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Insurance warning for renters

daniellelevy
Written By:
daniellelevy
Posted:
Updated:
17/04/2019

More than two fifths of renters do not have contents insurance to protect their personal possessions, research has shown.

Close to £50bn of home contents across the UK are not insured, according to research carried out by Direct Line Home insurance. This equates to the belongings of 17 million people who live in rented accommodated across the UK.

The figures among 18-34-year old renters were particularly staggering, with half admitting that they do not currently insure their contents. In comparison, one third of people aged 55 and over had taken out contents insurance.

Direct Line found that one of the main reasons that renters do not have home insurance is because they believe their contents are covered by another insurance policy. The insurer found that this was the case for 36% of renters.

For example, some incorrectly assumed they were covered by an insurance policy taken out by their landlord, such as buildings insurance policy, or their parents’ home insurance policy.

This means that the belongings of many renters are at risk in the event of a fire, flood or burglary. Direct Line notes that the bill to replace belongings on average totals £7,000.

How different types of insurance work

For those who are confused by the different types of insurance that are available. Here’s Direct Line’s quick rundown of how each type of insurance works:

Contents insurance

Simply put, if you turn your house upside down, everything that would fall out would be considered as your home contents and covered under a home contents insurance policy. Anything that would remain in your home would then be considered structural and would be covered by your home buildings insurance. 

Personal possessions cover

This is an optional extra when purchasing home insurance and provides cover for your family’s belongings when they are away from home and for up to 60 days a year whilst they are abroad.

Accidental damage cover

This is another optional extra when purchasing home insurance and provides cover for unexpected accidents which happen in your home, including spillages on the carpet, breakages around the house or accidentally drilling through hidden pipes.

Family legal protection

This optional extra when purchasing home insurance provides up to £100,000 cover for claims including contract disputes, personal injury and motoring prosecution.