Renting and contents insurance

Published on 14 January 2019

 

Think you don’t need contents insurance when renting? Think again.

...when it comes to your own personal items, the landlord’s policy won’t cover them, so you should consider taking out contents insurance.

Renting a house or apartment in Ireland can be expensive, with soaring rents, plus all the usual household bills such as electricity and heating. And then there’s all your personal property to think about: clothes, jewellery, bikes, tablets, cameras, laptops and sports equipment – things that would amount to quite a sizeable loss if they were damaged, destroyed in a flood or fire, or stolen.

As owner of the property, the landlord should have home insurance in place, which insures the structure itself. And it’s more than likely they will have some kind of contents insurance in place, covering their own property inside the structure, such as carpets, curtains, TVs, microwaves, vacuum cleaners and fridges, etc. But when it comes to your own personal items, the landlord’s policy won’t cover them, so you should consider taking out contents insurance for renters. Otherwise, in the event of fire, theft or other damage, you could be left out of pocket.

...to fully enjoy your rented home and have total peace of mind, contents insurance is definitely worth it.

When getting a contents insurance quote (sometimes called tenants home insurance, or rental home insurance), an insurance company will ask you to give a total value of your belongings. To determine this, you’ll need to add up what it would cost to replace them as new, and getting a professional appraisal for more expensive items, such as jewellery is often a requirement.

Policies vary from company to company, but most will insure you against the common incidents like fire, lightning, burst pipes, flood, storms and burglary. So to fully enjoy your rented home and have total peace of mind, contents insurance is definitely worth it.

If you’d like to know more about the features and benefits of our home contents insurance, you’ll find everything you need to know here.