Landlord Insurance
As the owner of one or more rental properties, creating a thorough insurance programme is essential to ensure that your rental income is protected and that your investment is kept safe and secure if things go wrong.
In a similar way to standard home insurance, your landlords insurance programme needs to provide cover for your property or properties, in terms of both the building itself as well as any contents and furnishings but will need to provide additional protection for things such as personal injury to tenants whilst living in your property.
A robust risk management and insurance programme can help your landlord business to respond quickly, maintain continuity and manage your reputation if things don’t go to plan.
Find out how Dover Street Insurance Brokers can help you to manage any potential risks and protect your staff, customers, buildings and equipment within a comprehensive insurance solution.
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Types of insurance cover your landlord business may require
Insurance programmes for landlord businesses would typically include a combination of the following cover:
- Public liability insurance: Protects you if an individual suffers an injury or if they sustain damage to their possessions while in one of your properties, and they choose to make a subsequent claim.
- Property owners’ liability insurance: Covers property owners for claims spanning personal injury or property damage that is sustained by third parties.
- Employers’ liability insurance: This is a compulsory type of insurance for employers, regardless of whether the member of staff is permanent, temporary, volunteer, contractor or freelancer. The minimum level of protection is £5m, which will cover the cost of compensation claims if staff get injured or fall ill as a result of carrying out their required duties.
- Professional indemnity insurance: Professional indemnity insurance covers you should faulty real estate advice lead to a financial loss for a client. Also known as errors & omissions (E&O) insurance.
- Buildings insurance: If your property receives structural damage due to causes such as flooding, vandalism and falling trees, buildings insurance can cover the cost of repairs. This type of insurance is usually compulsory for mortgage payers.
- Contents insurance: If you’re renting out a furnished property, this covers internal items including furniture, carpets and curtains, and if it’s a flat you may also be able to cover communal areas such as halls, receptions, stairs and landings.
- Rental protection insurance: This will cover the rental income that you lose if you can’t rent out your property due to serious damage that has occurred.
- Property management insurance: Provides cover for owners and property managers against financial risks including injury claims, property damage and financial loss.
- Construction insurance: For real estate developments, construction insurance covers property damage, injury or financial loss claims. Contractors All Risk (CAR) insurance covers site materials and contracted works, while structural warranty provides 10 years’ cover for latent defects found in new builds after completion of the project.
- Landlord insurance: Providing cover for rental properties, insuring against loss of rental income, property damage and legal liability for injuries sustained by tenants during their tenancy.
- Unoccupied property insurance: If no one has lived in your property for over 30 days, this insurance provides protection, including if repairs or renovations are required during this time.
- Block insurance: Covers property owners and managers against risk management claims for blocks of flats.
These are just examples of some of the types of landlord insurance policies that we look after at Dover Street Insurance Brokers.
What insurance do I need for my landlord business?
If you are responsible for the running of a landlord business of any kind you should consider taking out a tailored insurance programme. The wide variety of risks to both the staff and customers create the need for an insurance solution that provides comprehensive protection.
We know that no two landlord businesses are the same, so speak to us today to find out which policies will best meet your needs.
The cost of landlord insurance
The combined premiums that you will pay for your property management insurance programme depends on the level of cover that you need and the breadth of risk that your business is exposed to.
It is crucial to ensure that you are properly protected in the event of an incident occurring. With that in mind, at Dover Street Insurance Brokers we will take the time to understand the specific needs of your business and recommend the amount of cover that is best suited to you.
Importantly, we work tirelessly on your behalf to present your business to potential insurers as accurately as possible so that premiums are completely appropriate to your risk exposure.
What else do I need to know about landlord insurance?
It is important to understand that if you’re not living in your rental property, your home insurance may not provide cover as rental properties face certain risks and issues. These include maintenance issues and the level of care your tenants give your property, and means that if you want financial protection, taking out landlord insurance is really important.
In addition, if you are a landlord that rents out multiple properties, your options for landlord insurance are as follows:
- Insure each property individually with a tailored policy.
- Put multiple properties on one policy.
Optional extras that you may choose to add to your landlord insurance policy could include:
- Legal expenses.
- Rent guarantee.
- Loss of rent.
- Accidental damage by tenant.
- Malicious damage by tenant.
- Cost to repair damage in an emergency such as pest infestation, a burst pipe or gas leak.
- Theft by tenant.
Although it is always a good idea to find out who your tenants are and the work that they do, from a landlord insurance cost point of view tenant referencing demonstrates a good level of risk management which may help you achieve more favourable policy terms with your insurer.
What information do I need to provide for a landlord insurance quote?
Typically, when getting a quote for landlord insurance, you will need to provide your insurer with the following information:
- The date that your property was built.
- The rebuild cost of the property.
- The types of locks and alarms that are fitted in your property.
- The total value of your personal belongings.
- Information regarding your tenants and the duration of their tenancy agreement.
- Details of any claims you’ve made in the last five years, as well as the cost.
However, we will take time to understand your portfolio and make sure that we collect the necessary information to accurately secure the cover that you need.
Insuring your landlord business
Dover Street Insurance Brokers is well placed to provide you with the professional support to review your current insurance programme and assess where you might be at risk from underinsurance, or even paying for excessive cover.
We understand that landlord businesses face unique risks and challenges on a day-to-day basis, and that you need bespoke insurance that works for you and gives you the level of cover that is appropriate to the risks that you face.
Give your business the protection that it deserves today – if you want to find out how much peace of mind costs, contact one of our team by calling: 0208 057 4130.