Looking for Landlord Insurance?
If you’re thinking of renting out your property, or already have tenants in place, taking out some landlord insurance cover can offer you protection should something go wrong.
When it comes to purchasing insurance cover for a property you intend to rent, you’ll need to think about more than just regular home insurance. Having a specialist level of protection will ensure that you’ve not only got peace of mind, but that you’ll feel less of a financial impact due to unforeseen circumstances. Although there isn’t one blanket landlord insurance policy available, most tend to combine a number of options in order to get the right level of cover and one single monthly premium payment:
Protecting your bricks and mortar
Buildings insurance helps to protect your actual property in case of fire, flood or damage that requires repair – even if a complete rebuild is needed. This type of cover can also help to ease the cost of replacing bathroom suites, built-in kitchen units and in some cases, garages and sheds too. When taking out this policy, do make sure you check any exclusions to double check separate outbuildings are covered too.
Unoccupied property cover can help ease pressure
It can be worrying if your existing tenants are coming to the end of their agreement and you’re struggling to fill your property with new ones. If you use the rent to cover the mortgage then you may be feeling the pressure and end up settling for tenants that could cause damage or not treat your much-loved property with the respect you want. This kind of landlord insurance covers you in-between tenants and protects your property against things like flood, fire and damage which could be handy if things like leaky pipes go unnoticed between agreements, or you want to refurbish or renovate the property before new tenants.
Landlord insurance can include public liability insurance
Public liability insurance is one of the most common types of insurance and is taken out across plenty of different businesses, sole traders and contractors too. Potentially beneficial to include in your landlord insurance policy, this will help to cover you financially should your tenants, or any member of the public suffer an injury or damage to their possessions as a result of your property. This could be things like:
Looking after your possessions in the property
If you let your property as furnished, then you may want to consider landlord contents insurance which can help to cover the cost of theft or damage as a result of your tenants. It can also help to cover you for broken belongings such as a fridge or washing machine breaking down, so you can replace like for like quickly without causing too much disruption to your tenants’ lives.
Landlord Insurance – Useful FAQs
Some insurers may offer you additional emergency cover which can help with the cost of repairs needed immediately. This can be things like a break-in, pest infestation or gas leak and ensures that a fully-qualified tradesmen is sent to the property. It’s not always offered as standard so you’ll need to double check.
If your tenant fails to pay their rent then you could end up seriously out of pocket. Taking out loss of rent cover can help to ease this loss and ensure that you can still cover the mortgage and receive an income.
Certainly, it’s up to you how much or little cover you want to take out and most insurers will allow you to bundle multiple policies together so you only have one monthly premium to worry about.
Yes.
Insurers will often look at your property and gauge the risk of you making a claim. If your property is in good condition and you haven’t made a claim previously then you may face lower monthly payments.