Are the contents of your home insured? | Tenant news

According to a recent YouGov survey, 49% of private tenants don’t have contents insurance. The survey also found that tenants were more likely to have a Netflix subscription, than content insurance.

With figures unknown for social housing tenants, we wanted to bring you some advice on why contents insurance might be worth considering.

What’s contents insurance?

There are three main types of home insurance: buildings insurance, contents insurance and combined buildings and contents. But for Habinteg tenants, all you need to worry about is contents insurance. This covers all the contents within your home. That’s everything that would fall out if you turned your home upside down and shook it.

Most content insurance policies will cover:

• Damage to your contents caused by bad weather, fire, theft, riots
• The cost of spoiled food if your freezer breaks down
• The replacement of cash stolen from your home
• Legal liability protection if a visitor to your home is injured and it’s deemed your fault.

Top tips for cheaper insurance

The MoneySavingExpert team has a full list of tips on their website, but here are some that we thought were most helpful:

• Never auto renew your insurance. Whilst insurers can no longer charge existing customers more than newbies, you can still save by switching insurers.
• It’s cheaper to get content insurance quotes about 21 days before you need the policy to start.
• Use free online calculators to make sure you get the right amount of cover.
• Installing better locks and security can bag you cheaper policies.
• Check if having one policy for your car and home insurance works out cheaper.

Look around for good deals

Comparison sites are the best place to look for new insurance deals. Sometimes, insurers will offer cheaper prices on a comparison site than they charge on their own site.

If you are a user of a cashback site, you could get cashback on your cheapest insurers, too.

For those who don’t know, a cashback site is an online shopping portal that partners with online retailers and allows you to save money when you shop online. You earn cash-back every time you make a purchase.

Once you’ve found the cheapest deal, you could also try haggling to get a bigger discount from your existing insurer. That may work as it’s likely that they won’t want to lose you as a customer.

The National Housing Federation, the voice of England’s housing associations, has also teamed up with Thistle Tenant Risks, who provide My Home Contents Insurance - home contents insurance designed specifically for social housing tenants. 

Finally, ensure that you check your policy carefully to make sure everything is correct. If you don’t, and there is an error, any claim you make could be rejected or you may have to pay additional costs.