Rent and Legal Protection Insurance for Landlords

Why landlord buildings insurance

The reason that rent and legal protection insurance for landlords is so important is because structural damage is some of the most expensive to repair. As the owner of a property you are completely responsible for it which is why buildings insurance is a legal obligation for any buy to let property owner. If you don’t have insurance in place and your building were to become damaged then you might not be able to afford to have it properly repaired. This will mean you cannot let it out and will be losing money so getting landlord buildings insurance is vital.

There are certain key factors that insurance providers will look at when calculating the cost of your policy. These include:

Number of properties

Most landlords prefer to insure all their properties under one easy-to-manage policy. When insurance providers are determining the cost for this they will of course look at how many properties are being insured amongst other factors such as their location and how secure they are.

Security of the properties

This is certainly a big factor that impacts cost. Securing your properties should always be a primary concern. Not only does this reduce the risk posed by thieves and vandals but it also helps you save money on your buy to let insurance. An excellent way to make your properties more secure is to use alarms and CCTV. These types of security measures are excellent deterrents to thieves and vandals.

Insurance options

The number of options you have included in your policy will also impact its cost. If you’re on a limited budget then you should prioritize based on where your biggest risks come from. Things like contents cover may not be needed, depending on whether you let properties with expensive contents or not.

The area the properties are located 

The area that your property is located will certainly affect the price you pay. Property in a high crime area will be at greater risk of burglary and vandalism and therefore you can expect to pay more for your policy if your property is in such an area. Because of this, landlords usually try to purchase property that’s in areas with low to moderate crime rates.

Other Types of Cover

Below are some of the other types of cover that you can get with a landlord buildings insurance policy:

Contents cover

If you let your properties either partly or fully furnished then getting contents cover is always recommended. A lot of contents you find in a typical property can be quite expensive to replace so it gives you peace of mind to know that if they were damaged or stolen, then you’d be fully compensated. Speak to your insurance provider to find out exactly what type of contents are covered.

Loss of rent

It’s an unfortunate fact of life that landlords sometimes have to deal with difficult tenants, who for one reason or another do not pay their rent. If you happen to find yourself in this situation then loss of rent, or rent guarantee as it’s sometimes called, will cover you until you’re able to have the tenant evicted.

Public liability

Liability claims are certainly not uncommon and are increasing all the time. As the owner of property you have a lot of responsibility and if someone were to be injured or killed as a result of your property being unsafe then you could easily find yourself facing a liability claim.Having public liability in place ensures that you could carry on your business even if a liability claim went against you.

Legal expenses

If you were to face a liability claim then you’d certainly want to fight it and to do this you’d need legal representation. Solicitor fees are usually costly and can add up over time so getting them included as part of your policy is never a bad idea.

Saving Money

Pay upfront

When you pay for your policy upfront rather than on a monthly basis, most insurance providers will be happy to offer you a discount on the overall cost of the policy. Although this is not always affordable, you should pay annually when you can and always make sure that you push for the best possible price when you do.

Insure all your properties together

If you have multiple properties that you need to insure then it’s always preferable to insure them together rather than separately. Not only does this save you money but it also makes things much easier to manage. Most insurance providers will let you insure multiple properties under the same policy so this should not be an issue.

Get as many quotes as possible 

This is something that’s very easy to do but easy to overlook. Getting multiple quotes enables you to get a true feel for what you should be paying for a policy and therefore you can decide if you’re getting a good deal or not. Getting quotes from different insurance providers is now much easier than it used to be. You no longer have to call insurance providers separately to get a quote – you can simply get them all from one place.