Guest house insurance
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Rated 4.7/5
Based on 39,771 reviews
Claims paid in 24 hours
For 80% of settled claims
Guest house insurance – why is it important?
Looking after guests and maintaining your property are just two of the specific risks you face as a guest house owner. If a claim came up, would you have the funds to handle it? By combining covers, you can protect your property against the specific challenges you face.
We provide insurance for both licensed and unlicensed guest houses. Just select the option that is relevant to you.
- peace of mind, letting you focus on your property, not the what-ifs
- UK-based claims team, award-winning and available 24/7
- trusted by over 315,000 landlords for flexible, tailored cover
What does guest house insurance cover?
Buildings and contents insurance are usually the first covers guest house owners include when creating a policy. This protects your property in case of damage or it’s destroyed due to an incident like escape of water or a storm. Then, you can add covers that protect against other risks.
Landlords contents insurance
In case disaster hits and your contents get damaged.
Landlord buildings insurance
In case disaster hits and your property gets damaged.
Landlord home emergency cover
In case the boiler fails, or there’s a plumbing or electrical emergency.
Landlord accidental damage insurance
In case your tenant or their guests accidentally damage your property.
Property owners' liability insurance
In case you’re legally responsible for injuries or property damage, as owner of the building.
Tenant default insurance
In case your tenants don’t keep up their rental payments.
Rental income protection insurance
In case damage to the property stops your tenants trading, and paying rent.
Employers’ liability insurance
In case anyone gets ill or injured while working for your guest house.
Landlord legal insurance
In case you’re hit with legal expenses as a landlord
Landlords contents insurance
In case disaster hits and your contents get damaged.
What's typically covered by landlord contents insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- damage to your contents caused by incidents such as fire, flood, or theft
- contents including household goods, furniture, and decorative items
For example :
- your tenant deliberately damages your kitchen
- flooding causes severe damage to the furniture you've just bought for the living room
Read more about landlord contents insurance
Landlord buildings insurance
In case disaster hits and your property gets damaged.
What’s typically covered by buildings insurance for landlords?
Claims against your business for:
- damage to your property that means it needs a partial or complete rebuild, up to £1 million
- unexpected damage, caused by fire, flood, storm, or theft
For example :
- an electrical fault causes a fire in your property, damaging the floorboards, support beams, and roof
- a violent storm with sustained high winds causes severe damage to your property
- your property begins sinking into the ground, resulting in visible cracks across walls, ceilings, and floors
Read more about buildings insurance for landlords
Landlord home emergency cover
In case the boiler fails, or there’s a plumbing or electrical emergency.
What's typically covered by landlord home emergency cover?
Claims against your property for:
- removal of vermin, such as rats or a wasp nest that’s preventing the use of a loft, or one or more rooms in your property
- room-only costs for one night’s accommodation, if the property remains uninhabitable after an insured event
- loss or theft of any external door keys
For example :
- your tenant finds a rat in the loft of your property, and there are signs that it’s been getting into one of the bedrooms
- a leak in the bathroom causes severe water damage to the downstairs rooms in your property – your tenants need to stay in a hotel for a night while it’s made fit to live in
- your tenant leaves their keys on a bus and you haven’t got another set, so you need to call a locksmith to access to the property
Read more about landlord home emergency cover
Landlord accidental damage insurance
In case your tenant or their guests accidentally damage your property.
What's typically covered by landlord insurance with accidental damage?
Claims against your business for:
- a one-off incident causing damage to something that needs to be repaired or replaced in your property
- the cost of repairing your building if it’s accidentally damaged by your tenants or a visitors
- unexpected physical damage to your property or contents, caused by your tenants or their visitors
For example :
- your tenant spills wine in the living room, and you need to buy a replacement carpet
- a shelf you installed falls down in your kitchen, causing damage to the wall and chipping one of the tiles on the floor
- your tenant knocks a light fitting when they’re moving their wardrobe into your property, breaking the lampshade
Read more about landlord insurance with accidental damage
Property owners' liability insurance
In case you’re legally responsible for injuries or property damage, as owner of the building.
What's typically covered by property owners’ liability insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- bodily injuries caused by your property, including fixtures, fittings, and contents
- third-party property damage, caused by your property
For example :
- your tenant slips on a loose piece of carpet, causing long-term back pain
- your ceiling lamp falls on your tenant's laptop, breaking it in the process
- a delivery person trips on a loose pavement slab at your property and breaks their ankle
Read more about property owners liability insurance
Tenant default insurance
In case your tenants don’t keep up their rental payments.
What's typically covered by tenant default insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- if you have to evict your tenants because they don't pay rent, you will be protected up to £50,000 across a twelve-month period of time
For example :
- you’ve set up a payment plan with your tenant, but don’t receive any rent for two months and decide to serve an eviction notice
- your tenants are late on their rent, have only paid part of last month’s agreed amount, and aren’t returning your calls – you serve an eviction notice
- a tenant runs their own business and has had a poor financial year, so you set up a payment plan – but after five missed payments you serve an eviction notice to claim the rent you’re owed
Read more about tenant default insurance
Rental income protection insurance
In case damage to the property stops your tenants trading, and paying rent.
What's typically covered by rental income protection insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- loss of rent if your property is uninhabitable due to an ‘insured event’ such as a fire, flood, or storm
- damage to your property means you can’t rent it out to new tenants
For example :
- severe fire damage to your property means your tenants have to move out and you need to recover the lost rental income
- a storm makes your property uninhabitable, so you lose out on rent while repairs are completed
- the downstairs of your property is flooded, so you have to delay new tenants moving in you and lose income as a result
Employers’ liability insurance
In case anyone gets ill or injured while working for your guest house.
What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- injuries to staff (including casual labourers and contractors) that are caused as a result of your business
- illness suffered by an employee (including temps and casual workers) caused by working for you
**Employers’ liability insurance is required by law if you have people working for you. Without it, you could be fined up to £2,500 a day for each employee.**
For example:
- your office manager breaks their finger while trying to close a faulty window at your business premises
- your receptionist trips over a cable running across the floor of your office, breaking their ankle
- a temp worker scratches their arm on one of your tools, and the injury becomes infected
Landlord legal insurance
In case you’re hit with legal expenses as a landlord
What’s typically covered by landlord legal insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- legal costs relating to your property or tenancy dispute
- trying to legally take possession of your property, let under an assured shorthold tenancy, short assured tenancy, or assured tenancy agreement
- negotiation of your legal rights following physical and substantial damage to your property (beyond acceptable wear and tear)
For example:
- it’s not possible to move back into your property after the tenants leave it with severe damage, and you need to pay for unexpected storage costs while the work is completed
- your tenants aren’t keeping up with their rental payments and are avoiding your calls, so you need to serve an eviction notice
- during a routine inspection you find that your tenants have damaged the fence at the boundary of the property, and it needs to be repaired
Read more about landlord legal insurance
How much does guest house insurance cost?
Find out how much you’ll pay by comparing prices from a range of trusted insurers. You choose what goes into your policy, so you only pay for what you need.
Prices start from £10.90 per month
Get your quotes in 7 minutes – prices are guaranteed for 30 days.
Get your tailored quotes in 7 minutes
*The price is for customers purchasing landlord buildings cover only policy - 10% of customers paid £130.80 or less annually between 1st Oct 2023 - 31st Mar 2024. Equivalent to £10.90/month (and excludes the extra costs for paying monthly). If you complete a quote more types of cover will be available, these all have additional costs.
What kind of excess should I expect?
An excess is an amount you pay towards any claim you make on your insurance. For example, if your excess is £250 and you make a claim worth £1000, your payout will be a maximum of £750.
Insurance cover | Lowest excess | Highest excess |
|---|---|---|
Main Building | £100 | £2,500 |
Fixtures & fittings | £100 | £2,500 |
Landlord contents | £100 | £2,500 |
Accidental damage | £100 | £500 |
Landlord liability | No excess | £500 |
The figures above are for guidance only and any excess applying to your quote may differ. You’ll get a breakdown of the excesses for each quote when you compare with us.
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How do insurance claims work for guest house?
Unlike price comparison websites, we take the hassle out of claims for you. We know how important it is to get your business back on track quickly – and with a minimum of fuss. That’s why you get access to your dedicated claims team any time, day or night. Call them on 0333 207 0560 or claim online. They’ll do their best to be fair and supportive.
£51 million in claims paid out in 2023
83% of claims were settled in 2023
The figure above is rounded across our range of products. "Settled" covers paid, declined or withdrawn. Our claims process may vary for different products and operates on a ‘claim by claim’ basis. Our specialist partner Sedgwick will pay the claims on behalf of the insurer. Reviewed on 24/04/2024.
Chosen by 900,000 small businesses and landlords
We started out as a team of 5 back in 2005. We’ve grown since then with 900,000 customers across 1,500 trades now trusting us to provide their insurance.
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Rated 4.7/5
Based on 39,771 reviews
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Guest house insurance FAQs
Whether you’re new to buying business insurance or you’ve been trading for a while, here are the answers to some commonly asked questions about insurance for off licences. You can also check out our business insurance FAQs.
You aren’t legally required to take out a specific landlord policy, but remember – a conventional home insurance policy won’t cover you for rental activities, and a mortgage lender will usually demand you have specific landlord cover in place, before you let your property.
Popular covers include property owners’ liability and contents insurance, for accidents on your property, plus buildings cover to protect the property itself.
As we’ve outlined above, there’s currently no legal obligation to take out a dedicated landlord insurance policy. However, a home insurance policy won’t cover you for the specific risks you and your tenants face, and a mortgage lender will usually require you to have buy-to-let insurance in place too, before renting out your property.
If you employ people, you’re required by law to have employers’ liability insurance.
If you’ve provided furniture and other contents for your tenants – maybe even a TV or art for the walls – your property is known as ‘furnished’, and protection is key for most landlords. You can buy contents insurance as part of your landlord insurance policy, just add it when completing your landlord insurance quote.
We provide cover for a range of property types, including:
- terraced and end terrace houses
- semi-detached houses
- detached houses
- bungalows
- maisonettes
- individual flats in purpose-built blocks or buildings
- individual flats in converted buildings or houses
- entire purpose-built buildings with multiple flats
- entire converted buildings or houses with multiple flats
You can choose the payment type that suits your business and cash flow best. Some customers prefer to pay in one go, while others prefer to pay a regular monthly amount, like you do with lots of other bills. Simply Business offer three ways to pay for your policy:
- one-off credit or debit card payment
- BACS payment
- Direct Debit
If you choose to pay by Direct Debit, our credit provider, Premium Credit, pays Simply Business the full amount for your policy up front. You then repay Premium Credit in 10 monthly installments.
We create this content for general information purposes and it should not be taken as advice. Always check policy documentation for details and seek professional advice. Read our full Terms and Conditions
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