RSS
 

Archive for the ‘Landlord Insurance’ Category

Landlord Insurance – get protected

06 Dec

Landlord insurance is a policy type that protects the owner of a building from any financial loss that might be incurred as a result of renting out their property.  These insurance policies cover the building itself, but can also provide an option of additionally insuring contents that belong to the landlord.  Cover against loss of rent due to forced non-occupancy can also be purchased.

Policies of this type cover against the standard risks including; theft, malicious damage, fire, explosion, storm, earthquake, lightning, flood or escape of water or oil.  However, not all policies are the same and some will have specific exclusions.  It is advised that the small print is carefully read to ensure that the cover is applicable and adequate.

Optional extras for coverage can include alternative accommodation costs, liability cover, accidental damage, terrorism, contents insurance, accidental damage and rent guarantee insurance.  This type of insurance usually does not cover any property belonging to a tenant.  Neither will it protect the personal interests of tenants.

Consumers are able to use price comparison sites to source quotes for these landlord insurance policies.  As a result they are able to tailor the cover to their individual circumstances and select extras to suit their individual requirements.

 
No Comments

Posted in House Insurance, Landlord Insurance

 

Landlord Insurance and Public Liability Insurance

27 Oct

If you are a landlord in the UK you may wish to ensure that your landlord insurance includes public liability insurance.  Public liability insurance is usually vital if clients visit your premises, which in turn is very relevant for landlords whose clients are the tenants living in their property. 

What is public liability insurance?

Public liability insurance will cover claims made by clients/tenants or members of the public who suffer injury or property damage in connection with your business.  This means that an individual who is injured in your property may be able to hold you financially responsible.  This can range from any number of scenarios including injury sustained as a result of poorly maintained property.  It may also include an accident as simple as slipping on water whilst in your property.

Public liability insurance is designed to financially protect the landlord from these problems and can pay compensation to the victim that may include loss of earnings, future losses, medical costs, or damages awarded.  Public liability insurance under your landlord insurance policy may also cover your legal expenses and the legal expenses of the claimant if you are found to be at fault.

Property owners’ liability insurance

Public liability insurance may also be known as property owners’ liability insurance, and will cover you for a range of situations.  It is also important to remember that this insurance can cover you for any damages occurred whilst on the extended grounds of your property.  For example, a postman can make a claim against the landlord if they were to fall on a broken step in your front garden.

 
No Comments

Posted in Landlord Insurance, Liability Insurance

 

Legal Fees Insurance

09 Oct

Legal protection can be an important part of your landlord insurance and can protect you financially against a range of situations that you’d rather avoid.  This insurance may be an additional part of your landlord insurance or it may be included in your policy.  It is very important that you check these issues within your policy documents and ensure that you are getting comprehensive cover from your insurance.  Typically, legal and professional fees cover and include protection against the following:

•    The financial costs of legal action against a tenant over a breach of their tenancy agreements.
•    The legal pursuit of rent arrears.
•    The legal process of eviction for people who are in the property without your express permission.
•    The costs associated with civil or criminal proceedings regarding your ownership of the property.
•    Cover for professional fees including but not limited to tax, VAT, PAYE, and NIC investigations.

Often legal advice will be included within the remit of your policy and some insurance providers will provide access to a legal helpline free of charge.  Your policy provider may also provide access to an advice line on the subject of tax, VAT, PAYE, or NIC.  Very often an insurance provider will have a legal team ready to advise you should there be any situation that cannot easily be resolved by queries through a helpline.  This is to ensure that you have important legal assistance when you need it the most.

 
No Comments

Posted in Insurance, Landlord Insurance

 

Legal obligations when applying for landlord Insurance

30 Sep

Choosing to purchase Landlord Insurance is an excellent way to protect property when it comes to legal claims.  It ensures peace of mind and fair treatment for everyone, although there are certain legal obligations involved when applying for this type of insurance.

Duty Of Disclosure

When purchasing a policy, the consumer is required to disclose any information that may be relevant to the insurance company’s decision on whether or not to provide Landlord Insurance.  Insurers have the right to refuse payment of a claim under an insurance policy if Duty Of Disclosure has not been met.  The duty to disclose information exists from the time the proposal is made and lasts for the entire term of the policy, so it is important to keep insurers updated on any developments.

Utmost Good Faith

The principle of Utmost Good Faith applies to both the customer and the insurer, with the burden of proof and responsibility resting on the customer to be as open and honest as possible with the insurer.  It is the responsibility of the insurer to prove that the information is relevant to their administrative process, and therefore that the consumer has not been completely honest and open.  Any facts used by the insurance company to determine the customer’s good faith are known as “material”.

Right To Refuse Cover

An insurance company has the right to refuse an application for any number of reasons.  If they decided not to provide insurance cover, they are required to tell the consumer why and offer an explanation.

 
No Comments

Posted in House Insurance, Landlord Insurance

 

Buildings Insurance for Landlords

19 Jul

As a landlord, you are required to take out buildings insurance to cover the exterior part of the building. Some landlord insurance policies cover both building and content insurance, but there are many that don’t. Please take your time to research suitable policies before committing to one.

Insurance Cost

Instead of the market value price, the sum insured should be equal and represent the full rebuilding cost of your property. If your property is under-insured, in the event of a claim, your insurer will not pay the full claim amount and you will be responsible to pay the uncovered amount yourself.

In order to calculate the full rebuilding cost you will need to ask a qualified surveyor to visit and provide you with the professional cost.

However, some insurance companies do provide direct quotes, which are based on the age, style, size, condition and area of the property you wish to insure.

Main Cover

The main landlord insurance should cover any damaged caused by fire, explosion, smoke, leakage of oil or burst pipes, storm or flood, lightning, malicious damage and theft.

As well as there being many companies who will compensate your loss of rent if your property becomes uninhabitable due to damage of one of the above causes, some insurance companies also offer a ‘malicious damage caused by tenants’ cover, which could be suitable if you wish to rent out your property to students or any other high-risk tenants.

 
No Comments

Posted in Buildings Insurance, Insurance, Landlord Insurance

 

Decorating Your Property

07 Jul

When taking out landlord insurance it is important to consider the existing state of your property.  Decorating your property is important because tenants will be less likely to rent from you if your property requires a lot of obvious work.  In addition, a properly maintained house can ensure that accidents are less likely, which in turn may make a claim on your insurance less likely. 

Before you start work you need to decide on a budget that bears in mind the cost of the house and how much you will be able to rent it out for.  Stick to your budget and to your timeframe.  Every month that your property is being decorated is another month that it is not being rented out.  It is possible to save a lot of money if you are able to complete a lot of the decoration and work yourself, but you need to be honest as to whether you have the appropriate expertise to complete the work to a safe standard and on time.  Sometimes it can be a false economy to perform works yourself when a contractor can save you time and effort. 

For your landlord insurance to be valid works must also be done to a proper legal standard.  Consider who you want to rent your property to.  The way you decorate will be very different if you are renting to students who are less fussy about décor than if you are renting to a family who might want child-proof furniture.  It is very important to bear in mind that you are decorating your property for a target market rather than just for your own tastes.

 
No Comments

Posted in House Insurance, Insurance, Landlord Insurance

 

Landlord Insurance Claims – what you should do

28 May

Filing a Claim 

In the event of damage to a property, or the total loss of a property, a landlord may file a claim with their insurance company.  When the extent of the damage is determined and the policyholder and the insurance company agree on the amount to be paid, the claim is paid to the landlord.

Functions of the Claim Process 

Before a claim is paid to the landlord, the insurance company supplies a claim form which needs to be filled out and returned, along with the relevant information and paperwork to support the claim.  In some cases, the landlord insurance company may arrange for an inspection to ascertain the extent of the damage and the validity of the claim according to the policy.  Once the landlord has obtained estimates of restoration and repair costs from a building contractor, the claim can be processed and paid. 

Speeding up the Claim Process 

The process involved in obtaining a claim payment can be speeded up if the landlord supplies all the information required by the insurance company in the timeliest of manners.  Details of when and how the damage took place, along with an inventory of all the contents of the property and details of the landlord’s notification to the police are important to enable quick processing of your claim.  The services of a public insurance adjuster can help you liaise with your insurance company to receive the payout in a timely manner, and ensure that the payout is sufficient to cover damages.

 
No Comments

Posted in House Insurance, Insurance, Landlord Insurance

 

Landlord Insurance Issues

24 Nov

As with any type of insurance, landlord insurance has its own unique range of issues that need to be dealt with.  A landlord looking to take out an insurance policy needs to check through all the available options carefully before deciding what level of cover to opt for.  Even if the tenants who move into your property exercise reasonable care, it is likely that they will not be as careful as if they were the owners.  Accidents happen and other unforeseen events, such as floods or storm damage may also occur.  The tenants may even decide to make unauthorised alterations and in the worst case, may deliberately damage or vandalise the property.

In addition, while regular home insurance will cover damage to property while you, the owner, is living there, it is unlikely that such a policy will be valid if you let it to a third party and earn income from it.  This is another reason why the protection of specialist landlord insurance is needed whenever a tenant moves in.

Property represents a big investment and it would not be sensible to leave it in the hands of strangers without making sure that the value of your investment is protected and that compensation would be paid for any damage that occurs while tenants are living there.  Landlord insurance policies are designed to give you peace of mind and if the worst should happen, to provide sufficient cover to ensure that you do not suffer any financial loss as a result of your property being damaged or even destroyed.

 
No Comments

Posted in Buildings Insurance, House Insurance, Landlord Insurance

 

Landlords Insurance

14 Sep

Many individuals have made a lot of money in the property market in recent years.  Most people purchasing a second home will renovate to sell on at a profit while others will rent the property out.  However, it is not as simple as finding someone to live in your property.  You must also make sure that you are appropriately insured.

A standard home insurance policy will not suffice when you rent your property out.  Instead, all landlords must purchase residential landlords cover, which is also known as buy-to-let insurance.  Before you consider this to be just another expense, think of the alternatives.  When you are renting your property out you are leaving a valuable asset in the hands of others who are often strangers.  There is no telling what damage may occur.  You will want to make sure that you can pay to repair this damage.

Effectively, landlords insurance is a specialist house insurance policy.  This means that the same details will be taken into account to calculate the premium including where the property is based and the age of the property.  However, many insurers will actually want to know what ‘type’ of tenant will be staying in the property.  There is obviously more risk associated with a student let than there is with a property rented to a professional.  Landlords will be insured against damage to the property but, most importantly, the rental income will be covered while any extensive repairs take place.

Other financial benefits to holding a landlord insurance policy relate to tenants who cannot pay their rent or who refuse to pay their rent.  Unfortunately this is a position which landlords find themselves in all too often.  Any landlord going through the legal process in such circumstances could actually claim for their legal expenses if their policy has such a clause.

 
No Comments

Posted in Buildings Insurance, Landlord Insurance

 

Understanding Landlord and Tenant Insurances

20 Aug

Buildings insurance and contents insurance may seem standard for the owner of a home or commercial space, but what if you are a landlord or a tenant? What are the responsibilities of each when it comes to having the proper insurance? Who is responsible for the insurance and determining what it will and will not cover?

The answer is simple: both the landlord and tenant should have insurance. It may seem reasonable that the landlord should insure the building and the tenant will insure the contents, but it is not quite that cut and dried.

Landlords should carry comprehensive buildings insurance as well as contents insurance, depending on the type of rental unit being insured. Buildings insurance will cover against typical issues such as fire, theft, flooding and vandalism. It will also offer liability protection should someone on the property be injured due to accident or negligence.

One thing landlords may not be aware of is a clause that can cover loss of rental income, which of course is the reason for owning a rental in the first place. It will also cover the cost of hiring a letting agent or for placing advertisements to attract potential tenants.

On the tenant’s side, it is vital to have contents insurance as buildings and contents insurance covered by the landlord will not cover your personal property. Additionally, it is worth looking into accident insurance to cover mishaps in your flat or office unit. Any incidents may cost you the security deposit, which is likely to be much more than an insurance premium.

 
No Comments

Posted in Buildings Insurance, Landlord Insurance