In 2009 only a few tenants are properly insured in the UK

With the growth of the UK’s rental market, it is unfortunate that so many tenants are not insuring their possessions.

All tenants are at risk from theft and damage to their possessions, as well as their landlord’s contents and something as simple as a spilt glass of wine could mean the loss of their deposit. From a spilt glass of wine to an iron mark on the carpet, accidents can happen whether you are renting or not. However if you happen to be living in rented property, a tenant might not realize that the landlord can take out the cost of repairs for these accidents from the deposit.

Although tenants are usually advised by the letting agents and get information from the Internet, they still don’t realise that the landlord’s insurance won’t cover them if they accidentally damage the rental property and it certainly won’t cover them if their own belongings are stolen.

Nationally in the UK that only ten per cent of tenants have appropriate insurance in place, meaning that ninety per cent don’t have adequate insurance to cover their contents.

Tenants often neglect to buy contents insurance, many simply don’t know that it’s available or in some instances they assume that they’re protected by their landlords insurance, which isn’t the case.

A typical Tenant’s contents insurance policy will offer cover for:

Accidental damage to their landlord’s property – for example if the carpet is ruined with red wine or coffee. They won’t we risking their deposit.

Audio and electrical equipment, credit cards, money, bikes and frozen food.

Items in the garden and outbuildings and even iPods, handbags when they are away from home.

Theft by forcible means, collision by aircraft, vehicles or animals.

Part of the problem why tenants don’t take out insurance is because they think that because they are renting, they haven’t got many possessions. Even if they rent in a furnished property, whereby the landlord’s insurance will cover the landlord’s furniture, they forget the other small items they have.

These often include a new TV, a laptop computer, games console, an ipod or cd player clothes, food in the freezer and that bicycle.

It is very easy to buy insurance and property insurance sites like http://www.jml-property-insurance.co.uk/ act as introducers for Tenant and Landlord rental specialists like HomeLet and Endsleigh. You can usually make arrangements on line and pay on a monthly or annual basis using credit, debit card or direct debit.

Tenants must remember that they have to keep up the payments on their insurance. If they don’t pay their monthly payment, the cover naturally stops.