How can landlord insurance protect your property?

As the challenges facing UK landlords look set to continue, you’ll want to make sure you’re doing everything within your power to keep your property investments profitable. So, we’d like to help you avoid any costly mistakes when choosing what you need on your landord insurance policy. Keep on reading for a quick explanation of some of the optional features available when you purchase your landlord insurance, so you can figure out what you need, and what you don’t. If you’d like more help, just give us a call.

What is landlord insurance?

Landlord insurance is similar to home insurance, but it’s specifically designed to cover rental properties. If you’re planning on renting out a property, it’s important to understand the options available to you.

Standard home insurance policies aren’t designed to cover homes being rented, so a specialist landlord insurance policy can help ensure proper cover and protection in the event of a claim. If you have a mortgage on your property or you’re planning on using a mortgage to buy a rental property, many lenders will require you to have valid landlord insurance as a mandatory condition of the loan.

Why landlord insurance is important

Landlord insurance can help protect you from paying a hefty price to rectify any of the unique problems that sometimes arise at rental properties. Some risks are similar for all property owners (e.g. fire, flood and malicious damage), but there are different risks for rental properties. For example, tenants could damage furnishings, regularly handed-down keys could threaten home security, and tenants may default on rent payments. Fortunately, landlord insurance can be tailored to cover a wide range of risks.

So, what can landlord insurance cover?

Some insurance providers will offer extensive protection as part of a standard policy, while others will require you to “add on” extra elements to the main policy. Regardless, it’s worth considering some of the following types of landlord insurance cover:

• Landlord home emergency cover – This provides help from a qualified contractor if you have a sudden emergency at your rental property. This includes various emergencies from broken boilers to vermin infestation.
• Rent guarantee cover – If a tenant stops paying rent, the eviction process can sometimes take over six months. Rent guarantee cover is designed to protect some or all of your rental income during this time and support you with your legal fees.
• Property owner’s liability insurance -This cover protects landlords against compensation claims when the property causes injury or damage to tenants or visitors.
• Cover for tenant default/loss of rent – This protects landlords if a tenant falls into arrears and – in some cases – during any void periods when the property is empty.
• Landlord contents insurance – This provides cover for the damage or theft of any fixtures, fittings or furnishings a landlord provides with the property. This may include carpets, white goods and furniture. Because items provided by tenants aren’t covered, this type of insurance may be of greater value in furnished lets.
• Accidental damage insurance – This provides cover should a tenant accidentally damage the property, leaving the landlord with out-of-pocket expenses.
• Buy-to-let buildings cover – This covers damage to the property resulting from fire, lightning, water, explosion or malicious damage.
• Landlord’s legal protection – This may cover the costs of repossession and eviction proceedings should a tenant need to be evicted. Additionally, it offers protection against claims of negligence or injury.
• Employers liability insurance – This offers protection from claims that result from employee accidents on the property. It’s a legal requirement for landlords to have employer’s liability insurance if anybody is paid to assist them in managing the property.

What affects the cost of your landlord insurance?

The amount you’ll pay for landlord insurance depends on a range of factors, including your claim history and the level of excess you choose. Additionally, other factors may influence your premium, including:

• Number of tenants
• Type of tenants (e.g. employed, student, house shares)
• Type of occupancy (e.g. residential, commercial or mixed-use)
• Property rebuild cost
• Property age and location
• Add-on cover (e.g. rental protection or home emergency cover)

It’s important to remember that adding additional coverage may increase the price of your insurance premium, but if you have an expensive incident at your property, that you’re not covered for, this could be very damaging to the profitability of your investment.

How do you get landlord insurance if you have more than one property?

Landlord insurance is usually taken out on a property-by-property basis. However, portfolio policies may be available to landlords who own two or more rental properties and want to insure them all concurrently. Therefore, if you have multiple rentals, you might benefit from investigating portfolio policies before deciding which insurance cover is best.
Regardless, before taking out any policy, make sure it provides the right level of protection for your specific needs. It’s not always the best idea to go with the cheapest quote you find. Instead, pay close attention to the small print. In particular, scrutinise excess fees, administration fees and the total value of insured assets.

Find out more

When renting out a property, a valid landlord insurance policy is often a condition of your mortgage offer. Nevertheless, taking out landlord insurance can be a wise move to help ensure the safety of your property and offer vital protection for your assets and earnings.

If you’d like more help finding out which landlord insurance policy you need, our team of specialist brokers would be happy to help. Just give us a call.