Landlords Insurance
It is vital that landlords have the correct insurance cover in place. A household policy will not cover a Landlord for third party risks, which can be very high.
Don't take unnecessary risks
Landlords Liability Insurance
As a Landlord you are responsible for the safety of the property that your tenants are living in. This means that should a tenant harm themselves due to something dangerous in the property they can make a claim against you for damages. For example, a tenant may electrocute themselves on a faulty light switch and badly burn their hand as a result. The Landlord Liability cover will pay for any damages that are awarded to the tenant as well as all legal costs.
Property Insurance
The building itself is insured against most risks such as flood and fire for the cost or repair or rebuilding. Even risks such as terrorism or subsidence can normally be purchased as optional extras for added security from most insurers.
It is important to remember that you when you declare the value of your property you are actually estimating the cost of rebuilding it should it be totally destroyed (this is what insurance companies call a total loss). Most insurance companies work out a rate to charge the Landlord based on the location of the property and then apply it to the amount specified to rebuild the building (which is called the Buildings Sum Insured). It is therefore cheaper to insure a building that is worth less than an expensive building which is as expected.
It is equally important to make sure that you do not underestimate the cost of rebuilding your property. If you have paid a lower premium by underestimating the Buildings Sum Insured, then the insurer will normally only pay your claims up to the proportion of the building that you have insured. For example: If your property is worth £100,000 but you only declare a Buildings Sum Insured of £60,000; should you have a claim of £10,000 then the insurer will only pay you £6,000 as they will deem that you under-insured. It is important not to be caught out by this by being tempted by lower premiums for lower Buildings Sum Insured.
Property Valuation
It is advisable to obtain a professional valuation for your property to ensure that you set your Buildings Sum Insured correctly. We have negotiated discounted rates with BCH Authentica who would be happy to help in this respect.
Contents Insurance
For a Landlords Insurance policy, when an insurer talks about insuring contents they are not talking about the tenant's contents. Insuring these is the responsibility of the tenants themselves and can be done through a normal home insurance policy. The contents that you can insure are items that you own in the property but which may become damaged such as carpets, sofas, tables, chairs and pictures if you are renting the property as furnished. Many insurers also insure communal contents which will cover contents such as those names above which are situated in communal areas in blocks of flats, or properties with multiple types of tenants.
Further Information
For further information, you can refer to the Key Facts document below, which is a summary of the policy we offer on our online quotation system, or you can also refer to the full Policy Document:
Remember that if you are unsure whether you need a particular form of cover then you can contact us and we will be happy to help.
20% Discount on
Professional Indemnity Cover
All IT related trades
