Buildings and home contents insurance
Here’s what you need to know about how your home is protected, including what’s covered, who provides it, and how to make a claim.
Buildings insurance
Buildings insurance protects the structure of your home and any permanent fixtures. This includes the walls, roof, floors, fitted kitchens, bathrooms and garages.
If you’re a leaseholder or shared owner
Your home is covered by our Zurich Municipal buildings insurance policy.
The policy covers:
- fire, flood, vandalism, burglary, accidental damage
- permanent fixtures and fittings
- outbuildings and garages
Every claim includes an excess, which is the amount you must pay before the insurer contributes to repairs.
- The standard excess is £350 per claim
- For subsidence damage, it’s £1,000
Only repair costs above the excess are covered. For example, if repairs cost £500, you’ll pay £350 and the insurer will pay £150. Depending on how your claim is handled, this payment may be deducted from your settlement or paid directly to the approved repairer before work begins.
Excesses are standard across all UK insurance policies. They help keep premiums lower by avoiding small or low-value claims.
You’ll always need to pay the excess, even if the damage wasn’t your fault. The insurer cannot process your claim until this has been paid.
In some cases, you might recover your excess if someone else caused the damage. For example, if a neighbour leaves a bath running and it floods your home, or if a plumber’s poor work causes a leak, you may be able to reclaim the amount.
However, most leaks and plumbing issues happen accidentally. Recovery will depend on proving negligence in each situation.
How to make a claim:
- for incidents after 1 April 2021 – use our property claims portal with Zurich
- for all other claims – email our Insurance team
If your mortgage provider needs proof of cover, email us and we’ll send you a letter.
Download our summary of cover (PDF)
If you own your freehold
You’ll need to arrange your own buildings insurance.
If your home is damaged by a neighbour
Contact your buildings insurer first. If the damage is criminal, report it to the police and ask for a crime reference number.
Home contents insurance
The following information is provided by RSA – our home contents insurance provider.
Let’s protect what makes your place a home
You have a home full of things that you need and love – clothes, TV, kitchen appliances, keepsakes, furniture, and gadgets. Surely, if stuff’s worth owning, then it’s worth protecting.
As your landlord, we insure the building and anything we provide, but we don’t cover your home’s contents and belongings.
Ask yourself, would you need help with the cost of putting things right after a kitchen fire, a washing machine flood, or a break in? It could get pretty pricey. But don’t worry – tenants contents insurance financially protects your home’s contents.
A thumbs up from us
It’s good to know you’re choosing contents insurance that’s been given our thumbs-up.
We’ve worked with our insurance provider, RSA, to make sure the cover, price, and service could be suited to your needs.
Over 25,000 tenants just like you have chosen them for their tenant's contents insurance*.
*Number of customers with an active tenants contents insurance policy – April 2023.
Ready to find out more?
If tenants content insurance sounds like a good idea, you can find out more and apply today.
Call 0345 671 8172 if you have any questions or would like to apply by phone.
Download an application form (PDF)
This is a monthly policy, so you’re only committing to a contract each month when you pay for it to renew. Your price and cover will stay the same each month, unless you want to change it.
On a set date each year there is a review of your policy terms, conditions and price, which may mean they will change. RSA will send you everything you need to know about this. So, you can decide if you want to continue with the policy or not.
What you need to know about RSA's tenant's contents insurance:
- tenant's contents insurance financially protects the contents in your home, garage and shed
- cover includes improvements you make to your home, such as new laminate flooring or a fitted kitchen
you can pay weekly, fortnightly, monthly or in one upfront payment until your yearly review date – whatever suits you best - no nasty surprises, no excess on claims and no fees for changing your details or cancelling your policy
- you don’t have to have special door or window locks – as long as your external doors lock, it’s fine
- you can upgrade your cover to protect all your home’s contents against accidental damage
- you have the option to protect your belongings whilst away from your home, and if you have them, you can also cover your bicycles, hearing aids, wheelchair/mobility scooter whilst away from your home
- more than 25,000 tenants have already chosen RSA’s tenants contents insurance*, so they understand what you need from them
- *Number of customers with an active tenant's contents insurance policy – April 2023
- RSA will be there for you if you ever need to make a claim and will put things right as quickly as they can
- in the last three years, RSA has paid more than 3,700 claims with a value of £2.5 million**
**RSA claims data January 2020 – Dec 2022.
For tenants contents insurance policies purchased/ renewed on or after 01/01/2025 - you can download your important policy information: Policy wording (PDF), Insurance Product Information document (PDF), and Essential Information Document (PDF).
If you purchased or renewed your contents insurance policy before 01/01/2025, the above documents do not apply to you. Please refer to the policy documents sent to you in the post.
If you need new copies or have any questions, please call 0345 671 8172.
Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Ltd (No. 93792). Registered in England and Wales at St. Mark’s Court, Chart Way, Horsham, West Sussex, RH12 1XL. Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority (Registration No. 202323).
Help and support
If you have any questions about buildings or home contents insurance, please get in touch with our Insurance team.