Landlord’s Building Insurance Explained

If you own a property, getting some insurance for it may already be on your “to do” list. But have you thought about what kind of insurance might be suitable? If you let the property out, it may make sense to consider specialist landlord’s building insurance, as a regular home policy may not meet your individual needs, nor will typically be valid.

What is so special about landlord building insurance?

If you become a landlord of a house that you have previously lived in, you might wish to tell your insurer about the change in occupation at your earliest convenience. Should your occupation change then telling the insurance provider is essential.

Insurers might typically perceive buy to lets to be riskier than owner-occupied houses. Accordingly they may have slightly different policies for each kind of occupation. A landlord buildings insurance arrangement might be more appropriate for you because of top of the usual risks covered (such as fire, flood, theft etc) it may:

• the policy may cover you for a short time for loss of rent;
• have special provisions for unoccupied periods with vacant property insurance; and
• some but not all policies may include a level of legal cover.

How much will it cost?

Insurers may differ in how much they charge for their landlord building insurance. The premium may typically be based on where the property is, so the insurer can make a judgement on how likely the property is to be affected by crime or flooding.

Insurers may also take into account whether you have made any claims on policies you may have previously had at the property.

What else do you need to know?

Before rushing into taking out an insurance policy check that you are aware of what is and is not covered in the policy. There might typically also be an excess, similar to the provisions you may have in your private motor insurance policy. For instance there is typically a certain amount of excess that you have to pay if you make a successful claim. If your property suffers damage from an insured risk that costs less than that, typically you will have to meet the cost of repairs from your own pocket.

Once you buy your landlord insurance, do take note of the claims procedure and also keep the claims telephone number and policy number in a safe place. After all, it would be better to get your hands on the relevant information easily in a crisis than have to scrabble about for your landlords building cover documents.