The insurance you need for a rental home.
As a tenant, you have to arrange a lot, especially if you are renting a home for the first time. In addition to moving, furnishing, ensuring that you do have WiFi, and reporting your change of address, it is also nice to ensure that you are properly insured.
But what insurance do you really need? The average Dutch person doesn’t have it that wide these days. Certainly not if you live in one of the big cities where rents keep rising.
We give you a good overview of which insurance policies you really need so that you can use that extra money for something fun.
The two most important insurance policies for a rental home
There are two Att insurance policies that are very useful to take out when you rent a home. Contents insurance for your belongings and liability insurance. These insurances are not mandatory but can save high costs for a relatively low premium if something bad happens.
Contents insurance with home contents insurance, you insure the things in your home. This insurance offers cover for, among other things, water damage, theft, fire, or burglary. If the furniture and other items in your home belong to you (and not your landlord’s), then it’s up to you to insure them.
Do you live in a furnished rental home? Then you do not need to take out household insurance for the furniture that is already there. These are the responsibility of the owner of the items – the landlord. But you can still choose to take out household contents insurance for the items you have brought with you, such as your clothing, home accessories, and electronics. These items are your own property.
What you also have to take into account is the tenant’s interest. The tenant’s interest is all changes, improvements, or extensions that you have made yourself or that you have taken over from the previous tenant for a fee. This can be a parquet floor, a kitchen or bathroom, but also painting and wallpaper.
Because the things that fall under the tenant’s interest are also your property, it is up to you to take out insurance for this. Therefore, always report these changes to your home contents insurer. The insurer will then adjust the premium to the new situation.
Liability Insurance
The liability insurance reimburses the damage that you, family members, or pets accidentally cause to others. This is relevant insurance for tenants because, for example, you can be held liable by the landlord for damage to the rental property. Liability insurance ensures that you do not have to pay for the damage that you have caused accidentally.
In some situations, you may be held liable for a situation over which you had no control at all. Consider, for example, a leak in your home, which also causes damage to the neighbors. Events like this can get pretty pricey! And with this insurance, the reimbursement does not have to come out of your own pocket.
Is it not necessary to take out home insurance?
No, it is not! If you rent a house, it is not necessary to take out building insurance (this insurance provides cover for damage to items that are stuck in and to the house). The landlord has to close this himself.
It is wise to check whether the glass is included in the home insurance policy that the landlord has taken out. If not, glass insurance can be a good addition to your other insurance policies.
Glass insurance covers all glass in your home. Think of the glass in windows and doors, but also the glass of, for example, your shower cabin, skylights, and skylights. To illustrate: if you have glass insurance and someone shoots a ball through your window, you will receive compensation for the glass damage. In many cases, you will also receive compensation for glass damage due to bad weather conditions. You do not always have to take ‘glass’ literally: plastic is also covered by some glass insurance policies. In all cases, you are only eligible for compensation if the damage occurred suddenly and unexpectedly.
