Your landlord will probably have buildings insurance to cover the actual building that you rent. You need to insure anything of yours that you keep in the property with a separate contents insurance policy.
The cheapest contents insurance policies will give you protection against financial losses if your things are damaged or destroyed by flood, fire or theft. A slightly higher premium will buy you cover for your belongings even if they are damaged or stolen when you are away from home. This cover can be especially handy for expensive items such as laptops, mobile phones or jewellery.
If you rent a fully furnished property, you probably gave your landlord a deposit. If you damage anything, the chances are the landlord will take the costs of repair from your deposit. There are special tenants contents insurance policies which will protect your deposit, and they are quite reasonably priced.
If you share your rented property with others, some insurers will allow you to take out a joint policy. This can work out cheaper than each of you buying separate contents insurance so it is worth shopping around. You will need to give an estimate of the total value of all the things you want to insure.
The higher the amount, the higher the premium, but dont say less than your things are worth or you will lose out if you need to claim. Unfortunately for some landlords the security of their tenants possessions may not be as high a priority as you would expect, so if you have any worries about the security of your rented property then be sure to discuss this with your landlord.
Rented properties can be popular with burglars who know that shared flats and houses are likely to have several laptops, mp3 players and other valuable items, and if you have Windows that do not have locks or no burglar alarm then you may find your house is an easy target for burglars.
Ask the landlord about changing the locks when you first move in to the rented property. If the locks have not been changed, previous occupants could still have copies of the keys to your home and could use them to break in and steal your things. Also ask your landlord about checks to gas appliances and make sure you mention any faulty or damaged electrical appliances.
Insist that smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors are fitted and test them regularly. Keep an inventory of all the things that you own that you wish to insure, with receipts if possible particularly for expensive items like computers, mp3 players and cameras.
This will help to get your claim processed quickly if you should be unlucky enough to have to make one.
