Renting a House? Insure your Contents

Reasons why insuring your contents is a good idea

While many may not be aware of content insurance, homeowners and especially tenants often fail to understand their ownership and risks of the home contents. Accidents and natural hazards such as fire, explosions, vandalism, earthquakes, floods etc. can damage the home as well as its contents. Although the tenant is not responsible for the structure, he is solely responsible for his personal possessions.

Content Insurance Helps Tenants

To understand how content insurance can be useful for home renters read the following story.

Shailesh and Ram were tenants in a building. Ram was familiar with home insurance and aware of the options available for insuring only the contents. He thought it was a good idea to insure his contents. These included kitchen appliances, a few high-end gadgets such as laptop, music system, etc. and a locker where he kept his important documents and other precious items.

Shailesh on the other hand chose not to insure his contents. He felt the building security was enough and there was no imminent threat to his belongings from burglary or destruction of any sort. One fateful day, when Ram and Shailesh were at work, an earthquake hit the city and caused massive destruction of property. Since earthquake was one of the insured perils, Ram's loss was reimbursed by the insurance company. Shailesh on the other hand had to endure all the losses himself.

Why You Must Insure Your Contents

The things we possess and store in our house for security are liable to damage and destruction by accident or malicious acts. They need to be safeguarded, as their loss would havea direct bearing on our finances.

As a tenant in a rented accommodation, you can secure your belongings against theft or destruction by an accident or a natural calamity. Buying a content insurance policy can protect you from monetary losses. Consider the following reasons to buy content insurance:

• Unforeseen mishaps like fire or explosions can cause damage to your belongings
• A natural calamity like flood, cyclone, earthquake, etc. can cause massive destruction and be a big financial blow
• Malicious acts of burglary, theft, destruction by mobs etc. can cause irreparable damage to your property
• In the aftermath of a destruction, coping with financial losses can be stress free and quicker if you have an insurance coverage
• Given the uncertainty of terrorist acts, you can avail an optional cover against losses caused by such incidents

Inclusions and Exclusions in Content Insurance

Gold and silver items and precious stones, stored in a locker, inside the home are insurable contents. Electronic gadgets, home and kitchen appliances are also included under content insurance.

Glassware, porcelain products and other fragile items are excluded from the content insurance cover. Fine art collections and other irreplaceable items as such do not fall under the purview of normal content insurance.

Key Points about Content Insurance

Contents are insured as per the market value, and depreciation of the value of insured object is considered during claims. Multiple individuals sharing a rented room can insure their share of the contents individually. Though burglary and theft are covered under content insurance, terrorism cover is an optional add-on. To find out more about content insurance, click here.