Is home insurance mandatory?
Many tenants in rental homes wonder whether taking out home insurance is mandatory. Although taking out home insurance for a rental home is not required by law, most lease agreements require the tenant or lessee to purchase a home insurance policy with cover against liability.
As the tenant, home insurance allows you to protect any belongings you keep at home against breakage, vandalism, fire and water damage. In turn, liability insurance helps you if you cause damage to other persons or their property for which you are held liable by law. Lessor’s home insurance, in turn, covers fixed furniture in the home and the lessor’s property stored in the home if the apartment is leased as furnished. In short, it is in both the tenant’s and lessor’s best interests that each have a valid home insurance policy.
Comprehensive Home Insurance – the best insurance for a tenant
Home insurance from Pohjola Insurance can be tailored to your needs. When you choose the most extensive cover, your insurance policy will cover the following losses and damage:
• Breakage and other unexpected losses
• Leakage damage
• Loss or damage due to theft or vandalism
• Fire, smoke and soot damage
• Natural phenomena damage
Moreover, Pohjola home insurance always includes general liability insurance and legal expenses insurance as well as cover for moving house, which covers your belongings when you move and when the insurance is in force. Home insurance also covers your luggage in the Nordic countries, and also indemnifies for costs incurred from temporary housing if you temporarily have to move to another flat due to water damage, for example.
Home insurance also covers the tenant’s belongings
If you are a tenant, your home insurance also covers consumer electronics, household appliances, sports gear, furniture, kitchenware and other fittings in your rental flat. When acquiring a tenant’s insurance, you can set the maximum compensation and deductible for your belongings.
Our home insurance also covers your belongings in the attic, basement or storage facilities of your rental flat. However, please note that when the damage or loss involves home belongings stored in the above facilities, the maximum amount of compensation is 10% of the maximum compensation you have set for belongings.
Does every person living in the same household have to take out home insurance?
For couples, one home insurance policy will be enough for a single rented house or flat. The insurance policy may be taken out by one person on behalf of the couple. In this case, those insured are the policyholder and the persons living in the same household as the policyholder.
In the case of shared accommodation, each person living in the same apartment must take out a separate home insurance policy that includes general liability and legal expenses insurance. In practice, the floor area of the apartment is divided amongst the tenants, with each having a separate insurance policy. This means that each tenant insures the portion of the floor area used by them as well as their own property. For the purpose of insurance, common areas do not need to be accounted for.
Buying home insurance for a couple or for shared accommodation can be easily done on our online store.
Are you moving to a rental flat? Also cover moving
When your address changes, it is also important that home insurance is also moved to the new address. For this reason, we recommend that you already cover your rental flat and the belongings you take to the flat with home insurance, starting with the moving date. Damage or loss incurred during the move are indemnified from the cover for moving house included in home insurance, which also covers your TV set and other expensive electronics against losses or damage that may occur during the move. However, the easiest way to prepare for losses or damage that may occur during the move is to protect items that break easily carefully when packing.