Guest house insurance

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