Rent guarantee insurance
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Rated 4.7/5
Based on 39,375 reviews
Claims paid in 24 hours
For 80% of settled claims
Why is rent protection insurance important?
Rent guarantee insurance, which we talk about as tenant default cover, is a type of rent insurance for landlords. If your tenants ‘default’ on their rent and miss a few payments, this protection can cover you for up to £50,000 in owed rent. Sounds handy? You can easily add it to your regular landlord policy.
- landlord rent protection insurance for up to £50,000 rental arrears
- 12 months of rent covered and all tenant types considered
- cover while you make repair works following malicious damage
What does landlord rent guarantee insurance cover?
Rent guarantee insurance – which we provide as tenant default insurance – is a layer of rent protection insurance for landlords. It can cover the income you make from your rental, if your tenants fall behind in their payments. For example, if your tenant was let go from work and couldn’t keep up with their rent, you might end up needing to evict them and claim it back.
£50,000 of missed rent
12 months of rent
Cover during repairs
Legal advice helpline
No excess
We’ll consider all tenant types
£50,000 of missed rent
What does this include?
- up to £50,000 in rental arrears, with no limit on your monthly rental amounts
- tenant still in the property? We can pay your claim while they’re there, if necessary
It doesn’t matter what monthly rental amount you’ve agreed with your tenant. If they miss it, it could be covered, up to a total value of £50,000 across your policy’s term.
When would I need this?
- your tenant has been let go from work and defaults on (fails to pay) their rent. You contact your insurer and try to set up a payment plan before going ahead with an eviction (your insurer helps you out with this).
- however, your tenant misses another two payments so you serve an eviction notice. Your tenant default insurance steps in to cover the £17,500 you’re owed in rent.
12 months of rent
What’s covered?
- up to £50,000 in rental arrears, across a 12 month period
When would I need to make a claim?
- your tenants fall behind on their rent and haven’t paid for four months. You contacted your insurer from the first missed payment and tried to negotiate with your tenant, but they’ve stopped answering your calls and emails
- you decide to serve an eviction notice, and contact your insurer to claim back the four months of rental money you’re owed, as part of your rent guarantee insurance/tenant default cover
Cover during repairs
What’s typically covered?
- 50% of your monthly rental amount for three months, if your tenant causes intentional damage and the property is assessed as being uninhabitable
- soiled carpets, walls, and fittings
- severe damp and access issues, following malicious damage
When would I need to make a claim?
- you start an eviction process due to missed rental payments, which results in ongoing conflict with your tenants. They allow their dog to soil the property’s carpets and walls, causing severe damage to the front door and windows
- you’ll need a couple of months to sort the property out for re-letting, and claim for 50% of two months of rent, while this is going on
Legal advice helpline
What does this include?
- access to a panel of solicitors, ready to offer legal advice on a range of services, including contractual disputes
When would I need this?
- your tenant has been made redundant and decides to let you know. They haven’t missed a rental payment yet, but you want to get prepared with some precautionary advice
No excess
How does this work?
There’s no excess on our tenant default insurance – we don’t ask you to cover any part of the rental arrears before we step in. There’s also no need to wait for a certain number of missed payments before contacting us, you can claim from the first time it happens.
We’ll consider all tenant types
How does this work?
This type of rent guarantee depends on your tenants and their ability to keep up with their rent. When making a decision on your claim, we’ll consider all tenants who pass specific credit checks, but others may be excluded.
Who might not be covered?
Typically, students, unemployed tenants or those on state benefits are more likely to fail a credit check, as they’re more at risk of defaulting on their rent.
We’ll work on a case-by-case basis though, and some higher-risk tenants who’ve paid rent upfront or who have good references from a previous landlord may be covered.
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
How much does UK rent 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 £6.56 per month
Get your quotes in 7 minutes – prices are guaranteed for 30 days.
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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 January - 31 August 2021). Most customers pay more than this but some pay less.
Example rent guarantee insurance quotes, real prices
£36.83 /month
£327.38 /year
Renting a whole house to a single family
- Residential
- Semi-detached house
- 4 bedrooms
- 2 bathrooms
- Built between 1921 and 1944
- Less than 1 year
- Occupied
- Based in Birmingham
Landlord buildings
£100,001 to £125,000
Property owners' liability
£2,000,000
Tenant default
Included
£82.25 /month
£731.12 /year
House of Multiple Occupancy licence, let under an assured tenancy agreement
- Residential
- Detached house
- 5 bedrooms
- 4 bathrooms
- Built between 1945 and 1979
- Over 5 years
- Occupied
- Based in Glasgow
Landlord buildings
£400,001 to £450,000
Property owners' liability
£2,000,000
Tenant default
Included
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.
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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 landlord rent guarantee insurance through Simply Business has saved property owners thousands of pounds when the unexpected happened. With us, it’s provided as tenant default cover.
Maurice saved more than £12,700
Maurice (not his real name) served an eviction notice to his tenants, after two months of missed payments and a breakdown in communication. His landlord insurance with rent guarantee – provided as tenant default cover – covered the lost income.
Insurance payout
£12,750
Covering the cost of tenant default
Maurice’s costs
£100
The excess amount stated in Maurice’s policy terms
Chosen by 800,000 small businesses and landlords
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Based on 39,375 reviews
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Landlord rent insurance FAQ
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 landlord rent protection insurance, and rent guarantee. 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 tenant default prices start from £6.56 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 July to 31 December 2019). Most customers pay more than this but some pay less.
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.
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:
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.
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 (which we call tenant default insurance), and malicious damage caused by your tenants.
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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