Landlord Insurance Frequently Asked Questions

No, but mortgage lenders often require buildings insurance, and landlord insurance can help protect against potentially significant financial losses.

At the moment, we can insure only one property per policy, but you can take out multiple policies.

Building insurance is designed to cover incidents that happen and cause damage to your property, including fixtures and fittings such as built-in units, heating systems and sanitary ware. Incidents can include:

• Fire

• Storm

• Flood

• Escape of water

• Subsidence

Contents are owned and provided by the landlord for the tenant's use, including furniture, furnishings, carpets, and domestic appliances. Any contents owned and purchased by the tenant would not be covered, and they would need to source their own contents insurance.

We offer two types of insurance to cover loss of rent:

1. Our standard policy will automatically provide you with cover for any loss of rent should your premises be deemed uninhabitable following an insured event, such as a fire

2. We also offer an optional Rent Guarantee cover which provides cover for your rental income should your tenants be unable to pay their rent

Yes, our standard policy automatically provides cover for reasonable alternative accommodation costs should your premises be deemed uninhabitable following an insured event, e.g. a fire.

Yes, our landlord policies include property owner's liability cover if someone is injured or their property is damaged due to your negligence as a landlord.

We can provide cover for immediate family, employed and retired tenants, as well as students.

We cannot provide cover to those who are benefit-assisted or asylum seekers.

Yes, providing the number of bedrooms and bathrooms is within our acceptance criteria.

Not under our landlord policy; however, we do have a holiday home insurance policy. You can get a quote here.

We can cover unoccupied properties, provided they are unoccupied for less than 60 days. If your tenants are students and this has been declared to us, we will allow the property to remain unoccupied for more than 60 days; however, the premises must be inspected internally once a week, and all external security devices must be operational. During winter, additional requirements apply to reduce the risk of burst pipes.

If the property will be unoccupied for more than 60 days, you must contact us so we can review the risk.

Yes, we will provide cover for tenant changeovers; however, if the property is to be untenanted for more than 14 days, the premises will need to be inspected internally once a week, and we will ensure that all external security devices are operational. During winter, additional requirements apply to reduce the risk of burst pipes.

If the property is going to be unoccupied for more than 60 days, you must contact us so we can review the risk.

Common exclusions include wear and tear, poor maintenance and gradual deterioration. We would also not cover a claim arising from your tenant's use of the premises for the manufacture, cultivation, harvesting, or processing of drugs.

We offer cover for malicious damage and theft caused by tenants. These are optional covers you will need to select when taking out the policy.

Yes, subsidence is covered as standard on our policies. There is a higher excess of £1,000 for all subsidence claims. If the property already has signs of cracking or bulging in the external or internal walls of the building, you must advise us of this when taking out or renewing the policy.

Yes, both our buildings and contents cover allow you to add on accidental damage cover.

Landlord emergency cover provides 24/7 assistance in the event of an emergency, as well as a contractor to make the property secure again to prevent further damage. Contractor costs are covered up to £500 or £1,000 per incident. Emergencies can include plumbing and drainage, roofing, main heating systems and pest infestations.

The rebuilding cost is the amount needed to reconstruct the premises, not the market value. If you are unsure of your property's rebuild cost, you can get estimates using the ABI rebuild cost calculator.

Whilst we require a rebuild cost to provide you with an accurate quote, the sum insured we provide will usually be higher, reducing the risk of being underinsured.

The premises must be maintained in a good state of repair, as a result, you may be required to do inspections to ensure that this is the case.

You must meet all legal obligations as a landlord, including providing smoke detectors in accordance with regulations.

You must comply with all relevant legal obligations relating to safety inspections and certification.

We are unable to provide cover to new customers whose current tenants are in rent arrears or subject to eviction proceedings.