Who has financial liability for a tenant’s possessions?

Hi Sue,

I asked our insurance expert Jason and as he is out of the office his response to your question is below:

“The tenant is responsible for their own possessions. You do not own them and therefore cannot insure them. I’d advise you tell the tenant to get tenant contents insurance. Typically it costs £100 or less for £10,000 of cover per year, so it is affordable. If they don’t and there is a blaze, they will most likely end up having to replace everything themselves.

There is an argument if a fire started by someone else causes the damage they can claim on that persons policy if negligence is proved. But without tenants contents insurance they will have to pay their own solicitor fees if it is contested.”

You cannot “tell” the tenant to take out insurance to cover his possessions as this would be considered an unfair term. You can however, make it clear in the AST that your insurance does not cover tenant possessions and you can also recommend they take out their own insurance cover. If you have an introducer status with an insurer you can introduce (not recommend) that insurer to them. It’s also worth mentioning that your insurance doesn’t cover their possessions (clothes / fridge / freezer contents etc) if damaged by appliances that you own and provide for their use.

When your property is damaged or destroyed you can only claim compensation from someone else if they are responsible for the damage.

Thank you all for your kind responses to my enquiry above; I’m liaising with my agent to get a clause changed in the AST to make that distinction between landlord insurance and tenant possessions.

Thank you.

IMHO, I think best not to mention anything regarding any insurance in the tenancy agreement.

Thanks Romain: the agent has a standard clause that says that the landlord must “insure the buildings and contents of the Property/Premises under a general household policy with a reputable insurer”, which is ambiguous and open to interpretation by the tenant as it implies that it covers all contents. It is this clause that I am taking up with them.

Reply to the comment left by “Sue Twyford” at “19/05/2016 – 12:36“:

I was thinking of such clauses.
They do nothing for the landlord and, in fact, they do create an extra obligation and my understanding is that they impose an obligation to claim off the insurance instead of going after the tenant for any damage, etc.

It’s true that the very clause you quoted also probably creates an obligation for you to insure your tenants’ property.

I would be very concerned about this clause in the agent’s contract.
The NLA AST does not put any obligation on the landlord regarding insurance, but does have the following clause:
Tenant’s possessions
The tenant is strongly advised to take out insurance with a reputable insurer for the tenant’s possessions as such possessions will not be covered by any insurance effected by the landlord.