As per the title, it's about time I started thinking about getting some cover - having long run the gamble of not having any...

The thing is, despite all of our best efforts, we have so far been unable to get our landlord to make our house (what I've always believed) insurance compliant (ie. proper meaty locks on the door / window locks etc) but the guy in upstairs flat has cover for all his stuff through a work (Hiscox) scheme that doesn't impose such caveats... and I was wondering if there is anything similar on the open market for folks like me.

I'm not looking to insure a massive value; but I would like a "replace new for old" deal over a "like for like" deal - thinking my computer, my laptop, my assorted bits of hifi & AV, my CD & DVD collection and my clothes mostly... any suggestions?

Don't landlords have a legal duty to make the house secure?

They might - but that doesn't mean they do.

I went with LloydsTSB for my insurance. I got a quote from Confused.com and then gave them a call (I found it confusing looking at all the options online and didnt even know what some of them meant). They said deadlocks and window locks are only required in a high crime area for the purposes of insurance and they dont have a scheme where you have to nominate every bloody item of expense, they simply give a value of say £3000 and and single item is insured upto that value. Because I have a bike, camera, PC, laptop, etc it made it easier than declaring single items.