What contents insurance should we get as tenants in the UK?

May 26, 2015 8:47 AM

Expats living in London, renting the ground floor flat of a house. We don't have much in the way of high-value possessions aside from laptops, TV, bike, clothing, but we should probably get them covered. Please recommend a good policy or insurance company.

Recent water leakage from the flat above would have damaged our stuff if it hadn't been caught in time. A tenant in that same flat "accidentally" torched a flower box on their balcony. The older couple next door who've lived in this street for decades keep warning us that the neighbourhood is a burglary hotspot. These are the things that keep us awake at night.

posted by theory to Work & Money (7 answers total)

Just go to any comparison website and get contents insurance based on price and customer service ratings. There is very little between the different policies or at least there never was when I was last looking for contents insurance for tenants in the UK, which probably was a good 5 years ago.
posted by koahiatamadl at 9:18 AM on May 26, 2015

As always for consumer/money/banking/utilities questions in the UK, up-to-date recommendations are at Money Saving Expert.
posted by caek at 9:20 AM on May 26, 2015 [5 favorites]

I've used Naturesave for years. They've paid out twice, for a stolen phone and a stolen bike. No trouble, either time, and I always speak to the same lady there. Also as a bonus, they have strong ethical and sustainable investment policies.
posted by greenish at 9:21 AM on May 26, 2015

Seconding Money Saving Expert as your first port of call for financial stuff - they usually have explanations of how various financial services work (handy if you're not native) and an up to date comparison of the best buys or directions on how to find a comparison.
It's hard to recommend a specific company as policies will vary wildly based on your area, type of property, etc.
Not sure if it's the same in your home company, but when it comes to renewal, it's almost never the best value to stay with the same insurer. Go back to MSE and recheck the comparisons, 95% of the time it's better value to switch to a different insurer.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 9:34 AM on May 26, 2015

Check if you can get it through your bank - e.g. upgrading to a premium account, many of them include that as a benefit. It may be cheaper than getting a separate policy.
posted by teststrip at 10:04 AM on May 26, 2015

Thirding a comparison website to check out premiums and policy coverage. If you have high value items or a lot of contents that is out of the ordinary (ie. Jewellery, machinery, half renovated cars etc) that you want to cover then it would probably be worth your time to chat to a few insurance brokers to get comparative quotes and advice on how to cover everything effectively. (I have been a personal lines broker/underwriter for about 8 years, but not your broker) Do be careful to check everything when taking out a policy through comparison sites as it sometimes drags through the wrong information which may cause issues if you have to claim. Also once you find something you like on a comparison website, see if it is cheaper to take out a policy with that company direct!
posted by Peetree at 12:27 PM on May 26, 2015

Slight tangent, but I'm mentioning this just in case it's different from what you're used to: for standard contents insurance, you'll need to insure everything of yours in the flat, not just the high-value items. Underinsurance is best avoided.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 1:20 PM on May 26, 2015