Landlord Insurance FAQs

If you are a landlord, then it is important to consider protecting yourself and the tenants in any properties that you rent out. Although there is no there is no legal requirement to have insurance, we have a number of policies available which have been specially designed for landlords as standard buildings and contents policies may not provide sufficient coverage.

The cover available with a Landlords’ insurance includes many similar types of protection usually provided by a home insurance policy, such as buildings and contents, to protect you in the event of a range of circumstances. The Landlords’ insurance also provides additional covers for the extra risks that arise when renting a property out to tenants.

Covers available as standard on a Landlords policy, which may not be available on your standard home insurance include:

• Loss of Rent: Insurers will pay for the “Loss of Rental Income” during the period of time the property remains unoccupied as a result of an insured peril such as, lightning strike, storm, flood or fire.
• Employers Liability: this will cover a landlord if they employ a person to carry out regular tasks such as maintenance, gardening, cleaning and caretaking duties.

The Insurance Octopus has specialists in four key Landlord Insurance types. These are:

• Buy to Let Landlord Insurance
• Property Portfolio Insurance
• Unoccupied Property Insurance
• Commercial Landlord Insurance

For more information about these specific insurance policies contact our specialists.

Unfortunately serious problems such as accidental damage or destruction can arise in properties which can make them uninhabitable. If this were to happen to your property, how would you handle the loss of income from no longer receiving rent?

Loss of Rent Insurance comes as standard with all of our policies; however, if your tenancy agreement stipulates that you must provide alternative accommodation for your tenants in the event that your property becomes unsuitable to live in, we may be able to extend this standard cover to include alternative accommodation. If your property becomes uninhabitable as the result of a specified and insured event such as flooding or a fire, then this cover can pay out as required.

Landlords who employ one or more people to look after their property, such as gardeners, janitors and cleaners should be aware that they may be liable should anyone be injured as a result of their work. You may want to consider taking out a comprehensive Employers Liability Insurance policy to cover any payouts that you may become liable should they have a serious accident or become injured as a result of their work.

Even if you make sure that your tenants undergo rigorous referencing checks, anything can happen to them – such as being made redundant or facing a serious injury or illness – which could affect their ability to pay their rent on time. Rent defaults can be a serious problem, which is why Rent Guarantee insurance may be an appealing option to ensure that you are covered should you find yourself with unpaid rental income.

Evicting a tenant is the worst-case scenario for any landlord, but unfortunately you may find yourself facing this prospect when renting out a property. Average evictions can take up to eight weeks, during which time you won’t be receiving any rent. Landlord Legal Expenses cover can help the process run swiftly and efficiently by providing financial support for legal expenses, as well as giving you expert legal advice at your disposal.

Domestic emergencies not only affect your premises, but the safety of your tenants. When you take out a Landlord Insurance policy with The Insurance Octopus, you can get exclusive access to Landlord Emergency Solutions.

This extended policy provides 24-hour protection against emergencies which expose your property or contents to damage, or compromised security, or cause a health and safety risk to your tenants. It allows both you or your tenants to report an emergency event — such as damage or complete failure of your property’s external locks and windows, or failure of the main heating system — and quickly arrange for professional help to come to your aid and get life back to normal as soon as possible.

If the soil beneath your building becomes unstable – with the movement unconnected to the weight of your building, or poor design and construction – and causes damage to your building, then Subsidence Cover would be triggered to meet the cost of repairing damage.

If your building is in a high risk area such as a city centre, or by an airport, then you may want to consider taking out Terrorism insurance to protect your assets should the worst happen as it will help towards the financial losses incurred in the event of a certified terrorist attack. While for many landlords Terrorism insurance will not be a key consideration, for some it may be something to consider and something that our team of specialists would be happy to discuss with you.

For more information about available additional policy covers, get in touch with our insurance specialists today.

It’s hard to say without knowing the facts – however you can speak to our team here to discuss your cover requirements. Call 0161 968 2041 or get a quote for landlord insurance online.