Insurance For People Who Rent Their Homes

By Author: Foster carr
Total Articles: 30
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If you rent your home then your landlord will probably have buildings insurance to cover the actual building. Anything you own needs to be covered by a separate contents insurance policy.

The least expensive contents insurance policies protect you against financial losses if your things are damaged or destroyed by fire, theft or flood. For a slightly higher premium, you can get cover for your possessions even if they are damaged or stolen when you are outside the home. This can be especially useful for expensive items like laptops, mobile phones and jewellery.

If you rent a home which is fully furnished by your landlord, then it is likely that any costs for mending or replacing any damaged items will come out of your deposit. You may want to get a special tenants contents insurance policy to protect your deposit. Shop around and you will find that these policies can be very reasonably priced.

I you share your rented property with others, you can insure your belongings separately or you can look at a joint policy. This can work out cheaper so it is worth shopping around.

Your insurance company will ...
... ask you for an estimate of the total value of your belongings when you take out your policy, and may not include laptops which are easy to lose and are popular with thieves. The higher the value of the goods you wish to insure the higher your premium will be, but dont be tempted to give a lower value than you would actually need to replace them all or you will lose out if you need to claim.

Remember that your landlord may not treat the security of your belongings as a priority, so if you are concerned about the security of your rented home then be sure to raise this with them. Windows that do not lock and a lack of a burglar alarm could make your home an easy target for thieves.

When you move into a rented property ask the landlord about changing the locks. If the locks have not been changed, previous tenants may have copies of the keys to your home and could use them to steal your things.

Dont forget to ask your landlord about checks to gas appliances and make sure you mention any faulty or damaged electrical appliances. Dont use any appliances that have worn cables or exposed wires. Insist that smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors are fitted and test them regularly yourself.

Make sure that you keep an inventory of items that you own, with receipts if possible particularly for expensive items like computers, mp3 players and cameras.

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