What’s covered? Contents insurance for home owners

[KievLoverTwo]

Please excuse the newb question, we have only had to insure as renters. When you get contents insurance for the home, must it include the costs for, say, replacement kitchens and bathrooms in the event of a fire? Or do those come under buildings insurance? I imagine not, as that should just be the rebuild cost, I imagine.

So if the answer is yes, we do need that level of cover, 100k is probably a more sensible figure than the 30k we currently have in place in our rental?

(We have no jewelry or expensive gadgets)

Secondary question so as not to drip feed (if applicable); have other home owners increased the level of their cover as the cost of kitchens and bathrooms has risen so much? Is that a thing you have to think about each year when you renew?

No it's movable objects that are covered. If you tip your house upside down. Whatever falls out.

Interesting. So what happens re: replacing kitchens etc if you have a fire?

(I am not a pyromaniac, honest!)

Remember though that if you have to make a claim, if the insurer calculates you should have been insured for £100k of contents, but you only are insured for £25k, they will only pay a quarter of your claim, no matter if it is under £25k.
£30k doesn't go very far though - imagine a worst case scenario where you are standing outside your house in your PJs looking at a fire/smoke/massive water damage and you'd have to go and buy every single thing (furniture, floor coverings, curtains, bed linens as well as kitchen stuff, appliances and all your clothes, shoes, sport stuff, bags) without time to shop around or pick up second hand.

Fitted kitchens and bathrooms are covered under the Buildings policy.

As a pp correctly stated, contents insurance is for anything that would fall out if you turned your house upside down but, just as an anomaly, fitted carpets are covered by contents insurance.

I appreciate your care and thoughtfulness re: amount of contents, but what we own is utter utter crap, purely because we always knew we would never stay in this rental, so, sofas were secondhand for £75, and £200, bashed up sideboards, cupboards, metal wardrobes, etc. We used to have nice, reasonably valuable stuff in our first rental but it got so wrecked in between moves that it didn’t seem worth replacing nice for nice when there was never any question of staying long term.

Obviously, when we start kitting the new house out with stuff we actually care about and want to spend good money on, I will keep that under review.

Which is a good point. I think I will keep a running expenditure list to make it easier in the new home.

Thank you :)

Just so you know, the valuation for insurance purposes is not what you paid for it, it is what it would be to replace it with new. Many years ago I was stung on this as my very large book collection acquired at 50p a book (and which I wouldn't have replaced after a fire) was valued at £5 for paperbacks and £10 for hardbacks so I was very underinsured when I was burgled.

Somewhere in the depths of my mind, I did know this. But a reminder is helpful, thank you.

I had a house fire.

Basically contents is moveable items, carpets and the cost to empty the house and for a company to document each item and decide if's worth restoring ( this part cost 8k so it worth being aware of)

Everything else is buildings

We live in a 4 bed with high street furnishings. No expensive jewellery or devices. We insured contents for 50k. The total came in at 48500k . It was very close

I'm so sorry that happened to you.

48k vs 50k is VERY close to the mark.

Did the insurer seriously deduct 8k for them to tell you what your stuff is worth? That seems pretty outrageous.

I wonder what a non built in oven would come under - as I'm probably likely to drop 2.5-4.5k on a range cooker when we move in.

Any idea, wise people?

Thanks for all the feedback, even memory jolts are useful here.

That would come under contents as you can move it.

... good luck 'moving' a 110cm possibly cast iron range cooker in the event of a fire.

!!

We were once in the situation where the buildings insurer said it was contents, and the contents insurer insisted we should claim on our building insurance. In the end, neither would pay out.

So if I were you, rather than have two policies with different insurers, go for a combined buildings & contents policy with the same one. That way, they can't duck out of paying.

Yeah, I had this thought earlier. I've just paid for contents for a year, but thanks to Quidco it was absolutely peanuts. I definitely don't want the mess of renewals at different dates - but you are quite right. Whomever it is should cover both.

God, they're just a bunch of cowboys, aren't they?

It's not if there is a fire. It is a contents that can move. If you moved house you can take it with you. If you turned your house upside down it would fall down. So it comes under contents.

Yes I'm glad ours was combined.

Yes they are. Daylight robbery at its finest. Their entire job is based around ways of using the small print to wriggle out of paying claims.

And I say that as someone who used to work for an insurance broker.

Sigh. I am glad you were able to wrestle your soul back.

I will make sure I read the small print very carefully. Are there any particularly sneaky traps that you recommend I really look out for, please?

I left the industry over 20 years ago, they have probably come up with some more tricks since then!

Do read the small print though.

This is how it was described when dm had to claim. Some policies cover valuables and cash taken outside the home, bikes, shed contents etc

THIS IS AN OLD THREAD THAT HAS BEEN BUMPED BY A SPAMMER!

However, since making this thread, I was horrified to learn that our American cousins have to pay both contents and buildings insurance on their rental properties, and if the upstairs shower leaks and brings their ceiling down or their roof blows off in the wind, it's up to the renter to get their insurance to fix it.

😮

Horrifying