What is renters insurance?
Renters insurance keeps your belongings covered in case of things like theft, fire, and flooding – from your record collection to the sofa you managed, somehow, to get up the stairs. It also covers cash and even the food in your freezer.
Plus, it’s easy to take your cover with you if you move home. Just let us know your new address and we’ll do the rest. As a renter, you probably won’t need to worry about buildings insurance – protecting the structure of the property is usually your landlord’s responsibility.
Do I need renters insurance?
You’re not required by law to have it – whether you do or not is completely up to you. But, your belongings won’t be covered by any insurance that your landlord holds, that’ll only protect the things that they own. That’s things like any furniture or appliances they’ve provided for you. So, protecting your belongings is probably a good idea – that way if anything happens, you know you’re covered.
What does renters insurance cover?
Your valuables, cash, and home office items are covered against damage or loss from events like fire, theft, and flooding.
But – we can’t cover every eventuality. Make sure you understand, and are comfortable with, what isn’t covered.
What's covered
- Unlimited contents cover
There’s no limit to the overall amount we’ll cover all your contents for. If your property has five bedrooms or fewer, there’s no limit to the overall amount we’ll cover your contents for. Your contents – including valuables up to a single item limit of £2,500 – are protected from loss or damage caused by fire, theft or flooding. - Cover for garden contents
We cover contents usually kept in the open, such as garden furniture, up to £12,000. Conditions apply. - Cover for contents in outbuildings and garages
We cover contents in garages and outbuildings within property boundaries. Coverage limits and conditions apply, with reduced limits for theft-related claims. - Matching items cover for contents
We'll cover the cost of replacing undamaged items in a set (such as matching furniture suites) if we can't provide a matching replacement, up to the contents and personal belongings limit. Conditions apply. - New for old replacements
We'll replace damaged items with new ones. Or pay for them to be restored, repaired or replaced. We don't cover damage due to wear and tear or breakdowns. Accidental damage is an optional cover.
- Cover for home office equipment
We'll cover home office equipment you own and are responsible for up to £15,000.
What's not covered
- Wear and tear, and the cost of repairing breakdowns
- Theft of unsecured bikes from your garden. Unless your bike was securely locked to an immoveable object, it’s not covered against thieves
- Motorised vehicles, aircrafts, caravans, or watercrafts of any kind. They’ll need to be insured separately
You can take a look at our full policy details to see the full details of what's covered and what's not.
Please read policy documents for details of all exclusions and limitations.
Important documents
If you already have insurance with us, you'll find the documents for your policy in MyAviva. In your document library, you’ll find your Insurance product information document (PDF 76 KB), an Important information document (PDF 122 KB), and your Insurance policy wording (PDF 348 KB).
You’ll also find a Home summary of benefits (PDF 90 KB), a document About our insurance services (PDF 25 KB), and if applicable, your Home Emergency Cover policy (PDF 257 KB), Legal Services policy wording (PDF 334 KB).
Manage your renters insurance online
No admin fees for making changes to your policy
You can make changes to your policy free of charge. This includes updating your details or changing your policy. You may have to pay a cancellation fee if you cancel your policy.
Manage your cover online
Manage your policy or start a claim anytime in the MyAviva app.
Accidental damage
We’ll cover accidental damage to your belongings – like dropping a paint pot on a carpet or knocking over and damaging a television.
Legal services
Get access to a 24/7 helpline to help you with legal problems, from employment law to personal injury and more. We'll pay up to £100,000 in legal costs for you and anyone in your family who lives with you for each claim you make if there is a reasonable chance of your claim being successful.
Protect your No Claim Discount
Make sure one claim doesn’t make five years or more of hard-earned discounts disappear.
Personal belongings cover
We cover personal belongings in and away from the home, in the UK or anywhere else in the world. This is an optional cover. Footnote [2]
Pedal cycle cover
Feel confident pedalling anywhere in the world with extra cover from loss, theft or damage for bicycles used by you and your family.
Please check your policy documents for more details.
Buy with confidence
It takes a name you can trust. Over one million people protect their home with Aviva, as of July 2026.
Customers get a 10% discount on new home insurance policies. Discount excludes optional extras. Terms apply.Footnote 3
We’ve got endorsement from experts.
We’ll get your home back to normal. We’re there when you need us. Start a new claim online or by phone 24/7, 365 days a year.
Get a quote in minutes
You could get a quote for Aviva Signature home insurance in minutes. We’ve also put together a checklist to make it even easier.
To help us tot up your price accurately, we’ll ask you for some information:
- About you – just the usual like your name, date of birth, and if you’ve made any home insurance claims in the last five years.
- About your home – things like your postcode, whether you own your home, and if you live there all the time.
- About your policy – pick how much you’d be prepared to pay towards the cost of a claim (known as an excess) and any optional add-ons you want.
We’ve simplified things by making some assumptions – like that you have less than five bedrooms, and that flood waters have never washed through your home before. You’ll see these assumptions as you complete your quote. Please check them carefully and tell us if they don’t apply.
Looking for a different type of cover?
We’ve got a range of products to protect what’s important to you:
Home insurance
Contents insurance
Landlord insurance
Buildings insurance
Aviva Signature home insurance FAQs
Do I need home insurance? Show more Show less
Unlike car insurance, it’s not a legal requirement - unless you have a mortgage lender, in which case it’s usually an obligation of your mortgage contract, but it can go a long way to giving you peace of mind in the event of a burglary, fire, flood or other damage to your property and your belongings.
How does the claims process work? Show more Show less
If you need to make a claim you can visit our claims page or call us on 0345 030 6945.
Lines open 24 hours for new claims. For our joint protection, we may record and/or monitor calls. The cost of calls to 03 prefixed numbers are charged at national call rates (charges may vary depending on your network provider) and are usually included in inclusive minute plans from landlines and mobiles. Our opening hours may be different depending on which team you need to speak to.
What is personal belongings cover? Show more Show less
Personal belongings cover protects your items – like your mobile phone, laptop, jewellery, or camera equipment – both at home and when you take them out with you. It also includes accidental damage cover while you're at home. You will need to specify any personal item worth more than £2,500 on your policy.
You can add personal belongings cover to your quote in the "Your quote" page.
If you're a new customer, you can find cover limits and exclusions in our Policy Booklet (PDF 348 KB) and our Overview of benefits (PDF 90 KB).
If you're an existing customer, please refer to the documents section of MyAviva on the policy you want to know about for cover limits and exclusions.
What happens if I move house? Show more Show less
Tell us your new address, and when you’ll be living there as soon as you can.
You might be able to do this in MyAviva:
- Log in to your account
- Under Your Account, pick Your profile (if you’re using the mobile app, just look for the Profile section)
- Choose to Edit within the correspondence address section
If you can’t see this, get in touch by sending us a message.
Does home insurance cover pedal cycles? Show more Show less
While we cover cycles (the kind you pedal) under our normal contents insurance when they are in your home, we can layer on extra cover for any cycles you and your family use – wherever in the world you hop onto the saddle.
However many cycles you’d like to insure, just choose the amount that’s enough to replace the most expensive, between £300 and £5,000.
We don’t cover stolen cycles you’ve left on their own unless they’re locked inside a building or to something that can’t be moved.
How do I add mobile phone protection to my existing policy? Show more Show less
Adding our extra cover level of accidental damage covers your mobile phone for accidents in the home. Personal belongings cover is an optional add‑on that insures your mobile phone against accidental damage, loss or theft anywhere in the world – which includes accidental damage in your home and garden. Please check your policy documents for restrictions, including those for theft from vehicles.
Are all my belongings automatically covered, no matter what they are worth? Show more Show less
Not necessarily. With Aviva Signature home insurance, most contents are covered automatically up to the policy limits. However, certain high-value valuables and personal belongings worth more than the single article limit of £2,500 will need to be specified on your policy, particularly if you want them covered for theft, damage or loss outside your home.
If an item needs to be specified and isn't listed on your policy, it may not be covered for its full value in the event of a claim. Adding high-value items to your cover may increase your premium.
It's also worth reviewing the value of any specified items regularly. The value of items such as jewellery, gold or artwork can increase over time, so keeping your sums insured up to date can help ensure you have the right level of cover.
Learn about caring for your home
We’ve put together a range of simple guides and handy tools to answer your questions about protecting your home, so you can feel confident and prepared.
Home insurance
What’s the difference between buildings and contents insurance?
What type of cover should you choose?
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First time buyers
Important stages of the house buying process
Buying or moving into a home comes with big decisions — from choosing a neighbourhood to finding the right cover for your new place
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Home insurance
Your home insurance price explained
Your premium depends on factors like your risk of claiming. Find out what else affects your price.
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Home insurance
Legal Services Cover explained
Confused about legal cover? Here’s a quick look at the cases our optional legal services can help with if added to Aviva Signature home insurance.
Contents insurance calculator
It can be a bit tricky to calculate the value of your belongings. Use our contents insurance calculator to estimate the value of your contents.