Residential landlord insurance
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Rated 4.7/5
Based on 39,717 reviews
Claims paid in 24 hours
For 80% of settled claims
Why is residential landlords insurance important?
Managing tenants and sorting out maintenance – it’s a full-time job for thousands of UK property owners, especially under changing regulations and legal guidelines. From accidental damage cover to property owners’ liability protection, landlord insurance provides peace of mind for you and your tenants, knowing your house is in order if things go wrong.
- residential property owners’ insurance, covering buildings, contents, and more
- up to £50,000 rental indemnity if you have to evict your tenants and recover rent
- financial support if your property is too damaged to rent out
What does residential landlord insurance cover?
Residential landlord insurance policies usually start with property owners’ liability cover, plus protection for your contents and the building itself. Rent protection is also a priority, so lots of landlords add tenant default insurance, in case their tenants start missing payments. And remember, employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement in almost all cases, if you’ve employed someone to work for you.
What property types does residential property owners insurance cover?
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
Buildings 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 responsible for injuries or damage, as the property’s owner.
Landlord home emergency cover
In case the boiler fails, or there’s a plumbing or electrical emergency.
Legal expenses insurance
In case you face legal costs, as the property’s landlord.
Buildings insurance
In case disaster hits and your property gets damaged.
What's typically covered by buildings insurance?
- damage to your property caused by incidents like fire, lightning, and explosion
- ariel and malicious damage
- escape of water damage
For example:
- a bad storm damages your property’s roof
- your property’s walls are damaged by water escaping from a burst pipe
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
- emergencies like repairing a burst pipe or a boiler breakdown – home emergency cover is designed to take care of these
You can include these optional covers in the same policy, just start a quote and tell us more about your rental property.
Landlords’ contents insurance
In case disaster hits and your contents get damaged.
What's typically covered by landlords’ contents insurance?
- damage to your property caused by incidents like fire, lightning, and explosion
- ariel and malicious damage, and theft
- escape of water damage
Contents include things like your appliances, furniture, and household goods.
For example:
- the TV and kitchen appliances you’ve provided for your tenants are stolen during a break-in
- a burst pipe in the bathroom causes damage to your contents
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
You can include this optional cover in the same policy, just start a quote and tell us more about your rental property.
Accidental damage insurance
In case your tenant or their guests accidentally damage your property.
What's typically covered by accidental damage insurance?
- unexpected physical damage to your property or buildings, contents, fixtures and fittings, caused by your tenants or their visitors
Make sure you add the right cover – as well as accidental damage protection, you’ll need to include specific buildings, contents, fixtures and fittings cover when deciding on what you want to insure, depending on the items you want to protect. Start a quote now and put it all together.
For example:
- your tenant drops a heavy object, damaging the flooring
- a lamp you’ve provided for your tenants gets broken while they’re moving in
What you'll need additional cover for:
- malicious damage caused by tenants, and trace/access – these aren’t automatically included by every insurer, so check your quote carefully
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 loses their job and falls behind with their rent. You end up serving notice and need to recover the lost payments.
What you'll need additional cover for:
- legal advice – our legal expenses cover can help with the legal costs you incur due to tenant default
Property owners’ liability insurance
In case you’re responsible for injuries or damage, as the property’s owner.
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’s child trips on a loose skirting board, falling and breaking their shoulder
- a tile comes loose from the roof and damages a car parked outside your property
What you'll need additional cover for:
- accidental damage to your own property
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 bathroom, making it inaccessible
- the boiler breaks down and your tenants can’t heat the property
What you'll need additional cover for:
- annual boiler servicing – you’ll need specific boiler cover for this
- escape of water
Legal expenses insurance
In case you face legal costs, as the property’s landlord.
What's typically covered by 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
You’ll also get access to a 24/7 legal advice helpline, for instant support and expertise.
For example:
- your tenant is refusing to pay their rent and you need to begin legal proceedings
- you need assistance when HMRC begin an investigation into your taxes
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 residential landlords 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 £9.53 per month
Get your quotes in 7 minutes – prices are guaranteed for 30 days.
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*How we work out example prices 10% of our customers paid up to £114.35 a year for a landlord buildings cover only policy between 1st April 2023 - 30th June 2023. Equivalent to £9.53 per month based on a monthly cost when paying for the policy in one annual payment. Paying monthly is usually more expensive as you'll pay interest. Most customers pay more than this but some pay less.
Example residential landlord cover insurance quotes, real prices
£49.06 /month
£436.11 /year
Renting an end of detached house to a family
- Residential
- Detached house
- 3 bedrooms
- 1 bathroom
- Built between 1980 and 1989
- 1-2 years
- Occupied
- Based in Edinburgh
Landlord buildings
£250,001 to £300,000
Landlords' contents
£7,501 to £10,000
Accidental Damage
Included
£56.37 /month
£501.07 /year
Renting a detached house to a large family
- Residential
- Detached house
- 5 bedrooms
- 3 bathrooms
- Built between 1945 and 1979
- Over 5 years
- Occupied
- Based in Kingston upon Hull
Landlord buildings
£500,001 to £600,000
Landlords' contents
£10,001 to £12,500
Accidental Damage
Include
How we work out example quotes These examples are real quotes from our online system (created 14/01/2022). 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.
How it works
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How do I choose residential landlord insurance?
Making sure you have the right type and level of 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?
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.
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.
£39 million in claims paid out in 2022
Paying 80% of settled claims within 24 hours in 2022
The figure above is rounded across our range of products. Our claims process may vary for different products and operates on a ‘claim by claim’ basis.
Example claim
Having residential landlords’ insurance through Simply Business has saved property owners thousands of pounds when the unexpected happened.
Patrick saved more than £46,700
A flood in Patrick’s (not his real name) property, caused intentionally by his tenants before their eviction, did extensive damage to his carpets and hallways, as well as bedroom furnishings and fittings. The optional contents, buildings, fixtures and fittings cover added to Patrick’s residential landlords’ insurance policy helped cover his replacement and repair costs.
Insurance payout
£46,733.97
Covering the cost of malicious damage
Patrick’s costs
£100
The excess amount stated in Patrick’s policy terms
Chosen by 900,000 small businesses and landlords
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Residential landlord 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 home emergency cover for landlords. You can also check out our landlord insurance FAQs.
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.
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 £9.53 per month.
To work this out, 10% of our customers paid up to £114.35 a year for a landlord buildings cover only policy between 1st April 2023 - 30th June 2023. Equivalent to £9.53 per month based on a monthly cost when paying for the policy in one annual payment. Paying monthly is usually more expensive as you'll pay interest. Most customers pay more than this but some pay less.
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.
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
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.
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.
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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