Landlord insurance
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Rated 4.7/5
Based on 39,403 reviews
Claims paid in 24 hours
For 80% of settled claims
Why do you need landlord insurance?
Renting out and maintaining a property can be a full-time job for UK landlords, especially under changing regulations and legal requirements. From buildings and contents cover to tenant default protection, landlord insurance gives you peace of mind, knowing your house is in order if things go wrong.
- protection from big claims for injuries and property damage
- financial support if your property is too damaged to rent out
- up to £50,000 rental indemnity if you have to evict your tenants and recover rent
What does landlords’ insurance cover?
Most landlord policies start with buildings and contents insurance, plus accidental damage cover for smashes or spills. Rent protection is a key concern, so many landlords choose to add tenant default insurance. And remember, if a tenant or visitor claims you’re responsible for an injury – or damage to their possessions – property owners’ liability insurance can cover an expensive payout.
Landlord building insurance
In case disaster hits and your property gets damaged.
Landlords contents insurance
In case disaster hits and your contents get damaged.
Accidental damage insurance
In case your tenant or their guests accidentally damage your property.
Tenant default insurance
In case your tenants don’t keep up their rental payments.
Property owners’ liability insurance
In case you’re legally responsible for injuries or property damage, as owner of the building.
Landlord home emergency cover
In case the boiler fails, or there’s a plumbing or electrical emergency.
Landlord legal expenses insurance
In case you’re faced with legal costs as the property’s landlord.
Commercial landlords’ contents insurance
In case your contents are vandalised, or damaged in an emergency, like a fire.
Commercial landlords’ improvements insurance
In case you make structural changes to your property.
Rental income protection insurance
In case damage to the property stops your tenants trading, and paying rent.
Landlord building insurance
In case disaster hits and your property gets damaged.
What’s typically covered by buildings insurance for landlords?
- damage to your property caused by incidents like fire, lightning, explosion, malicious damage and escape of water
For example:
- a frozen pipe thaws and bursts causing water to leak and damage the inside of your property
- a fire causes extensive damage to your property
What you’ll need additional cover for
- accidental damage to the property caused by your tenants – you’ll need to add our specific accidental damage cover for this
Read more about buildings insurance for landlords
Landlords contents insurance
In case disaster hits and your contents get damaged.
What's typically covered by landlords contents insurance?
- damage to your contents caused by incidents like fire, lightning, explosion, malicious damage and escape of water
- contents include things like your appliances, furniture and household goods
For example:
- your tenant (or their guests) cause deliberate damage to a sofa that belongs to you
- a burst pipe causes water to leak and damage your kitchen appliances
What you’ll need additional cover for
- accidental damage to the property caused by your tenants – you’ll need to add our specific accidental damage cover for this
Read more about landlords contents insurance
Accidental damage insurance
In case your tenant or their guests accidentally damage your property.
What's typically covered by accidental damage insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- unexpected physical damage to your property or contents, caused by your tenants or their visitors
For example:
- during a party, someone spills red wine on the sofa you’ve bought for the property
- your tenant’s child throws a toy, breaking a light fitting and damaging the TV you’ve installed
Read more about accidental damage insurance
Tenant default insurance
In case your tenants don’t keep up their rental payments.
What's typically covered by tenant default insurance?
- up to £50,000 rental indemnity across a 12 month rental payment period, if you have to evict your tenants for not paying rent
For example:
- your tenant falls behind in their rent and misses four months of payments. You’ve tried to negotiate part payment, but the tenant has stopped answering your calls, so you decide to serve notice
Read more about tenant default insurance
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?
- legal liability for injuries, accidental loss or damage, as the owner of the property
For example:
- your tenant trips on a loosely fitted carpet, falling down the stairs and breaking their arm and ankle
Read more about landlord liability insurance
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?
- emergency boiler repairs and replacements, up to £500
- plumbing, drainage and electrical emergencies
For example:
- a burst pipe floods your kitchen, making it inaccessible for your tenants
- the heating in your property fails, and your tenant is left without hot water
What you’ll need additional cover for
- annual boiler servicing – you’ll need specific boiler cover for this
Read more about landlord home emergency cover
Landlord legal expenses insurance
In case you’re faced with legal costs as the property’s landlord.
What's typically covered by landlord legal expenses insurance?
- repossession – covering your legal costs when trying to regain possession of the property, and appointing a solicitor for you
- property damage – covering your legal costs if over £1,000 of damage is made to your property, and appointing a solicitor for you
- tenant eviction – covering the legal costs of evicting your tenants (if you choose to add our specific tenant default insurance, this can pick up the rental payments they owe you)
- rent recovery – covering your legal costs when recovering rent you’re owed, if it’s late by one calendar month
- tax protection and contractual disputes – representing and negotiating for you, if a full enquiry is made into your personal tax affairs, or during a contractual dispute over goods and services
For example:
- following late payments and damage, you need to repossess your property. They’re refusing to leave, so you seek legal advice
- you’ve inspected your property and found considerable damage – doors have been removed or damaged and kitchen units broken beyond repair. You’d like your tenant to leave the property and pay for the damage, but they argue they’d reported the damage and still have six months left on their contract
Read more about landlord legal expenses insurance
Commercial landlords’ contents insurance
In case your contents are vandalised, or damaged in an emergency, like a fire.
What's typically covered by commercial landlords’ contents insurance?
- damage to your contents caused by incidents like fire, lightning, explosion, escape of water or malicious damage
- contents include things like the appliances, furniture and equipment you’ve supplied to your tenant
For example:
- a burst pipe in the kitchen at your property causes damage to some furniture and appliances you’ve provided
- a fire in your customer’s shop destroys the appliances and furniture you’ve supplied
What you’ll need additional cover for
- accidental damage to the property caused by your tenants – you’ll need to add our specific accidental damage cover for this
Read more about landlords contents insurance
Commercial landlords’ improvements insurance
In case you make structural changes to your property.
What's typically covered by commercial landlords’ improvements insurance?
- changes to the structure of your property, like partition walls or wooden flooring (things you’d leave behind if you sold the property)
For example:
- a flood damages wooden flooring you’ve just installed, and you need to repair or replace it
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?
- damage to the property which prevents your tenants from trading, and being able to pay the rent
For example:
- a fire damages the kitchen on your commercial property, closing your tenant’s business and stopping them from paying rent
What you’ll need additional cover for
- your tenants defaulting on the rent for any other reason – you’ll need to add our specific tenant default cover for this
Read more about rental income protection
This content has been created for general information purposes. Make sure you have the right level of landlord insurance by checking your policy documentation for details. Read our full Terms and Conditions
What property types are covered with landlords’ insurance?
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
How much does landlord 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 £16.34 per month
Get your quotes in 7 minutes – prices are guaranteed for 30 days.
Get your tailored quotes in 7 minutes
How we work out example prices We take the highest price from the bottom 10 per cent of all our customers paying in monthly instalments (Based on data from 1 Sep 2021 - 31st Feb 2022). Most customers pay more than this but some pay less.
Example landlord quotes, real prices
£20.32 /month
£180.60 /year
A landlord renting to three professional people
- Residential
- Terraced / End terrace house
- 3 bedrooms
- 1 bathroom
- Built Between 1945 and 1979
- Over 5 years
- Occupied
- Based in Liverpool
Landlord buildings
£125,001 to £150,000
Landlords' contents
£5,001 to £7,500
Property owners' liability
£2,000,000
£63.25 /month
£562.23 /year
A landlord who owns the whole building, made up of self-contained flats, each with their own single tenancy agreement
- Residential
- Entire building with multiple flats converted building or house
- Built between 1945 and 1979
- Over 5 years
- Occupied
- Based in Cardiff
Landlord buildings
£750,001 to £1,000,000
Landlords' contents
£30,001 to £50,000
Accidental Damage
Included
Property owners' liability
£5000000
How we work out example quotes These examples are real quotes from our online system (created 24/02/2021). They’re based on a range of factors, like employees and location. Your own quote will be based on what you tell us about your property. Prices may go up or down from day to day, so the prices you’re quoted may differ to the ones you see here.
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 | £2500 |
Fixtures & fittings | £100 | £2500 |
Contents | £100 | £2500 |
Accidental damage | £100 | £500 |
Landlord liability | £0 | £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 I choose insurance?
Making sure you have the right type and level of landlord insurance can be the difference between getting a claim paid and having to cover the cost of an expensive accident yourself. Read our tips for guidance on what to consider when buying a policy.
What if my property is unoccupied?
What if my tenant's situation changes?
Are carpets and curtains covered?
Will tenant default insurance cover me if my property becomes unoccupied?
What if I'm subletting my property?
Do I need any other additional landlord covers?
What if my property is unoccupied?
If you've bought insurance for an unoccupied property, you'll be asked to confirm if the property is expected to be occupied within 60 days of the policy starting.
After this, you must contact us to confirm when the property becomes occupied – if you don't tell us, this can cause a delay in any claims being processed.
You should also be aware that you can't claim for lost rent under the loss of rent section of your insurance if your property becomes unoccupied.
What if my tenant's situation changes?
If your tenant's employment status changes – or if a new tenant moves in and their employment status is different to the previous tenant – you'll need to tell us immediately. If you don't, it could cause a delay in any claims being processed.
Are carpets and curtains covered?
The definition of 'fixtures and fittings' will depend on the insurer – sometimes, it will include laminate flooring, carpets, curtains and blinds.
It's a good idea to check the wording in your policy to understand what's covered.
Read more about contents insurance for landlords and buildings insurance.
Will tenant default insurance cover me if my property becomes unoccupied?
If your property becomes unoccupied, you won't be able to make a claim for lost rent under tenant default cover.
This also applies if your tenant falls into arrears and can't pay their rent, but you're not planning to evict them. You can only claim for lost rent under tenant default cover if you start repossession proceedings.
Read more about tenant default insurance and rent guarantee insurance.
What if I'm subletting my property?
It's vital that any tenancy agreement that you have is between you and the occupant of the property.
If the occupant of your property has a tenancy agreement with a third party (such as a letting agency or a local authority) and not you as the property owner, then your insurance policy could be cancelled and you won't be able to make any claims.
Do I need any other additional landlord covers?
You can add a range of other important covers to your landlord insurance policy, all while keeping it simple with a single premium and a single renewal date. You might consider these covers:
Talk to an expert
Our team of UK-based insurance experts are here to help, Mon 09.00am - 05.30pm, Tues 09.00am - 05.30pm, Weds 09.00am - 05.30pm, Thurs 09.30am - 05.30pm, Fri 09.00am - 05.30pm, Sat 09.00am - 02.00pm
Call our team
How do claims work?
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 any time, day or night. Call them on 0333 207 0560 or claim online. They’ll do their best to be fair and supportive. The figure below is rounded across our range of products. Our claims process may vary for different products and operates on a ‘claim by claim’ basis.
£28 million in claims paid out in 2021
Paying 80% of settled claims within 24 hours in 2021
Example claim
Having buy-to-let insurance through Simply Business has saved landlords thousands of pounds when the unexpected happened.
Stuart saved more than £120,000
A fire in Stuart’s (not his real name) rear garden shed causes extensive smoke and property damage, and his tenant is rushed to hospital. Fire is covered by Stuart’s landlord insurance policy.
Insurance payout
£120,243.84
Covering the cost of fire damage and injuries
Stuart’s costs
£100
The excess amount stated in Stuart’s policy terms
Chosen by 800,000 small businesses and landlords
We started out as a team of five back in 2005. We’ve grown since then with 315,000 landlord customers now trusting us to provide their insurance.
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Rated 4.7/5
Based on 39,403 reviews
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Landlord insurance FAQs
Whether you’re new to buying landlord insurance or you’ve been letting your property for a while, here are the answers to some commonly asked questions about landlords’ insurance. You can also check out our landlord insurance FAQs.
This will depend on your specific circumstances, the type of property you’re renting out, your tenants and various other factors. Right now, our landlord policy prices start from £16.34 per month.
To work this out, we take the highest price from the bottom 10 per cent of all our customers paying in monthly instalments (based on data from 1 1 January - 31 August 2021). Most customers pay more than this but some pay less.
Home insurance is required when you want to insure the home you’re living in against accidental loss or damage.
Landlord insurance is different – it’s required when you own a property that you rent out to a third party, and don’t live in yourself. It covers different insurance risks from a home policy, taking into account the type of tenant you rent to and how long you’ve owned the property. It also allows you to insure the property and protect yourself against things like loss of rental income, and malicious damage caused by your tenants.
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’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.
Rent guarantee and tenant default cover are often misunderstood as being the same thing. Both of these covers are designed to protect a landlord’s income if their tenant stops paying rent – however, there are key differences which you should be aware of before adding either protection to your landlord insurance policy.
Tenant default cover is designed to pay you the rent you’re owed, if you decide to evict tenants who are behind on the rent. Among other things, you’ll need to serve a Section 21 or Section 8 notice, or both, to claim on this type of cover.
Rent guarantee insurance is a different form of protection. It can include cover for properties left unoccupied for a period of time between tenants, as well as instances where the property is uninhabitable due to renovation work, malicious damage or disasters like fire and flooding. It’s often an option you can discuss with a letting agent, who specialises in managing the property for you.
Simply Business provides tenant default cover as an option for your landlords’ insurance policy, but we don’t currently include rent guarantee in our quotes.
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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