As a tenant you will not normally need to take out buildings insurance as this is the
responsibility of your landlord.
However, if you are renting an unfurnished property, then tenants' contents insurance
is essential if you want to protect your personal possessions against insured risks such
as flood, fire and theft. Many tenants mistakenly believe that their landlord's insurance
will provide sufficient cover for their needs - it won't. In reality a landlord's
insurance policy will normally only cover the building itself and its permanent fixtures and
fittings.
Even if you are renting a partly- or fully-furnished property and your landlord has
additional cover in place for the contents in it, the policy is unlikely to cover your personal
belongings - for example jewellery, cameras, bicycles, handheld gadgets, sports equipment,
laptops, games consoles, musical instruments and clothing. So even where the bulk of the items
within the property belong to your landlord, the highest value items may still belong to you;
this is where tenants' insurance can give you valuable peace of mind.