15-04-2008
New emergency service could save landlords money
Most landlords would agree that there are times when renting out buy-to-let properties can get very expensive. It’s not just the void periods, property charges, agents fees and landlord insurance costs that pile on the financial pressure, but also those annoying emergency situations which cannot be planned for.
As a landlord myself I understand this better than anyone. In the last three months the gas hob in my buy-to-let flat broke, the boiler broke and the washing machine leaked and flooded the kitchen. If these incidents happened in my home I would probably take my time and shop around to find a tradesman offering his services for a fair price. I might even have fixed the problems over the course of a few months to spread the cost.
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But when renting out a property, your tenants are paying you to provide them with a home in fully working order, which means that you need to get problems like these sorted out quickly. And this usually means at extra cost, especially for emergency call-outs. For me, it means getting the managing agent to bring in a contractor at what I suspect is not the cheapest price, and which results in a considerable shortfall in my finances when I have to make the mortgage payment that month.
As a landlord you cannot rely on your tenant to look after your property as if it is their home. Therefore you can expect a higher level of wear and tear on your appliances and fittings, which will result in emergency situations happening more regularly than in your own home. My home boiler broke down last year, but that was the only problem I’ve had with it in almost 6 years of living in my house. The boiler in my rental property was brand new two years ago but it’s broken down already.
Get the new Emergency Assistance cover when you buy landlord insurance
Thus far there has been little that landlords can do about these situations. Dealing with them is just a part of the job and resulting costs should really be factored into finances as a contingency plan. But there is a type of insurance cover that may be the answer to some of the key emergencies which give landlords a headache.
Emergency Assistance Insurance is a low-cost add-on to a regular landlord insurance policy. Its purpose is to give buy-to-let owners peace of mind that in the event of an emergency situation which could render the property unsafe or insecure, cause damage to the property, cause unreasonable risk and/or discomfort to your tenant or cause unreasonable difficulties for you, the situation will be dealt with quickly and at no cost to you.
The cover will provide someone to fix the problem as long as the cost to do so is the same as the cost of performing a temporary fix. Otherwise the cover is mainly for situations where the problem simply needs to be made safe until a professional can be called out for a permanent fix.
Emergency situations covered by this insurance are those which arise as a result of: failure of the plumbing or drainage system; the failure or break-down of the electricity supply system; failure of or damage to the property’s security such as damage to windows and doors or the locks not working; the loss of keys to the property which cannot be replaced and which would prevent normal access; and failure or break down of the heating system.
While this type of insurance only covers the situations which would cause real problems for you, your tenants and your property, it is usually these which are the most costly. Holding Emergency Assistance cover will therefore give you some peace of mind once you have checked which situations are not be covered when looking over the policy documents. It can often be worse to think you are covered when you aren’t than to not be covered at all!