Renters are losing over £330 million in stolen goods each year due to a lack of contents insurance, new research has found.
According to comparethemarket.com, there were over 400,000 domestic burglary cases reported between October 2014 and September 2015 in rented accommodation, costing more than £1.1 billion each year.
Of these, over 115,000 uninsured rented households have been the victim of domestic burglary – costing over £330 million every year.
While most freehold and leasehold properties will likely have contents insurance rolled in with their wider home insurance policies and can therefore claim damages and loss back, rented households are vulnerable to losing thousands due to a lack of insurance.
Polling the views of more than 1000 renters, the research found that almost half (48%) of all renters had failed to take out a contents insurance policy equating to over four million of the 8.3 million rented households in the UK.
The lack of insurance among renters is particularly noticeable among the younger generation with 55% of 18 to 34-year-olds admitting to not having a contents insurance policy. With so many failing to take out a policy, the cost of domestic burglaries where claims cannot be made comes to a total of over £170 million.
The study also found that for those who failed to insure their contents, 43% did not do so because the policies on offer were too expensive, suggesting that many now see discretionary insurance policies as unaffordable. An additional quarter (25%) of those that don’t hold a policy thought that they did not have enough contents to justify taking out insurance to protect it.
Damian Reilly, head of home insurance at comparethemarket.com, said: “This research shows an extremely worrying lack of insurance among renters in the UK, particularly among young people. The fact that over £330 million is lost to domestic burglary and is not covered is regrettable and unnecessary, as the cost of contents insurance policies is comparatively low.
“The figures show the financially devastating effect that a break-in can have on a household without insurance with the average domestic burglary costing £2,833, not even factoring in the psychological trauma.
“It makes sense that renters take out a policy to ensure that they are protected. Unfortunately, the statistics indicate that those who suffer are often those who can least afford to be and are least prepared.”
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