Home Contents Insurance

Also known as possessions, renters or tenants insurance, home contents insurance is cover to protect your belongings against theft or damage whilst in your home. Unlike building insurance, which is usually a prerequisite of a successful mortgage application, home contents insurance is optional because you are solely responsible for your belongings and their loss would not affect anyone else. If you are renting a property, the landlord would only have insurance to cover the building itself, the fixtures and fittings, and any furniture that they had left for your use. Therefore, you should look to cover anything else with a home contents insurance policy.

Your first step should be to carry out an inventory of your possessions, working out how much it would cost you if, for example, the house was burgled or if there was a fire. It is worth doing this because most people would undervalue their possessions if a proper check were not carried out and you would only find out when it came to replacing everything you own. You should then decide whether you want to individually insure anything particularly valuable, such as a laptop computer. This means that you usually be able to take these items out of the house and still be covered – check in the small print before signing up though to make sure that this is the case. The next step would be to decide on the monthly excess you would be willing to pay. This is typically between £50 and £250, and if you agree to pay an excess before the insurer needs to pay out on your claim, your home contents insurance premium costs would be reduced.

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Saving Money on your Home Contents Insurance

• Buy online.  Most insurers will offer online discounts to new customers.
• Consider an excess.  By agreeing to pay an upfront amount should you need to claim, you can save money on your policy premium.  Do bear in mind though that you should then refrain from claiming for anything that just comes over the level of your excess, because then you would lose your no-claims bonus for very little benefit.
• Secure your property.  Most home contents insurance providers ask that their customers have their properties secured, with British Standard locks and other safety features.  Apart from the fact that home security is a great investment, you may find that your insurance is not valid unless your home is adequately secured, so check in the small print before you buy.