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Our cover

Tenants Contents Insurance

Quick to buy online

  • Includes bicycles, laptops, mobile phones and tablets.
  • Tenant building liability included.
  • Underwritten by AXA Insurance.
  • Average quote time is only 10 minutes.
Emma Myrie

Written by

Emma Myrie

Insurance Underwriting Expert

Libby Goodsearles

Reviewed by

Libby Goodsearles

Head of Marketing

Less than 1 minute

Updated: 12 Mar 2024

Contents Insurance for renters

What is Tenants Insurance?

Tenant insurance is a contents insurance policy specifically designed for people who rent their home. Most of us would struggle to replace our possessions if they were stolen or damaged, which is why tenant insurance is essential for protecting your belongings.

Your belongings are classed as all the items you would take with you when you move home. To take out tenant contents insurance, you need to work out how much your belongings would cost to replace as new, as a Homeprotect policy will pay out on a new for old basis, which means that if you make a claim you will receive the full value of the item at today’s prices.

Remember, your landlord has a responsibility to have buildings insurance to protect against damage to the structure of the property and its fixtures, such as kitchen units, flooring and bathroom units, but your belongings are your responsibility.

Tenants Home Insurance VS. Tenants Conents Insurance

Unlike home-owners, those who rent their property are not required to hold home insurance – in fact, the term ‘tenant home insurance’ is usually only used in reference to ‘tenant contents insurance’.

Broader home insurance policies can combine building insurance and contents insurance, however, building insurance is the responsibility of the landlord and not the tenant.

Your personal belongings, on the other hand, are your own responsibility to cover for damage, loss or theft. Tenant contents insurance can be invaluable for replacing or covering the cost of items from your home, in the case of a flood, fire or robbery. 

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What’s covered by contents insurance?

Having contents insurance means you won’t be out of pocket if you need to repair or replace your belongings after they’ve been stolen, damaged or destroyed.

What we offer

Quick fix for uncontrollable leaks

Have a home emergency, such as electricity failure, faulty locks or vermin infestation? With the 24/7 Home Emergency cover, which we provide as standard, you can typically get an engineer at your home within four hours. And if you’re worried about an uncontrollable leak in your home, we aim to have an emergency plumber to you within two hours.

Extreme weather conditions may extend response time. Policy terms and claim limits apply.

New for old

Where we replace an item, we will do our best to meet the original specification on a ‘new for old’ basis. If we can’t find an exact replacement, we’ll offer you a suitable alternative, or a full cash settlement.

Legal advice

We provide Legal Protection cover as standard, giving you access to telephone legal advice on any personal legal issue, under the laws of the UK, any European Union country, the Isle of Man, Channel Islands, Switzerland and Norway.

What isn’t included?

Lost items.

Items stolen from unoccupied vehicles.

Damage caused by pets.

The cost of repairing or replacing items following a mechanical or electrical fault.

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Contents Insurance Cover Levels

Our contents insurance is designed to protect your belongings against insured events such as fire, storm, flood, escape of water, theft, malicious damage, subsidence, landslip or heave.

Contents cover

Covering the value of all your possessions in the home, on a new for old basis.

from £25,000

Alternative accommodation

For you and your pets, in case you can’t live at your home while it’s being repaired after an insured event.

up to £10,000

Home emergency

Covers emergencies that occur in your home like uncontrollable water leaks, electricity failure, faulty locks and vermin infestation. Two levels of cover are available.

up to £500

Family legal protection

Provides a 24/7 legal advice helpline and up to £25,000 cover for claims involving contract disputes and property damage. For a claim to be successful, there must be reasonable prospects (more than a 50% chance) of winning the legal case. Two levels of cover are available.

up to £25,000

Liability cover

Liability cover involving accidental death, bodily injury or illness or property damage that you are legally liable to pay.

up to £5 million

Personal possessions

Cover for portable items that you take out of your home, like bags, clothes and sports equipment

Optional

Gadgets, bikes and valuables away from the home

Cover for electronic gadgets (e.g. mobile phones, laptops, tablets etc), bikes (including electrically assisted bikes) and valuables (e.g. watches and jewellery) that you take out of your home.

Optional

Accidental damage

Covers situations when unexpected accidents happen, such as spillages on the carpet, breakages around the house or drilling through hidden pipes. Two levels of cover are available.

Optional

New Customer?

If you’re deciding on whether to buy home insurance with us, you can use our latest policy booklets as a guide.

Existing Customer?

Your latest policy documents are available to view and download.

Your Questions Answered

Visit every room in your home (including the attic, shed and cupboards under the stairs!) And list all your belongings including curtains, kitchen equipment, luggage etc. Research how much it would cost to replace each item as new and then add up the full amount you’d need to replace everything. 

We normally cover the amount you specify, however if you enter a very low amount your policy may include more than this, if this is the case you will be made aware of this before purchasing.

Although you should check the specific terms of your tenancy agreement, common practice is that landlords only take out buildings insurance for properties they let out and tenants are responsible for buying insurance cover for their belongings. This arrangement makes practical sense as you can ensure that the level of content cover you get is appropriate for the things you own including any high risk items, bikes and electronic gadgets.

In most cases, if you make sure the value of these items are included in the value of contents to be insured. Please note that there are some items that we can’t insure such as boats and water skis, please refer to the policy booklet for full details.

Although it’s not essential to have contents insurance when you’re renting your home, having suitable cover in place gives you peace of mind should the unexpected happen – see our policy booklet for details of our cover.

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