Every landlord would find their dream tenant in an ideal world. But encountering a person that is responsible, clean and tidy, and can also pay their rent on time every month is very unlikely no matter how much experience your rental agent has.
This means you need to protect yourself and your investment. If you have a buy-to-let property or you are considering purchasing one, you need to know what insurance you need. Keep reading to find out if you need buy-to-let insurance.
Buy-to-let insurance is a landlord insurance policy designed to cover the risks you will face as you rent out your buy-to-let property under a single Assured Shorthold Tenancy agreement (AST). It covers what a standard home insurance policy can't.
Property owners with a licensed HMO property should take a look at our HMO Insurance page.
Most insurers offer two types of landlord insurance plan for rental properties.
This type of policy will cover the contents of your properties, i.e., the items you provide as part of the tenancy agreement.
In some cases, 'contents' is defined strictly as any item that can be removed from the property.
This can include:
If your buy-to-let property is unfurnished, you don't need this type of plan as there will be nothing in the property to insure.
Buildings insurance compensates you for any structural damage done to the building of your property by a covered event.
Covered events usually include:
Any damage to room fixtures and fittings are also covered by this type of policy. They cannot be removed from the property and are therefore classed as part of the structure.
The dangers you face as a landlord with a buy-to-let property are different to the risks involved with running an owner-occupied dwelling. Because of this, buy-to-let insurance is different from a standard home insurance policy.
If you don't have buy-to-let insurance as a landlord and you tried to claim for damages to your rental property against a standard home insurance policy, it’s unlikely your insurer would pay out, as they were not aware of the risk to the property when signing your insurance agreement.
If you own a rental property buying the right plan can save you a lot of money in the long run if something were to go wrong.
If you choose not to purchase a policy because you don't think your tenants will damage your property, you will be liable for any expensive repairs, and you will need to pay for court claims out of pocket.
A cheap buy-to-let insurance policy can help you sleep easy at night.
You can tailor your buy-to-let properties insurance plan to your specific needs.
Most insurance providers have basic buildings insurance and contents insurance plans for you to build onto.
You can usually add the following to your plan at little extra cost...
Get a quote for buy-to-let insurance today by visiting our website. Complete one short form and our team will do the rest.
Getting an accurate quote for a buy-to-let insurance plan has never been easier.
Having buy-to-let insurance is not a legal requirement. But most trustworthy mortgage lenders will require that you have this kind of policy if you are applying for a buy-to-let mortgage as it protects both your investment and their repayments.
Policies are always changing, and in some cases, standard home insurance no longer covers a rental property that you don’t live in. In this case, buying a buy-to-let landlord insurance policy is the only way to protect your investment.
The price of your landlord insurance premium will depend on what type of plan you need. The more hazards you need coverage for, the more your policy is likely to cost.
Although it can be tempting to save money by only insuring for the basics, this could end up costing you more in the long run if your dwelling were to be damaged by an uninsured event.
Note down your ‘must haves’ before you start shopping so you aren't tricked into settling for a policy that would leave you vulnerable.
If you want to reduce your quote, you should shop around and compare deals, rather than letting your policy auto-renew each year.
If you are happy with your current provider, but you still want to know if there is a way to reduce the cost of your premium, you should do the following.