Home contents insurance

Contents insurance – sometimes called ‘personal property insurance’ – can be part of a homeowners or tenants/renters policy, and can cover anything that belongs to the policyholder that’s not a permanent fixture of the building. This can include clothes, furniture, electronics, appliances, tools, kitchenware, linens, snowblowers, lawnmowers, rugs, window coverings. Even the food in your freezer is usually covered. Ask your insurance professional if anything is specifically excluded.

Yes. Contents insurance covers your personal possessions if they’re stolen, even if they’re stolen while you’re away from home. Remember that you will have a deductible, so a minor theft may not be worth claiming.

You can protect your personal possessions (up to $100,000) for as little as $200/year, as part of a tenants policy that also covers you for up to $1,000,000 in personal liability if someone is hurt in your apartment, and additional living expenses if a fire, wind storm, evacuation order or other mishap forces you out of your apartment for a week, a month or longer. The exact premium will depend on how much you own and other factors like where you live and whether you’ve made claims before.

Most insurance companies won’t sell you an insurance policy for less than a year. Some may offer a 6-month policy, but the cost per month will likely be considerably higher than for a 1-year policy. If you buy a 1-year policy and then cancel before the policy ends, you will be entitled to a partial refund, but cancellation fees and/or penalties will apply.

That depends on how much stuff you own, and whether you’d need to replace it all if it was stolen, lost in a fire etc. Your insurance broker will ask you questions to try to get a rough idea. If you’re bad at math, a good guideline is $7,000 per room in your home. That includes bathrooms and garage.

Remember that you are only covered for the current value of your stuff unless you specify ‘replacement value’. So that big screen TV you paid $1,200 for 5 years ago may only be worth $100 today. You may want extra coverage for high-value items like jewellery, antiques, cash, furs, collectibles etc., as those items may not be fully covered otherwise.

Yes. You can cancel your contents insurance whenever you want, but if you cancel in the middle of the policy to save money, you may be disappointed, as cancellation fees and/or penalties will apply.

There is no legal requirement for contents insurance, but if you own stuff and you can’t afford to replace that stuff on your own in the event of a fire, theft or other mishap, then you need contents insurance.

If you share a house or apartment with one or more roommates (anyone who isn’t your spouse, common-law spouse, child, parent, grandparent or grandchild), you can certainly get a homeowners or renters policy that will include contents coverage for your stuff. But each of you will require your own insurance policy to cover your own stuff. Likewise, if you rent or lease part of a house (like a basement apartment or even if you rent a bedroom), you are not covered by the homeowner’s policy. You need your own contents, liability and additional living expense coverage.

The short answer is yes, but you’ll probably get a smaller cheque that way. If you have water damage, for instance, an adjuster can come and visually confirm which items have been damaged, and then you and the insurer can come to an agreement on the value of those items. With a fire or theft claim, that may be impossible. The adjuster will have to rely on what you told your broker when you last updated the policy, and perhaps a police report, to estimate your losses.

If you want the maximum payout after a loss, you should keep receipts, preferably not in the house itself (they won’t help you if the house burns down). You can even keep a video or photo inventory of your stuff. Remember that high-value items like jewellery, furs, cash and collectibles probably won’t be fully covered by a standard policy, even if you have receipts.

Portable contents insurance means that the policy protects your belongings when they are in your home, and when they are out and about with you. So, for example, if your golf clubs are stolen from your car, that would be covered on portable contents insurance. Most home policies in Canada include portable contents coverage.

Students, whether they live at home or are away at school, are covered under their parents’ home insurance policy until they turn 26. Most insurance companies limit the amount of contents coverage available to a student who is living away from home to $5,000 or 5% of the parents’ contents limit. Students who take more than $5,000 worth of stuff away to school can usually buy a basic tenants insurance policy for $200-300 a year.

A typical home or tenants policy in Ontario will include $1,000 to $3,000 in contents coverage for pets. You can buy more coverage if you need it.

No. All vehicles need their own insurance, whether you drive them or not. If you don’t currently use the vehicle, you may be able to get comprehensive coverage only (theft, fire, vandalism etc.), but most insurers will only offer this if you have another vehicle on the policy with all the mandatory coverage for driving (liability, accident benefits etc.).