If you are a landlord, making sure that your property is fully protected against any eventuality is an important consideration.
A standard landlord insurance policy is something that your mortgage lender will require you to have as part of your contract with them. This protects the property – and you – financially should something happen to it. But are there any other types of cover that you may want to consider, too?
Check your policy to make sure everything is included
Before you look at any additional elements of insurance, take a look at your existing cover to see if there are any gaps in it.
Note that not every insurance policy is the same. With insurance for landlords, policy features and benefits may vary depending on the provider.
So start by going through the details of your landlords policy to ensure you have the elements of cover you need, and to the appropriate levels.
Look for possible exclusions
Next, look for some types of cover that may or may not be included in a policy. Some of the following are not always included as standard, so it is especially important to know whether you have this element of protection or not:
- subsidence insurance, which may or may not be included depending on the insurer. At UKinsuranceNET, we have a number of insurers who provide this as standard. As you can imagine, fixing subsidence issues can be incredibly expensive. If you feel that subsidence is not a risk you wish to insure, however, then we also have policies that do not cover subsidence, meaning you will only pay for cover you need;
- is malicious damage caused by the tenant covered?
- you may want a high level of accidental damage cover for both the buildings and the contents, or for one but not the other. Some policies may provide a very high amount of protection automatically, whereas others may not, so make sure you have the most appropriate level for you.
Unoccupied property insurance
Check as well whether your property is covered during periods when it is unoccupied. Most insurers will reduce their cover significantly after 30-45 consecutive days of unoccupancy or even stop their cover completely. If you need to carry out renovations or search for tenants, you could find that you are not covered if you do not have this. In this case, unoccupied property cover will typically be required.
Domestic emergency insurance
This is a standalone product typically supplied by companies such as British Gas. It provides 24/7 call out and repair in the event of a domestic emergency, such as the boiler not working, for example.
These policies may be a godsend to any landlord as, in the case of an emergency, the tenant can call the domestic assistance provider directly, rather than dragging you out of bed at 2am with a phone call!
Renovation insurance
Another type of insurance that you may want to get in addition to your landlord policy is renovation insurance.
If you are carrying out renovations on an unoccupied property, you may want to arrange this. It may cover both structural work and non-structural work, and may include liability insurance as well as cover for theft and fire.
Renovation insurance may be useful if you buy a property and want to carry out works on it, such as a loft conversion, before letting it out.
It can also be quite a specialised product, so you may want to talk it through with a broker such as ourselves, to ensure you get the most suitable protection.
Finally, if you are unsure whether you have all the protection you need within your existing policy or whether you need supplementary insurance, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us. We will be very happy to clarify the position.
