Landlord insurance FAQs

Figures reveal that there are nearly 2.6m private landlords in the UK – meaning there are potentially great opportunities for providing your clients with landlord insurance cover.

Here are some frequently asked questions (FAQs) your customers may ask about the product …

What does landlord insurance cover?

As with practically any kind of general insurance, landlord insurance policies may differ quite widely from one insurer to another. You need to look carefully at the detail of any particular policy for its match to your needs and expectations.

For all the differences, though, the typical landlord insurance cover addresses three main areas of risk:

Buildings insurance l this covers the structural integrity of the building itself, protecting it against such potentially serious risks as fire, flooding, escape of water, storm damage, impacts, and theft;

Contents insurance l any contents owned by the landlord and kept in the let property may be covered by an element of contents insurance;

Landlord liability insurance l any landlord owes a duty of care to his or her tenants; l if a tenant, one of their visitors, a neighbour, or a member of the public is injured or has their property damaged, they may hold the landlord in breach of that duty of care and sue for damages; l landlord liability insurance is designed to meet the costs of such claims.

Some, but by no means all, landlord insurance policies may include – or may offer as optional extras – cover against such risks as subsidence, loss of rental income, malicious damage, and trace and access cover.

I’m only letting out part of my house. Why can’t I keep using my existing owner-occupier property insurance?

By definition, insurance is all about the management of risk. Once you let your house – or even part of it – to tenants, the risks are different from those when you and your family are the sole owneroccupiers.

Because those risks are different, you need specialist landlord insurance to safeguard against them.

If you have tenants in any part of your house, you may find that any subsequent claim for loss or damage is rejected by your insurer if you have only regular owner-occupier’s home insurance.

What’s the link between landlord insurance and mortgages?

If you are buying the property with the help of a mortgage, the lender distinguishes clearly between a residential home mortgage for prospective owner-occupiers and a buy to let mortgage for landlords.

Just as mortgage lenders recognise the essential differences in the way the property is to be used, so, too, do insurers – home insurance for owneroccupiers and buy to let insurance for landlords.

Your mortgage lender may also make it a condition of your mortgage agreement that you have buy to let insurance in place at all times, in order to protect both your financial interests in the property.

Do your policies include public liability injury to guests and third parties?

Our policies include up to £5m public liability for guests and third parties.