![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.castle-estates.co.uk\/staffordshire\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2011\/02\/shopping-for-insurance.jpg\" "\\"shopping")
<\/a><\/p>\nIf you\u2019re a tenant, do you still need home insurance or will your landlords\u2019 cover protect your belongings? We take a look\u2026\u00a0Renting can be a trouble-free way of putting a roof over your head. No maintenance costs to meet and no housing market worries. In fact, with many rooms let on a bills-included basis, some tenants don\u2019t even have to worry about paying anything except their rent. This can make it all too easy to forget about Home Insurance\u00a0cover\u00a0<\/a>or to assume that the landlord\u2019s policy will protect your possessions if disaster strikes. But in actual fact, the vast majority of tenants will need to buy their own insurance policies. So what do you need to know?<\/p>\n \u00a0Home insurance cover for tenants<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0When people refer to \u2018home insurance\u2019, they are lumping together two different kinds of protection \u2013 contents and buildings cover. Roughly speaking, if you picture your house or flat being turned upside down and shaken, then everything that falls out would be covered by contents insurance and everything that\u2019s attached would be protected by building insurance.\u00a0Anyone with a mortgage needs to have buildings insurance as part of their agreement, so your landlord\u2019s policy would pay out if a tree toppled into the roof, for example, or if flood waters destroyed the wiring.\u00a0However, without contents insurance, your personal possessions aren\u2019t protected from fires, floods, thieves, accidents and other disasters.\u00a0<\/p>\n Do I need contents insurance?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0Unlike buildings insurance, there\u2019s no requirement for anyone to take out contents cover \u2013 but it\u2019s essential for peace of mind. Although some cover exists that is specifically designed for tenants, for most people, a standard contents insurance policy will be perfectly suitable.\u00a0Make sure you shop around for the best price but remember that different policies vary and the cheapest isn\u2019t always the best.\u00a0Be confident you can afford the excess and consider paying a bit extra for new-for-old replacement cover. That means the policy would pay to replace items with equivalent new versions at today\u2019s prices.\u00a0You can add out-of-home cover, meaning your belongings are insured when you carry them out of the house \u2013 that\u2019s especially good for technology and jewellery.\u00a0Don\u2019t skimp on the cover you need, you don\u2019t want to be left out of pocket in the event you have to claim. You\u2019ll have enough on your mind if that happens without worrying about whether your policy will pay out enough.<\/p>\n \u00a0How much cover should I have?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0When you apply for a policy, you\u2019ll be asked to estimate the value of your stuff. Be as thorough as you can about this, don\u2019t leave yourself underinsured.\u00a0Go from room to room and assess the worth of what\u2019s in each. Underinsuring yourself can cause serious issues if you need to claim.\u00a0If your home\u2019s contents are worth \u00a320,000 collectively but you only insure them for \u00a310,000 then your insurer may only agree to pay for half your claim \u2013 even if that\u2019s for less than \u00a310,000.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Will my contents insurance protect my landlord\u2019s furniture?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0Most contents insurance policies will only protect the possessions of the policyholder and their family.\u00a0However, you may want your accidental damage cover to protect any furniture that belongs to your landlord, so you can avoid losing your deposit.\u00a0Check with your home insurance provider if it can provide this additional cover. Some tenant-specific policies may well be able to do so.<\/p>\n \u00a0What if I live with my landlord?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0A large number of tenants actually live with their landlord, renting a room in their home rather than a whole property.\u00a0If you\u2019re in that position then you may find it hard to insure just your own possessions, especially if you don\u2019t have a lock on your door.\u00a0Ask your landlord to check with their home insurer if the policy can be extended to cover you as well. If not, look at a specialist policy for tenants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Felicity Hannah, deputy editor at moneysupermarket.com If you\u2019re a tenant, do you still need home insurance or will your landlords\u2019 cover protect your belongings? We take a look\u2026\u00a0Renting can be a trouble-free way of putting a roof over your head. No maintenance costs to meet and no housing market worries. In fact, with many …<\/span> Read More →<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[55],"tags":[37,74,75],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.castle-estates.co.uk\/staffordshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.castle-estates.co.uk\/staffordshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.castle-estates.co.uk\/staffordshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.castle-estates.co.uk\/staffordshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.castle-estates.co.uk\/staffordshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.castle-estates.co.uk\/staffordshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1794,"href":"https:\/\/blog.castle-estates.co.uk\/staffordshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533\/revisions\/1794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.castle-estates.co.uk\/staffordshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.castle-estates.co.uk\/staffordshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.castle-estates.co.uk\/staffordshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}