Contents insurance

If you’re living in a rented or leased home, you will only need to protect any contents in the property that you personally own – it’s the property owner’s responsibility to insure the buildings. Contents insurance is a type of home insurance that covers your personal belongings, rather than the structure of the building.

Contents insurance provides cover for the loss or damage to the possessions in your home which aren’t a fixture or fitting of the building, but bear in mind that this doesn't cover wear and tear or damage to the property's fixtures and fittings. This type of insurance will cover your possessions, which are described as the items you would want to take with you should you move. For example, furniture, personal items and valuables and electrical goods.

It can be tricky, figuring out what’s covered under buildings insurance and what’s covered under contents insurance. Contents insurance would most commonly cover belongings such as your furniture, clothes and jewellery, but it’s important to remember that most contents policies will have a single article limit – meaning that any items that are worth over a certain amount (such as an expensive painting or musical instrument) will either need to be noted as a ‘specified item’ or covered under a more specialist policy, such as private clients insurance or musical instrument insurance. Endsleigh’s unspecified single article limit is £1,500.

Contents insurance usually provides standard home insurance cover to protect your belongings, including cover against risks such as fire, theft, storm and flood.

Some contents insurance policies also include tenants’ liability insurance to protect any belongings in the property that the landlord owns.

Endsleigh’s contents insurance covers you for:

• Protection against fire, theft and flood, with optional cover for accidental damage
• Malicious damage, with tenants’ liability as standard
• Alternative accommodation
• Contents cover away from the home

It’s a difficult thing, calculating the value of your possessions, and it’s something that’s easy to underestimate. The easiest way to calculate the value of your contents is to go through each room and do a rough total of how much everything is worth - you’ll probably be pleasantly surprised by the total value of your wardrobe once you’ve thrown in a few coats and jumpers!

If you have any higher value items that need to be specified on the policy or insured separately – such as fine art or jewellery - you may need to have a valuation carried out by a specialist that you can provide to your insurer in the event of a claim.

We’re often asked if carpets need to be included under your contents insurance policy. Unfortunately, carpets are a bit of a grey area. It’s not like you can always rip them up take them with you to another property, which implies they should be covered under your buildings insurance. However, in a lot of cases your carpets will be covered under your contents insurance, so it’s important to factor this in when calculating the value of your contents. Confusingly, floor coverings such as laminate would be considered part of the building, so if you’re unsure you should speak to your insurer or check your policy documents.

No two homes are the same, so we think no two insurance policies should be the same. You can tailor your contents insurance with a selection of optional extras to give you even more peace of mind. You can add legal cover to your policy, which will provide support should you find yourself in a dispute relating to employment, contract and property issues or clinical negligence. We'll appoint a law firm on your behalf and you can claim up to £50,000 for legal representation.

We can also take the panic out of a situation with our optional home emergency cover. We'll provide cover for a range of emergencies, such as a break-in or boiler breakdown (as long as it's regularly serviced). All you have to do is call the 24 hour emergency helpline for assistance. We’ll assess the situation and send out one of our recommended contractors. Better than that, as long as you use one of our recommended tradespeople, then all our work is guaranteed for 12 months.

Prone to accidents? You can also add accidental damage cover to our home contents insurance policies, helping you to make sure you're covered for all those little mistakes that can be expensive to fix. So, if a hot iron falls off the ironing board and burns the carpet, or if you spill liquid on your laptop, you can feel secure in the knowledge that you're not going to be out of pocket.