with the intricacies of home/contents insurance you have been left slightly confused about levels of cover etc. Maybe the advisor could have explained things a bit more clearly.

How long is it since you took out the cover? On what date the cover commence? I was wondering if you are still within a cooling off period during which you could change anything that was not what you asked for.

kirstypea

But I thought accidental damage is usually only for my own possessions, not the landlords, which is why the letting agent asked us to make sure there was a special clause? Direct line told me most insurers wont cover accidental damage to the landlords stuff, which the carpet would be, no? What I mean is, I understand that Accidental damage would cover damage to my *own* carpet, but would it cover damage to the landlords?

What happened when I spoke to Endsleigh was that I asked "do you do tenants insurance that includes cover for damage caused by the tenant to the landlords building, fixtures and fittings" , basically quoting what my tenancy agreement says, and he said, yes, you'll be covered for that. Then he asked me how much cover I would like and whether I wanted accidental damage (to which I answered no). Surely if the accidental damage would of covered the landlords stuff, he would of said that I needed it?

The letting agent has told us that we dont need accidental damage for our own stuff (unless we want it) but we do need accidental damage to the landlords stuff (carpet, curtains, walls etc - anything covered by the deposit). If we dont have it, they wont let us start the tenancy.

Oh, and we arent allowed to put nails in the wall so no worries on that account :T