Student Contents Insurance: What’s Included and What Isn’t
Moving to Bristol usually means squeezing your whole life into a few bags and boxes. It all lands in one room. And it’s worth more than you’d guess. In 2023, Confused.com found the average student arrives at university with almost £5,000 of belongings. We think that deserves proper protection from day one. So contents insurance comes included with every Urban Student tenancy, arranged before you move in, at no extra cost. Nothing to buy. This guide explains what the policy covers, what it doesn’t, and how a claim works. It sits alongside everything else your rent covers.
Key Takeaways
- Every Urban Student tenancy includes contents insurance through Howden for Students, with every claim paid by Zurich.
- Belongings are covered to £5,000.
- Your laptop has its own £1,500 limit while you’re living there, and claims settle as new, clothing excepted.
- Bikes, accidental damage, and away-from-home cover are yours to arrange.
- Claims can start in the Howden for Students app, with a £25 excess, the small first share you pay.
Is contents insurance included in your student accommodation?
Yes, if you live with us. Contents insurance comes with every Urban Student tenancy, through Howden for Students, with claims paid by Zurich. You don’t set anything up, and you don’t pay anything extra. It’s ready before your key is.
One of the quieter perks of living here, and one of the most useful. The short version lives on our FAQs. Full picture below.
| Included with your tenancy | You arrange yourself |
|---|---|
| Belongings up to £5,000 (£6,000 for disabled students) | Bicycles |
| Laptop up to £1,500 at your accommodation, while you live there | Accidental damage |
| £1 million personal liability | Belongings away from your accommodation |
| Tenant’s liability up to £5,000 (when a covered event damages fittings you’re liable for) | Phone theft, unless there was a break-in with visible damage |
| New-for-old replacement (clothing excepted) | |
| Extras: locks and keys £350, frozen and chilled food £75, contact lenses £150 |
What does student contents insurance cover?
Think of it as protection for your everyday life, where you live. The policy covers fire, flood, theft, and water damage from a leaking pipe or appliance at home. That’s the heart of it. Belongings are insured up to £5,000 in total, and that rises to £6,000 for disabled students. Most single items are covered up to £1,250. A few categories run lower, like cameras and jewellery at £1,000.
Laptops get their own line. Yours is covered up to £1,500 at your accommodation, for as long as you’re living there. In 2023, Confused.com put the average student laptop at £566. Plenty of headroom. Anything the policy pays out on is settled new-for-old, meaning a brand-new replacement. Clothing is the everyday exception, where wear and tear counts.
There’s £1 million of personal liability too. That protects you if you’re ever legally responsible for injuring someone or damaging their property.
Smaller extras hide in the policy as well. Replacement locks and keys are covered up to £350 after a theft or attempted theft. Up to £75 of frozen and chilled food if the freezer gives up. Contact lenses, up to £150. And your belongings are protected in transit on the journeys at the start and end of term.
There’s one more benefit people rarely spot. Tenant’s liability, up to £5,000, is built in for the rare worst case. Say a fire damages the fittings you’re responsible for under your agreement, and you’re then held legally liable. This is what answers for it. With luck, you’ll never think about it again.
What isn’t covered, and what to do about it
Every policy has edges, and we’d far rather show you ours now than surprise you later on. Three things sit outside the included cover. None of them should worry you, and each has a simple fix.
Bikes are the first. If you cycle, arrange your own bike cover and you’re done. Accidental damage is the second, so a dropped laptop or a cracked screen wouldn’t be a claim. Cover for that can be arranged separately if you’d like it. The third is anything away from your accommodation. Out and about, only narrow benefits apply, so frequent travellers sometimes add a personal-possessions policy.
Our properties are located in some of the safest areas in the whole of Bristol. Day to day, we do our part to keep you and your belongings secure. Every Urban Student building has 24/7 on-site support, CCTV, and secure key access. The included cover sits quietly behind all of that.
How much is student contents insurance?
Living with us, it costs you nothing extra. Cover is folded into the rent you already pay, alongside your bills, laundry, and housekeeping. That’s one less bill to think about. There’s no separate policy to buy, no renewal date to remember, and no premium leaving your account.
Bought alone, this kind of protection has a price. In 2024, Confused.com put average standalone student contents cover at £72 a year. Many young people skip it altogether. In 2023, GoCompare found 82% of 18 to 24 year olds hold no contents insurance whatsoever. Here, it’s simply included.
Do students need contents insurance if it’s already included?
For most residents the answer is no, and that’s exactly the point of including it. Belongings, laptop, liability: the essentials are already looked after. What’s left is personal.
In our experience, the questions we hear are nearly always about extras. A cyclist with a serious bike. A photographer whose camera is worth more than the single-item limit. Someone who carries expensive kit around town every single day of the week. A small top-up sorts that. Otherwise you’re covered as standard, whether you’re in a studio, a one-bed apartment, or sharing with friends. Every home comes with the same policy behind it, whichever building you choose. Parents tend to ask about insurance first, so we wrote more for them on for parents and carers.
How to make a contents insurance claim on your included policy
Claiming is designed to be simple, and help is close if you get stuck. Start in the Howden for Students app, or use the Zurich property claims portal online. Prefer a person? Call 0800 923 4042. Every claim carries an excess, the small first share you pay yourself. It’s £25 for belongings and £50 for a laptop, with the insurer covering the rest up to the policy limits.
A few habits make claims smoother. Report any theft to the police straight away, because the insurer requires a report for every theft claim. Lock up when you head out, since theft cover relies on you taking reasonable care. Keep a receipt or valuation for jewellery worth over £600. And know one detail in advance: phones are only covered for theft after a break-in with visible damage. Your certificate of insurance lists the exact limits.
And if anything is unclear, just ask us.
Frequently asked questions
Does the included insurance cover my laptop away from my accommodation?
We cover your laptop up to £1,500 at your Urban Student accommodation while you’re living there. Away from your accommodation, the included policy doesn’t protect it. If it travels with you to campus or a café most days, a separate personal-possessions policy is the usual answer. It’s quick to arrange.
Does the policy cover my bike?
No, the included policy doesn’t cover bikes. If you cycle, arranging your own standalone bike cover keeps you protected against theft all year round. Setting one up takes minutes. Everything else you own stays covered exactly as it was, under the included policy.
Are my belongings covered when I take them home for the holidays?
Belongings you lock inside your flat can stay covered for up to 60 days of the holidays. Laptops are the exception. Take yours home. Your things are also protected in transit on the journey there and back. For fuller cover while travelling, a personal-possessions policy does the job.
What is the excess if I make a claim?
The excess is the small first share of any claim that you pay yourself. Under the included Urban Student policy it’s £25 for belongings, and £50 when the claim is for a laptop. Everything above that, up to the policy limits, is the insurer’s to cover. That’s the whole cost to you.
Does a parent’s home insurance cover a student at university?
Sometimes, in a limited way. Some family home policies extend a little cover to a student living away. Only the policy documents can say for sure. With Urban Student it matters less, because every resident already has their own included contents insurance.
The bottom line
Here’s the short version. Move in with Urban Student and contents insurance is already part of the rent. Belongings covered to £5,000, your laptop to £1,500, with claims settled as new apart from clothing. We’ve also been straight about the gaps. Bikes, accidental damage, and cover away from home stay yours to arrange, if you ever need them. Home should feel lighter, and this is one of the ways we make sure it does.
Ready to see where you could live? Browse all our Bristol properties, or talk to the team about anything in this guide. Parents are welcome to call. We like talking to families.
Jonathan Brecknell runs Urban Student, an owner-managed, boutique student accommodation operator in Bristol. It has looked after students in the city for over twenty years. He and the on-site team manage 15 properties within walking distance of the University of Bristol. Residents get a genuine home with the boring stuff sorted: bills, laundry, housekeeping and contents insurance included. He writes about the details that make student life simpler.
Sources
- Confused.com, “The average student has almost £5,000 worth of possessions,” 2023. https://www.confused.com/press/releases/2023/student-possessions (retrieved 2026-08-27)
- Confused.com, student cost-of-living statistics (standalone cover ~£72/year; most-stolen items from UK students), 2024. https://www.confused.com/student/student-cost-of-living-statistics (retrieved 2026-08-27)
- GoCompare/YouGov, “70% of under-30s don’t have a contents insurance policy” (82% of 18-24s uninsured), 2023. https://press.gocompare.com/news/70-percent-of-under-30s-dont-have-a-contents-insurance-policy (retrieved 2026-08-27)