Building insurance can cover the cost of repairing or rebuilding your property if it’s hit by a disaster like a storm, fire or flood, or if it’s damaged by something like vandalism or subsidence. Landlord building insurance is designed to protect your rental property from these risks.

Building insurance covers the permanent, physical structure of your property, including the walls, roof and floors. If a disaster like a flood, fire or storm hits your property, your building insurance can cover the repair or rebuild cost.

The exact cover will vary from provider to provider, but you’re usually covered for risks like subsidence, vandalism, and escape of water too.

Fixtures and fittings – for example fitted kitchen units or a bathroom suite – are usually covered by a building insurance policy. If you own a flat and the freeholder is responsible for buying the buildings insurance, you can just get fixtures and fittings insurance.

Landlord building insurance covers your rental property building, but you’ll need to buy landlord contents insurance if you want to cover any furniture or appliances that you provide to your tenants. You may also need to add accidental damage insurance if you want to protect your buildings or contents from accidents like spillages or breakages.

When you’re buying your building insurance, be sure to estimate the rebuild value of your property as accurately as possible, so that you’re fully covered if you come to make a claim. The rebuild value should take into account the cost of completely rebuilding your property, including labour and materials.

Some providers offer blanket cover. If the rebuild value of your property is below this fixed blanket cover amount, you’ll be covered if your property is destroyed and you need to rebuild it.

However, it’s still important to accurately state the rebuild value of your property when buying your insurance, as any false statements could void your policy.