Landlord insurance

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 £100,000 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

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:

• Commercial landlord insurance
• Buy to let insurance
• Building insurance
• Unoccupied property insurance
• Multi property landlord insurance
• Residential landlord insurance
• Alternative accommodation
• Rent guarantee insurance