Student house insurance in 2024. What is student house insurance?

Student house insurance

In short, student house insurance (also called student contents insurance) protects your belongings while you are living on university premises.

If you’re a first-year student staying in university accommodation, you may already have contents insurance through your accommodation provider. However, you need to find out if this is the case.

In this guide, we will help you ask the right questions and discuss everything you need to know about student house insurance.

Table of contents

What is student house insurance?
Do I need student house insurance?
How does student contents insurance work?
What does student house insurance cover?
What’s not covered by student house insurance?
Do student houses have insurance?
Tips for making a contents insurance claim
How can I get cheaper student house insurance?
How much does student house insurance cost?
Student house insurance FAQ

What is student house insurance?

Essentially, student house insurance is contents insurance.

It’s a cover you can take out to protect your belongings while living away from home, usually in rental or student accommodation.

Student house insurance allows you to claim the cost of repairing or replacing your personal belongings if they’re lost, damaged, or stolen.

Do I need student house insurance?

If you’re a university student living in halls, you’ll probably move most of your belongings to help make your student accommodation feel like home.

If replacing your favorite items doesn’t sit well with you (or your budget), you may want to take out student house insurance to ensure you’re covered if anything unfortunate happens.

What are the benefits of student house insurance?

Students have many valuable gadgets and equipment to support their studies that are essential to carrying out their work, so insuring these belongings is worthwhile in case of an emergency.

Furthermore, students who live away from home usually reside in shared accommodations and often in high-risk areas where the rent is cheaper. This statistic highlights they may be more at risk of theft.

Remember, it can cost you time and money to replace lost or stolen items, and the cost is something you could probably do without when you’re living on a student budget.

Student house cover will protect you should anything unexpected happen to the things you couldn’t live without and ensure you’re not left out of pocket.

How does student contents insurance work?

A general student contents policy covers most items. To determine how much insurance coverage you need, estimate the total value of the contents (or belongings) you want to insure and notify your insurer.

When you notify the insurer, try and be as accurate as possible. If you underestimate what your belongings are worth, this could be a hassle if you need to make a claim.

By underestimating your belongings, you won’t get the full value reimbursed should you make a claim, and if you overestimate it, the amount you pay (your premiums) will be too high.

It’s worth noting that many student insurers provide additional coverage options for other risks, such as lost keys, tuition fees, and rent protection.

In addition, you could buy tenants’ liability insurance which protects your landlord’s property if you accidentally cause damage to your rental’s fixtures and fittings.

Additionally, gadget insurance coverage protects your gadgets against theft, loss, and accidental and liquid damage.

Not all insurers cover these additional risks, so it’s worth double-checking what their policies include before you purchase your coverage. You can always add on extra coverage if they provide additional options.

Standard student house insurance will replace items affected by fire, flood, and theft, but you can usually buy add-ons to protect against loss or accidental damage.

Note: Buy your insurance once you know where you’ll be living, so you have coverage from the day you move into your new accommodation.

What does student house insurance cover?

The answer to this depends on which insurance provider you choose, but most policies will cover you for any damage or theft that takes place within your accommodation.

Belongings typically included are:

Cash
Clothes
Gadgets
Furniture
Textbooks

When it comes to expensive items, most content insurance policies have limits on how much you can claim for each item.

You can usually avoid these limits if you insure your most valuable items separately. This includes belongings such as:

TVs
Bikes
Jewellery
Appliances
Sporting equipment
Musical instruments
Electronic gadgets (phones, laptops, cameras, etc.)

What’s not covered by student house insurance?

The answer to this question also depends on your insurance provider and coverage. As noted earlier, you can add various coverages to your standard student house insurance.

Generally, student policies exclude cover for more expensive items (unless you insure them separately). Still, your insurance provider should cite circumstances under which your policy would not be valid.

These are known as policy exclusions and typically include:

Cover during term holidays
An alleged theft with no evidence of forced entry
Expensive items such as guitars (unless you have added them to your policy)
Burglaries in shared accommodation (if you don’t have an approved door lock)

Do student houses have insurance?

Before taking out your student house policy, you should check whether your accommodation provider has insurance coverage in place for you while staying with them.

If you already have student house insurance in place with your halls of residence or landlord, it’s still important to check what is and what isn’t covered. You can then decide if you want to purchase any additional protection.

You can buy student house insurance if you don’t have coverage through your accommodation provider.

Are your belongings already covered?

If you’re wondering whether your belongings are already covered, it’s worth checking if an existing source covers your contents.

For example, you might be covered in the following ways.

Suppose you bought an item that came with insurance or took insurance out with the purchase. You might already have existing insurance policies for separate items.
Your guardian's home insurance policy may already provide coverage for belongings away from home. This is not guaranteed, so they should check to be sure.
You might already have contents insurance as part of a bank account package or mobile phone contract.

Tips for making a contents insurance claim

If you need to make a claim, here are some things to remember.

Gather evidence

We recommend you take photos and videos as soon as the damage happens. For example, take photographic evidence of damaged gadgets. The more evidence you have, the quicker your claim will be processed.

Be clear

It’s important to clearly state what happened. You need to be consistent when telling your story and making a claim with your insurance provider.

Be prepared to wait

Once a claim is reported, you may have to wait, but most insurers try their best to cover repairs or replacements as soon as possible.

How can I get cheaper student house insurance?

Saving money is likely high on your priority list as a student, so we recommend you consider the following ways to reduce your student house insurance premiums.

Annual payments

If you can afford to pay your premiums in one go, you might have the option of paying upfront with a discount than if you were to pay monthly.

Home security

Ensuring your room and home doors are locked covers the bare minimum for security measures, but implementing extra security like padlocks or safes may reduce your insurance costs.

Increase voluntary excess

Increase your voluntary excess payment if you can afford it. This action shows insurers you’re less likely to make a small claim as it wouldn’t be worth the cost, but just be sure you can afford to pay this amount if you need to claim.

Value accurately

Remember to value your possessions as accurately as possible to ensure you get the right amount of cover. If you over-estimate, you’ll pay over the odds, and if you underestimate, you might not be able to claim for the total cost.

How much does student house insurance cost?

The cost of your student house insurance policy depends on various factors, such as:

Your property. Whether you live in a flat, hall, or house can make a difference, as each property type comes with different risks.
Your location. The amount you pay (your premiums) will be more expensive if you move to an area with high crime rates due to the higher level of associated risk.
Your belongings. The cost of your belongings and the amount you insure will affect how much you pay. More expensive items cost more to insure.

Student house insurance FAQ

My laptop is over 12 months old - can I insure it?

Yes, you can insure your laptop regardless of when you purchased it.

However, it’s important to ensure you include the correct sum insured amount to cover your laptop at its current, new replacement cost.

What is ‘New For Old Cover’?

This coverage pays out by replacing stolen or damaged belongings with a new replacement. Many student house insurance providers offer this as a standard service or an optional extra add-on.

Suppose you lost a phone which is no longer available on the market. Under this cover, the insurer would have to offer a financial payout up to the phone’s value.

Beware that some new for old policies subtract indemnity cover, which accounts for the cost of wear and tear. Check for these limitations and buzzwords when assessing your policy.

What is a contents insurance policy excess?

The excess on your insurance is a pre-agreed fee that will be deducted from your payout should you make a claim.

For example, if you have an excess of £50 and your belongings are covered for £1000, your total payout will be £950.

There are usually two types of insurance excess - voluntary and compulsory, so ensure that you understand your insurance policy excess before signing.

A high excess isn’t necessarily a bad thing, although it can be risky. The higher the voluntary or compulsory excess, the lower your premium or the cost of your policy.

If the odds of you making a claim are slim, then go for a higher excess. If claims are likely, keep your excess to a minimum.

I am not a student but live in shared accommodation. Am I able to purchase student house insurance?

No, student house insurance policies are only suitable for registered students on a higher or further education course.

Is building insurance covered in my policy?

No, building insurance isn’t covered by students’ house policies because the building isn’t a student’s responsibility.

Building insurance is the responsibility of your landlord or university accommodation provider, and this should be in place before you move in.

Key takeaways

Essentially, student house insurance is contents insurance, also known as student contents insurance.

Student house cover protects your belongings while you are living away from home, usually in rental or university premises.

Student house insurance allows you to claim the cost of repairing or replacing your personal belongings if they’re lost, damaged, or stolen.

You may already have student house coverage through your accommodation provider. However, this isn’t guaranteed, so find out if this is the case.

Estimate the total value of the contents you want to insure to determine how much insurance coverage you need.

Underestimating your belongings could be a hassle if you need to make a claim, as you won’t get the full value reimbursed. If you overestimate it, the amount you pay (your premiums) might be too high.

Work with an experienced insurance provider if you are unsure about how much student house insurance coverage you require.