There are two main types of home insurance: buildings and contents. As a tenant, the only insurance you need is contents insurance – also known as ‘renters’ insurance’. Your landlord is responsible for buildings insurance which covers the structure of a rental property. Renter insurance isn’t compulsory – but it is a good idea. For a relatively small amount of money, you can protect your belongings against a whole list of unfortunate events.

According to the Money Advice Service, the average renters home insurance policy costs just £57 a year. ‘The decision about whether or not to insure the contents of your rental property is usually up to you,’ says Greg Wilson, founder of price comparison site Quotezone.co.uk.

‘It is your own stuff, after all. However, some landlords might add a clause to their tenancy agreements requiring the renter to take out tenants’ insurance – so it could be a contractual obligation even though it won’t be a legal one.’

What is renters’ insurance?

Image credit: Future plc/David Giles

Imagine you’re moving home. Everything that you own and would take with you is considered to be contents – things like your TV, clocks, clothes, gadgets, sports equipment, and so on. Everything which stays in its place is considered to be part of the building (like the bathroom or the kitchen sink). Contents or renters’ insurance protects your belongings against events out of your control such as theft or damage.

Tenants need this kind of cover because the insurance your landlord holds doesn’t cover your stuff – meaning you could be out of pocket if something happens to it.

A common worry among renters is their possessions being stolen in the event of a break-in. But burglary isn’t the only thing insurance will protect you from. There are plenty of other reasons too such as damage or destruction due to the weather, leaks, flooding, burst pipes, and fires. Hopefully none of these things will ever happen to your home – but you can’t be too careful.

Wilson adds: ‘Renters’ insurance is basically another name for tenants’ insurance, and is a type of insurance policy specifically designed to protect the contents of the rental property that belong to you.

‘In practice this means that a good policy should cover your furniture, rugs, books, clothes, gadgets and electrical equipment. Paying out if any of those items are damaged or destroyed by a fire or flood, or stolen during a burglary. Some policies will also cover valuables that you usually carry with you, such as your engagement ring, your watch, and so on.’

Why should I have renters’ insurance?

Image credit: Future PLC/ Colin Poole

Think about the situation you would be in if all your possessions were destroyed in a fire or flood, or if your most valuable items were stolen. Could you afford to replace all your things? Most people would struggle to buy everything again – so this is where insurance can help.

Leanna Donkin, partner at House Partnership, says: ‘Tenants are advised to take out their own contents insurance for the possessions that they bring to the rental house. There is usually a clause (or two) within the tenancy agreement relating to the landlord’s insurance policy. The tenant should ensure that they are familiar with this so that they can adhere as required and not invalidate the landlord’s insurance.’

It would normally take a catastrophic event for you to lose everything you own, but being burgled, having your bag stolen in the pub, being mugged for your phone, or having your bike nicked are a lot more common. However, research from MoneySupermarket.com found that only two in five tenants (40%) have renters’ insurance, despite it being pretty cheap. Many tenants mistakenly think they are covered by their landlord’s insurance.

Kate Devine, insurance expert at MoneySupermarket, says: ‘When you consider the overall cost of the possessions we own – from furniture to tech and electronics – assuming you’re covered could be a very costly error. That’s why it’s so important to ensure that you have the right contents insurance in place. ‘

‘Policies are very affordable, with some of the best on the market cheaper than an annual streaming subscription. On top of this, many policies also include tenants’ liability cover which provide you with protection in case you damage items in the property that you’re responsible for.’

What does renters’ insurance cover?

Image credit: Future plc/Simon Whitmore

Renters’ insurance policies vary as to what they actually cover. Before you buy a policy, it’s important to check both the risks and events you are protected against, and which of your possessions are covered. A comprehensive renters’ insurance policy will protect your belongings against:

• Damage or loss due to fire and smoke
• Theft and vandalism if someone breaks into your home
• Damage or destruction caused by storms and floods
• Household leaks such as water or oil from pipes or appliances in your home
• Tenants’ liability if you damage something belonging to your landlord

The kinds of possessions that will be covered on a renters’ insurance policy include:
• Furniture
• Gadgets (such as cameras, smartwatches, and smartphones)
• Electrical items (such as computers, tablets and TVs)
• Clothes
• Cash
• Musical instruments
• Sports equipment

Out of home cover – what you should know

The most basic renters’ insurance policies will only cover your possessions while they are in your home. If you want your stuff to be covered while you are out and about, you’ll need to make sure your policy includes ‘personal possessions’, ‘away from home’ or ‘out of home’ cover. This is included as standard on some policies, but you’ll need to pay extra for it on other policies.

This type of cover is really important because we often carry around our most expensive possessions such as mobile phones, laptops, and smartwatches. These items are fairly likely to be lost or stolen too – for example, how many people do you know who have lost their phones?

High value items cover

When you take out renters’ insurance, the insurer might ask you about ‘high value’ items and ask you to list these separately. These might be things like jewellery, mobile phones, laptops, art or bikes. Some home contents insurance policies give you an individual cover limit per high value item, such as £2,000. Other contents insurance policies offer a total cover limit for all your valuables, such as £20,000.

Bikes

Image credit: Future PLC/ Tim Young

If you’re a cyclist, you should check your bike is comprehensively covered both in your home and outside of it. You’ll normally need to list your bike as a high value item. Most policies stipulate that your bike must be locked to something securely fixed to the ground with a decent lock to be covered outside of your home.

Serious cyclists might be better off buying cycle insurance which covers more expensive bikes and includes personal liability cover – this covers you if you hit and injure someone else.

Accidental damage cover

Some renters’ insurance policies include accidental damage cover. Accidental damage is defined as ‘sudden and unexpected damage to your property or contents by an outside force’. This includes things like spilling a glass of wine and staining the carpet, or knocking over your TV.
Accidental damage cover is sometimes included in renters’ insurance, but it’s more commonly sold as an optional extra. This policy add-on is particularly useful if you have kids that might break things or draw on the walls when you’re not looking.

Legal expenses cover

Another type of cover that can be added to your policy for a small fee is ‘legal expenses’. This will cover the cost of legal proceedings in a number of scenarios if you need to take action or defend a claim.
Claims can relate to things that are nothing to do with your home such as personal injury disputes and employment tribunals.

Digital download cover

Another renters’ insurance add-on you can buy is digital download cover. This will pay to replace any digital content, such as music, films, books and games on lost or stolen phones, laptops or tablets.

What doesn’t renters’ insurance cover?

All insurance policies come with ‘exclusions’. Exclusions are clauses in a policy which state what items, or events, are not included in the cover provided. Typical exclusions in a renters’ insurance policy might be:

• Damage to camping gear or sporting equipment while it’s being used
• Belongings left on display in a car or other vehicle, even if it’s locked
• Possessions left unattended in a public place – for example, if you leave your phone in the pub
• Items bought to run a business other than clerical work (for example, a massage table)
• Damage caused by wear and tear
• Poor maintenance or botched DIY
• Negligence – for, example, you won’t be covered if you leave your home unlocked
• Theft by someone you invited into your home such as a lodger or party guest
• Anything that happens if you leave your home unattended and unchecked for 30 consecutive days or more

How to buy renters’ insurance

Image credit: Cece Wilden

Consider the following points:

How much cover do you need?

When you buy renters’ insurance, you need to make sure you have sufficient cover to the value of everything you own. To work this out, go from room to room in your home and write down how much everything is worth. The total value of your contents is called the ‘sum insured’.
Some insurers no longer ask you to specify sums insured as they provide automatic cover up to a set limit, normally £50,000. Others use a ‘bedroom rated’ system whereby the insurer works out the amount of contents cover needed based on the number of bedrooms you have.

What type of cover do you need?

If you live in a shared house, or student accommodation, you can buy renters insurance to just cover the contents of your room. Some insurers also offer ‘common areas’ cover to protect things you leave in space shared with other people such as the living room. If you live alone, or as part of a household such as a couple or family, you can buy one policy to cover everyone’s possessions.

Think about your excess

The ‘excess’ on an insurance policy is the amount the policyholder has to pay in the event of a claim before the insurance pays out. On a renters’ insurance policy, there will normally be a compulsory excess but you can add a voluntary amount too. The higher the total (compulsory + voluntary) excess, the lower your premium will be.

Shop around for cover

Make sure you compare different renters’ insurance policies and premiums before making a decision. Don’t just buy the cheapest policy – make sure the policy is right for you. Price comparison sites such as Gocompare.com, CompareTheMarket.com and MoneySupermarket.com make shopping around and comparing policies quick and easy. When you’ve chosen a policy, you can normally click through to the insurer’s site and buy it.

Pay annually rather than monthly

Renters insurance premiums are quoted as an annual price – but you will also be given the option of paying monthly.
This will work out more expensive as insurers effectively give you a loan for the premium amount and add interest on top. So, it’s cheaper to pay for your annual cover upfront.

Don’t let your policy ‘auto-renew’

Many insurers will ask you to agree for your policy to auto-renew. This means that after a year the company will generate a new price for you and, if you don’t take action, automatically charge your debit or credit card and then cover you for another year. This might sound great – but it’s not. Insurers hike their prices each year so auto-renewal normally results in paying more for insurance than you need to. Instead, head back to the price comparison sites to search for a cheaper policy.
‘Shopping around online and switching provider regularly is one of the best ways to ensure you are not paying over the odds’ advises Ursula Gibbs, director at CompareTheMarket.com. ‘Potentially saving hundreds of pounds each year. Don’t get complacent over your renewal price; check to see whether you can get a better deal elsewhere.’

The post Renters insurance guide: to safeguard personal belongings appeared first on Ideal Home.

The Ewbank Steam Dynamo is a multifunctional steam cleaner from the makers of one of the world’s first carpet sweepers – the precursor to domestic vacuum cleaners. This steam cleaner is one of many floor cleaning products from the company and has been designed to limit the need for harsh chemicals in your cleaning routine.

It is for use not just on floors, but also has a range of nozzles and brushes – plus a glass cleaning tool – making it suited to myriad jobs around the home. We put it to the test over a few weeks, against a number of cleaning tasks to see how it fared. With some dirty tiles to sanitise and some grubby grout in the bathroom, there was plenty of ways to measure it against the best steam cleaners.

Read on to find out what we thought of the Ewbank Steam Dynamo, and whether it is the right cleaning tool for your home.

Ideal Home’s rating: 4 out of 5 stars

While there are more powerful steam cleaners on the market, the versatility and ease of use of this one is to be commended. It is great value for money and if you have weekly steam cleaning jobs, it is more than capable of blasting germs and stubborn grime on a multitude of surfaces.

Reasons to buy:

• Very affordable
• On-board tool storage
• Compact and lightweight
• Comes with a wide range of tools and you can level up by buying others online
• Heats quickly

Reasons not to buy:

• Well suited to regular cleans, but you may need additional tools for ingrained dirt
• Some tools are hard to attach
• Produces a lot of surplus steam

Ewbank Steam Dynamo

Product specs:

Capacity: 1.5L
Power type: mains
Cord length: 2.4m
Hose length: 1.8m
Wattage: 1500W
Pressure: 54psi/3.4 bar
Dimensions: 86 x 29 x 52 cm
Weight: 3.6kg
Accessories included: 2 x extension tubes, floor cleaning tool, angle adapter, straight adapter, window cleaning tool with squeegee, small nylon bristle detail brush, larger nylon bristle detail brush, nozzle, funnel and jug plus microfibre floor cloth

Who will the Ewbank Steam Dynamo suit?

Family homes that need a regular blast of steam to beat germs and nasties. The nifty little cleaner does stellar work of keeping on top of everyday dirt, but if you are someone who leaves cleaning until grime is very ingrained, you might need something with a more industrial level of power.

Testing the Ewbank Steam Dynamo

My other half has been renovating a Victorian property with all of the ‘perks’. From a mouldy bathroom in a slightly dodgy extension, and new floors that have taken their fair share of dust already, we had plenty to clean. We cleaned:

• Luxury vinyl tile flooring
• Ceramic tile flooring and grout
• Mouldy sealant round a bath and shower
• Shower screen
• Soap scum in a bath

Unboxing

The Ewbank Steam Dynamo is neatly packaged with the hose attached. The other accessories are packed in polystyrene and plastic bags, with the smaller nozzles and brushes ready to stow in the front compartment of the cleaner.

Setting up

Set up was really easy, despite the component labelling in the instructions being a bit lacking. There were numbered parts, but this didn’t seem to be comprehensive, nor was use of numbers for reference in the written instructions themselves that thorough. That said, it was pretty obvious how to put everything together and the actually instructions for operation were great.

You just have to fit the right brush head, nozzle or floor cleaning head and pole before you start. Next, using the jug and funnel provided, you fill the reservoir, plug in the machine and switch it on.

What is the Ewbank Steam Dynamo like to use?

With the machine set up and turned on, it was nearly ready to go. The red light shows the steam cleaner is switched on and after waiting for the unit to heat – which could take 12 minutes but took less than five for us even with a full tank – you check for the orange light to come on showing it is ready to steam. You must fit the right attachment before heating the water and must not remove the water tank cap until the machine has cooled down as the hot water remains under pressure for some time.

To operate the machine, you just press the trigger on the hand gun to emit steam as needed. There is a lock feature for safety – consider it a two step start to prevent accidents.

We then tried a few of the most common steam cleaning jobs.

Steam cleaning the floor

The first task was cleaning the floor. The luxury vinyl tile flooring is only a few months old, but hasn’t had a good clean since installation as we have been busy decorating and wanted to get messy jobs out of the way before a big clean. Dust had settled, and there were a few mucky footprints as we have had various trades in over the last few weeks. It had been mopped a couple of times, but there were some parts that needed a scrub and we also wanted to kill any nasties that might have made their way in during the works. We gave it a quick clean with a vacuum cleaner first to lift fluff and debris.

The floor cleaning head is like a vacuum head and has a brush on the underside. We initially used this without the microfibre cloth as we wanted to use the brush to lift any dirty, but found the cleaner produced so much steam with such a wide head that the floor was getting rather soaked. Though it did dry fairly quickly, the excess water was pushing us to work a bit faster than planned and not spend as long brushing tougher dirt, so we decided to use the cloth provided.

The cloth clipped on really easily and it was much easier to clean the hard flooring with this attached. It prevented over-soaking and worked well with the brush underneath it to lift dirt while offering the heat we knew we needed to kill any germs. As the steam cleaner is so mobile and has fairly good reach, it is not that different to pushing round the best mop for a quick clean, but with the benefit of bacteria killing steam.

The cloth showed how much dirt we were lifting in the process and when I took a clean piece of kitchen roll to the tiles, it showed no signs of dirt left on the floor. The end result was a clean and shiny floor.

• See practical flooring options for your home with our living room flooring ideas

Steam cleaning glass

You can attach the glass cleaning tool directly to the hand gun. It has a rubberised edge to act like a squeegee so you can clean and dry in one step. We found it worked really well on glass and while it didn’t tackled limescale covered shower screen in one go, a second go over got rid of the last bits. It was certainly nice to be able to do this job without a potent chemical cleaner, or using vinegar, which while less harsh than some products, leaves a strong odour.

The instructions warn you of the risks of heating the glass too quickly so note that you do have to ‘prime’ the glass first by directly short bursts of steam at it to prevent heat shock that could shatter it.

Using the steam nozzle and brush attachments

The bathroom is one of the rooms we haven’t ripped out and replaced. The flooring and tiles are in good condition physically but were very dirty, with greyed grout and some mould in places giving the bathroom a very scruffy appearance.

The Ewbank Steam Dynamo has plenty of tools to help give everything a deep clean. We started by attaching the angled nozzle to the gun.

The first place to feel the wrath of the steam nozzle was the floor grout. The nozzle is small enough to focus a highly pressured blast of steam where it is needed – the perfect width for grout cleaning.

It didn’t take long to clean along all of the grout lines, taking it from a dirty grey to an off white in very little time. The image below shows the results. The bottom half the before, and the upper the after. It is noticeably cleaner and looked even more so once the water had dried.

The lower half of the image shows the cleaned grout. It looked even cleaner once it had dried fully

We then decided to clean some grime and mold down the side of the shower screen and around the sealant where water and dust had pooled. To start, we kept the same angled nozzle on, but decided we would get better results if we agitated the dirt with one of the nylon brush heads. There are fairly easy to change in theory but are a snug fit so need a bit of force to be removed and put in place.

This is fairly reassuring as the last thing you want is a loose fitting nozzle flying off under the pressure of the steam, but it does make it a bit tricky to change the heads. And you have to take into account the time needed to let the tool cool between each swap.

There is a rubber washer on each tool to ensure a good fit, and you get a number of these supplied for replacement as needed. Having only used the steam cleaner for a few weeks we haven’t needed to use any spares, so I would be keen to know what the longevity is for them.

With the nylon brush fitted, we went back over the part the nozzle had failed to clean. It was great at getting into all of the creases and fine lines around the bath and sealant. It didn’t leave it completely free from dirt initially, but the steam killed any remaining mould which has since disappeared.

Still, we had to use a fair bit of pressure with the brush to move the dirt in places and left the nylon brush looking a little frazzled by the end. So, if you have a bathroom that has not reached this state and just needs a regularly clean and sanitise, the Steam Dynamo is the perfect tool. For anything more ingrained, you might need a more powerful steam cleaner, or the help of some harsher cleaning products to get a head start.

What else can you clean with the Ewbank Steam Dynamo?

While the Ewbank Steam Dynamo is not the most powerful cleaner, it really is versatile. As well as cleaning glass, floors and grout, you can also use the tools on appliances even outside. It is well suited to lifting grease from dirty oven doors and hobs.

You can buy further attachments for other cleaning jobs, including brass versions of the large and small detailing brushes. These can help with cleaning oven racks and barbecue grills. With these, you can get a bit more oomph out of the steam cleaner, putting it on a level with the more powerful cleaners. These extras are not expensive either – the brass brushes cost between £3.49 and £10. This is a small added cost to keep your top range barbecue looking its best.

Storage and maintenance

Another brilliant feature of the Ewbank Steam Dynamo is that nearly all of the tools can be stored on board. There is room for the adapter (used with nozzles and brushes), two brushes and the nozzle.

The floor cleaner head and pole can be clipped to rear of the cleaner for storage when not in use. This keeps the footprint of the unit fairly small, so it isn’t going to take up too much space in your cleaning cupboard.

After use, you need to make sure the reservoir is empty. We ran out of steam on occasion so this emptied it for us, but when it didn’t we left whatever tool we were using attached and pressed the trigger to expel the steam, simultaneously sanitising whatever head was in use. We left all tools out to dry before storing everything.

The floor head cloth needs rinsing and can be thrown in the wash with towels and other cleaning cloths as needed. The only items that need storage separately are the jug, funnel and cleaned cloth – we use the jug to hold everything together.

Ideal Home’s verdict: is the Ewbank Steam Dynamo worth the money?

The Ewbank Steam Dynamo is a great value buy. It is as good at cleaning floors as some of the dedicated steam mops we have tried and offers lots of other functionality on top of that. So if you like the idea of cleaning your home with nothing but the power of steam, this will help you eradicate germs from every surface – it can even be used on upholstery and carpets.

We did feel it lacked power on very very stubborn dirt, but a second clean or using the brush (and the option of a brass brush for really tough jobs) helped compensate. For the price of this steam cleaner, which is approximately £50 to £100 less than some of the market leaders, you really do get a lot of bang for your buck and accessories are very affordable for those wanting to level up. Yes, it might need a bit of help with long term dirt, but for weekly cleans in homes that haven’t reached a point near to no return it would be perfect.

About this review and our reviewer

Lindsey Davis is Editor in Chief of Homes Ecommerce, looking after product content on Ideal Home. She has tested hundreds of home appliances and accessories, and enjoys the satisfaction of a clean and tidy home – and anything that helps her achieve it.

She was sent this product to test in a home setting which is where we like to test everything, pitched against daily life. We are not given any compensation for our reviews, but may be allowed to keep the product, meaning we can test it over a greater length of time.

The post Ewbank Steam Dynamo steam cleaner review appeared first on Ideal Home.