With a rental property traditional home insurance won’t be enough to protect it for what you need it to do.
Whether you’ve got an investment property, inherited a house you’re thinking of renting out or already have a whole string of properties, you’ll need specialist landlord’s insurance to ensure you’re properly covered should the worst happen.
As well as protecting your buildings and contents against loss and damage, landlords insurance safeguards against problem tenants and other unexpected costs associated with being a landlord.
As a landlord, buildings cover is one of the most important things you should put in place. When choosing a policy, make sure it covers you for what you need, to help we’ve picked out some key features to look out for.
LOSS OF RENT
Most policies include a benefit that covers you for loss of rent if the property cannot be lived in following a fire, flood or something similar. It means you wouldn’t be out of pocket while your tenant wasn’t living there.
ALTERNATIVE ACCOMMODATION FOR TENANTS
As well as covering the rent payments, policies should also cover the cost of putting your tenants up in alternative accommodation while insurance repairs take place. This is a good benefit to have as it means your tenants are likely to come back to your property, rather than renting somewhere else permanently.
TRACE AND ACCESS
Check the policy you take out will cover the cost of removing and replacing parts of your building to find and repair water or oil leaks. Some may only pay for repairing the leak itself, which means you’re left with holes to fix and/or another bill to pay.
THEFT OF KEYS OR ACCIDENTAL DAMAGE TO LOCKS
If you’ve ever had to replace the locks in your property, you’ll know that it can be quite expensive. It’s worth finding a policy that includes the cost of damaged locks or stolen keys as standard, as it can be a real bonus.
OPTIONAL EXTRAS WORTH CONSIDERING
Just like traditional home insurance, good landlord’s insurance providers may also offer a choice of optional extras you might want to think about. For example, what if your property became suddenly uninhabitable for your tenants? Or what would you do if your tenants stopped paying their rent?
ACCIDENTAL DAMAGE COVER
Tenants don’t always pay the same care and attention to your property as you would yourself. If you’re worried about slips, spills and breakages, accidental damage cover is the perfect optional extra. As with traditional home insurance, it covers everything from a nail through a pipe or a foot through a floorboard, to red wine on the carpet.
LEGAL EXPENSES
Legal expenses will help you recover the cost of any legal support you need for a range of reasons related to being a landlord. Including property disputes with a tenant over the tenancy agreement terms or the deposit, tenant eviction proceedings and tax protection.
RENT GUARANTEE
If your tenant doesn’t pay the rent, it’s important to maintain your income so you can cover bills such as mortgage and rent payments, plus property upkeep. Rent guarantee can also assist you in evicting non-paying tenants as well as covering the rent payments whilst they remain unpaid, that way you’re not out of pocket.
Click here to get some more information about landlords insurance
If you’re feeling a little overwhelmed with all the options available to you and you’re unsure which will be the best cover for your rental property then have a chat with one of our advisors. We will be happy to do the research for you and can put together a quote based on what you need. This option, is often quicker and easier than trawling the internet yourself.
Contact us today to discuss your options.