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Landlord Insurance

Specialist landlord insurance designed to help financially protect your property and rental income against the unexpected.

  • Build your own policy with just buildings, just contents, or both cover types and only pay for the optional extras you want

  • Rent guarantee and loss of rental cover

  • Alternative accommodation or loss of rent cover for up to 24 months

  • Supported by a UK customer service team who are on hand to answer your queries about your cover

  • Backed by 4 decades of experience arranging insurance for property owners

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Why choose Schofields for landlord insurance?

Specialist landlord insurance by Schofields combines more than 42 years of property insurance experience with a 5-star Feefo service rating and a UK-based team to help make the complexities of landlord insurance easier to understand.

  • 42 years of specialist property insurance expertise

    Get a quote, tailor your cover to your requirements and buy your landlord insurance all online from a broker with more than 42 years of experience in property insurance.

  • Bespoke cover for the realities of letting

    The Renters’ Rights Act may make it harder for landlords to regain possession of their property and can increase potential risks for landlords. Rent guarantee, loss of rent, and legal cover can help provide further protection should a rental agreement go wrong.

  • Built for landlords

    Specialist cover designed around the needs of landlords, with the flexibility to build cover around your requirements, whether that’s buildings or contents cover and a range of optional extras.

What does landlord insurance by Schofields cover?

With specialist landlord insurance by Schofields, you can purchase buildings and contents cover separately or together. There are several policy options that come as standard, provided you have selected buildings cover as a minimum, as shown in the table below:

Available cover types:

  • ✓ Buildings and contents Cover for the property and the contents you own within it.

  • ✓ Contents only Cover for the furniture, furnishings, and belongings you provide.

  • ✓ Buildings only Cover for the property itself, including the building and permanent fixtures.

Landlord insurance cover options

Standard landlord insurance cover options

Standard Included

Comes as standard when buildings cover is selected

Property Owners Liability

£2m (optional upgrade to £5m)

Subsidence

Included

Alternative Accommodation or loss of rent

30% of building/contents sum insured for 24 months

Replacement Locks*

£1,500

Nest Removal*

£1,000

Trace and Access*

£5,000

Emergency Access*

£5,000

Loss of metered water*

£5,000

Unauthorised use of electricity, gas or water*

£5,000

Fly Tipping*

£1,000

*Standard with buildings cover selected

Optional landlord insurance cover options

Optional Add-on

Tailor your policy with additional cover

Accidental Damage

Optional

Legal

£100,000

Rent Guarantee Cover

Up to two years with a maximum of 11 months’ rent in a 12-month period. Must have legal cover.

Landlord Emergency Cover

£500 or £1,000 per incident

Malicious Damage caused by tenants

£7,500

Theft by tenants

£7,500

Pet Damage

£2,000

What types of rentals can I get cover for through Schofields?

As a landlord, you may own several different types of property. Through Schofields, you can get cover for:

Single-family homes: Houses rented to one household long-term.

Flats and apartments: Self-contained homes rented on longer tenancies.

Student lets: Residential properties rented to student tenants, up to 6 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.

HMOs: Houses in multiple occupation, up to 6 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.

Furnished rentals: Homes let with landlord-owned furnishings included.

Unfurnished rentals: Homes let without landlord-owned furnishings included.

couple sat at kitchen counter

I’m new to being a landlord, do I need landlord insurance?

Whether you’ve become an accidental landlord after inheriting a property or have bought your first rental home, knowing what insurance you need can feel unfamiliar. Landlord insurance can help financially protect your property and rental income against some of the risks that come with letting to tenants.

If you have a buy-to-let mortgage or plan to rent your property through an agent, you may find that you’re required to have buildings insurance in place as a minimum requirement of your loan or from the agent.

Even without a buy-to-let mortgage, there are several reasons you may want to consider protecting yourself and your rental property with specialist insurance. For example, you may be able to get some of the costs covered if:

  • Your property is damaged by a fire, flood or subsidence.

  • Your property becomes uninhabitable following an insured event, leaving you without rental income while repairs are carried out.

  • You face legal costs as a result of tenants disputes, with up to £100k of legal cover available.

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What does landlord buildings and contents insurance cover?

Landlord buildings insurance can cover the physical structure of your rental property, including features such as walls and windows, as well as outbuildings, garages, swimming pools, gates and fences.

It can help cover the cost of repairing or rebuilding these parts of your property if they're damaged by an insured event, such as a fire, storm, flood, burst pipe or subsidence.

Landlord contents insurance can cover the belongings you provide for your rental property, such as furniture, furnishings and appliances. It can help towards the cost of repairing or replacing these items if they're stolen or damaged by an insured event, such as a fire, storm, flood or escape of water.

what goes into a rebuild cost infographic

How much buildings and contents cover do I need?

When choosing the sum insured for your buildings insurance, the cost you enter should cover the full rebuild cost of the property, not just it’s market value. Insuring your property at market value for buildings insurance is a common misconception which could lead to you finding you’re underinsured if you need to make a claim.

If you choose to include contents insurance in your policy, the sum insured should cover the costs of any furniture, furnishings or appliances that you own, as your tenants will need to get their own insurance to cover their possessions.

Take a look at our visual of what goes into a rebuild cost. This can include site clearance, labour & materials, professional fees, permissions, fixtures & outbuildings. 

What our customers say...

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How does landlord insurance differ from home insurance?

As an accidental or first-time landlord, you may wonder why you would need landlord insurance if you already have home insurance. Typical home insurance policies are designed to protect you and the home you live in permanently against various financial risks. As they’re designed for a home that you live in yourself, they may not include cover such as:

  • Malicious damage, theft, or pet damage by tenants

  • Loss of rent

  • Legal expenses

  • Property owners’ liability

  • Unauthorised use of gas, electricity, or water

If you rely on a standard home insurance policy to financially protect you and your property, and you don’t inform your insurer that you have tenants, any claims you make may be reduced or rejected.

Do I need landlord insurance and home insurance?

You shouldn’t need to take out home insurance and landlord insurance on the same rental property. Specialist landlord insurance can include buildings and contents cover as well as provide additional cover for risks associated with renting out a property.

Landlord Insurance FAQs

  • The standard landlord insurance policy automatically covers any loss of rent if the property is deemed uninhabitable following an insured event, such as a fire or flood. Please refer to page 19 of the policy wording for more information.

    If you opt to include rent guarantee cover in your policy, this can cover your rental income should your tenants be unable to pay their rent. To be eligible for rent guarantee cover, you need to have purchased legal cover.

  • Legal cover is an optional extra which you can add to your landlord insurance policy at an additional premium. This can include cover for the costs of property and contract disputes, recovering unpaid rent, or repossession or eviction proceedings, for example.

  • The cost of specialist landlord insurance can vary widely between different policies. This is because your premium is calculated based on several different factors, such as the property’s location, the cover options you choose, and the sum you wish to be insured for. The fastest way to find out how much your cover could cost is to get an online quote today.

  • If you choose to include landlord emergency cover on your policy, you may be able to get the costs of a repair covered should the boiler breakdown following a successful claim. Your boiler will also be financially protected under buildings cover from perils such as flood, fire, or storm damage.

  • To get a quote for landlord insurance online, you’ll need the following information:

    • Your property details: This can include your address, property type and size, as well as some structural details.

    • Your personal details: Your contact information and occupation

    • Your cover requirements: If you want to include any additional cover options on your policy, and when you would like your cover to start

    • Claims history: Whether you have made any claims in the past 5 years

    • The rebuild cost of the property and/or the value of its contents: If you choose buildings cover, you’ll need to know the rebuild cost of your property, and if you choose contents cover, you’ll need to provide the total cost of replacing the property’s contents.

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Looking for holiday home insurance?

If you own a property that you don’t rent out long term, you can also get cover for second homes, holiday lets, and overseas holiday rentals through Schofields.

Holiday home insurance