Tenant insurance

For tenants renting a complete property, contents insurance policies include up to £5,000 per claim tenant liability cover for damage caused to the building, provided your tenancy contract states that you’re legally responsible for fixing this type of damage. This is sometimes known as tenancy liability cover.

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.

Visit every room in your home (including the attic, shed and cupboards under the stairs!) and list all your belongings including kitchen equipment, luggage, rugs 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.

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 booklets 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 including burglary, fire, flood or escape of water.