Home Insurance in Kenya: Buildings, Contents and the House Help Gap

Home insurance in Kenya is bought casually, usually because a lender required it, and almost never read. Two consequences follow: people are insured for the wrong amount, and people are missing a cover they did not know applied to them at all.

Two different things, often confused

Buildings cover insures the structure — walls, roof, fixed fittings, sometimes boundary walls and gates. It is the owner's cover.

Contents cover insures what is inside — furniture, electronics, appliances, clothing, personal effects. It belongs to whoever owns those things.

The practical split:

If you own and live in the house: you need both.
If you rent: you need contents. The landlord's policy covers the building, not your television, and a great many Kenyan tenants have no cover at all on possessions that would take years to replace.
If you let a property out: you need buildings cover, and should look at loss of rent — which pays while the property is uninhabitable after an insured event. That is the cover landlords most often skip and most often need. If the property is producing income, see also rental income tax in Kenya.

Insure the rebuild cost, not the market value

This is the single most useful idea here, and the most commonly got wrong.

The sum insured on buildings should be what it would cost to rebuild the structure — not what the property would sell for.

The two are different because market value includes the land, and land does not burn. A property worth KSh 12 million in a good neighbourhood might cost considerably less than that to rebuild, because a large part of the price is location.

The error runs both ways and both are expensive:

Insure at market value and you pay premiums on a figure you can never claim.
Insure below rebuild cost and you are under-insured — and where the policy applies average, partial claims can be reduced proportionately too. Under-insurance does not only bite on a total loss; it quietly shrinks every claim.

Rebuild costs rise with construction prices, so revisit the figure at renewal rather than carrying forward a number set years ago.

For contents, the same logic in a different form: insure what it would cost to replace the items today, not what you originally paid.

What is typically covered, and what is not

Usually covered: fire, lightning, explosion, storm and flood damage, impact, burst pipes and water damage, and — under contents — theft following forcible entry.

Watch these specifically:

Burglary generally requires forcible entry. A theft with no sign of a break-in, or by someone who had access, often falls outside it.
Political violence and terrorism is commonly excluded from base cover and sold as an extension. In a market where demonstrations can cause property damage, read this one deliberately rather than assuming.
Unoccupancy. Most policies restrict cover if the property is left empty beyond a stated period. If you travel for long stretches or own a rural home you visit occasionally, check the wording — this catches people.
Wear, tear and gradual deterioration. Insurance covers sudden events, not maintenance.
High-value items. Jewellery, laptops and cameras usually have per-item limits, and often must be specified individually to be fully covered. A general contents sum insured will not pay out the full value of one expensive item.
Items taken outside the home need all-risks cover; standard contents cover generally stops at the front door.

The gap most households have never considered

If you employ a house help, a nanny, a gardener, a watchman or a driver, you are an employer.

Under the Work Injury Benefits Act, 2007, every employer must obtain and maintain insurance covering their liability to employees for injuries arising out of and in the course of employment. The obligation does not depend on running a business — it attaches to employing someone under a contract of service.

Most Kenyan households have never thought about this. But the exposure is real and ordinary: a fall from a ladder, a burn, a cut, a road accident on an errand. Without cover, a claim is against you personally.

Confirm your position with your insurer or an advocate — domestic employment arrangements vary and this is worth getting right rather than assumed. Many insurers can add domestic employer cover to a home policy, which is the simplest route if it applies to you. The wider obligation is set out in insuring a small business in Kenya.

While you are on it, domestic liability cover — for injury to visitors or damage you cause to a neighbour's property — is worth asking about at the same time.

Buying it sensibly

Confirm the insurer is licensed by the Insurance Regulatory Authority, and pay the company or a licensed intermediary, never an individual's account.
Disclose properly — how the property is built, whether it is let, whether it stands empty for periods, whether there is a business run from it. A business run from home is very often excluded from a household policy, so if your trading stock is in the house, say so.
Read the excesses, which differ by section.
Check the security requirements. Some policies condition burglary cover on specified locks, grilles or an alarm being set. A condition you did not know about is a declined claim waiting to happen.
If there is a mortgage, cover is usually a condition and the lender will be noted on the policy — see home loans in Kenya.
Know what happens if the insurer fails. The Policyholders Compensation Fund compensates claimants of an insurer placed under statutory management — and its compensation windows can lapse, so act rather than wait.

The inventory that makes a claim work

After a fire or a burglary, you will be asked to prove what you had. Almost nobody can.

Spend an hour on this once:

Walk through the house filming or photographing everything, opening cupboards and drawers as you go.
Record serial numbers for electronics and appliances.
Keep receipts for significant items — and photograph them, because thermal paper fades to blank within a couple of years.
Note the make, model and approximate purchase date of anything valuable.
Store all of it outside the house — email it to yourself or put it in cloud storage. An inventory that burns with the contents proves nothing.

Update it after any significant purchase. This is the difference between a settled claim and an argument you cannot win, and the same discipline described in how to claim on an insurance policy in Kenya.

If you are a tenant

Worth stating plainly, because the assumption is so common: your landlord's insurance does not cover your belongings. If the building burns, the landlord is made whole and you are not.

Contents cover for a tenant is usually modest, and it is the difference between an inconvenience and replacing everything you own at once out of savings — which is precisely the shock an emergency fund is not large enough to absorb.

Check also whether your policy covers alternative accommodation if the property becomes uninhabitable, and whether the landlord's obligations to you are set out in your tenancy agreement.

If you live in an apartment or a gated development

Flats and gated schemes add a layer that standalone-house advice misses, and the confusion costs people claims.

Someone else usually insures the structure. The management company or owners' association typically holds a block policy covering the building and common areas, funded through your service charge. That does not cover what is inside your unit.

Three things to establish rather than assume:

What the block policy actually covers, and where its responsibility stops — usually at the structure and common parts. Ask for a copy or a summary; you are paying for it.
Where your cover must begin. Internal fittings and finishes are a common grey area: fitted kitchens, built-in wardrobes, tiling and flooring may fall to you rather than to the block policy, depending on how the scheme is set up.
Whether the block policy is actually in force. A lapsed block policy is a real risk in a poorly run scheme, and you will discover it after a fire rather than before. If you own the unit, this is a reasonable question to raise at a general meeting.

Water damage from a neighbour is the most common flat claim of all — a burst pipe or an overflowing bathroom upstairs. Your contents cover should respond to damage to your things; the structure is the block policy's problem; and whether anyone recovers from the neighbour is a separate argument. Do not let that argument delay notifying your own insurer.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between buildings and contents insurance? Buildings covers the structure and is the owner's responsibility. Contents covers what is inside and belongs to whoever owns those items — which for a tenant means you.

How much should I insure my house for? The cost to rebuild the structure, not the market value. Market value includes land, which cannot be destroyed, so insuring at market value means paying for cover you can never claim.

Does my landlord's insurance cover my things? No. It covers the building. Your possessions need your own contents cover.

Do I need insurance for my house help? If you employ someone under a contract of service you are an employer, and the Work Injury Benefits Act requires employers to insure that liability. Confirm your specific position with your insurer or an advocate.

Is theft always covered? Usually only where there is forcible entry. Theft without a break-in, or by someone with access, commonly falls outside burglary cover.

What if I leave the house empty for a long period? Most policies restrict cover after a stated period of unoccupancy. Check the wording before extended travel.

Are my laptop and jewellery covered? Often only up to a per-item limit, and frequently only if specified individually. Items taken outside the home usually need all-risks cover.

Reviewed 29 August 2026. The employer insurance obligation derives from the Work Injury Benefits Act, 2007; confirm how it applies to your household arrangement with your insurer or an advocate. Premiums, excesses, security conditions and unoccupancy periods vary by insurer — read your wording and confirm the insurer is licensed with the Insurance Regulatory Authority. General information, not insurance advice.