Buy to let building insurance

In case disaster hits and your property gets damaged.

What’s typically covered by building insurance?

• damage to your property caused by incidents like fire, lightning, explosion, malicious damage, and escape of water

For example:

• a fire causes structural damage to your building, and you need to pay for a partial rebuild
• high winds during a storm causes extensive damage to your tiled roof, breaking and dislodging many tiles which will need to be replaced

What you’ll need additional cover for

• accidental damage to the property caused by your tenants – you’ll need to add our specific accidental damage cover for this

Read more about buildings insurance for landlords

Landlords contents insurance

In case disaster hits and your contents get damaged.

What’s typically covered by landlords contents insurance?

• damage to your contents caused by incidents like fire, lightning, explosion, malicious damage, and escape of water
• contents include things like your appliances, furniture, and household goods

For example:

• thieves break into your buy-to-let property and vandalise your furniture while searching for valuables
• a burst pipe floods your property’s ground floor, causing extensive water damage to your wooden lounge furniture and three-piece suite

What you’ll need additional cover for

• accidental damage to the property caused by your tenants – you’ll need to add our specific accidental damage cover for this

Read more about landlords contents insurance

Accidental damage insurance

In case your tenant or their guests accidentally damage your property.

What’s typically covered by accidental damage insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• unexpected physical damage to your property or contents, caused by your tenants or their visitors

For example:

• while moving into the property, your new tenant accidentally scrapes and damages the newly plastered walls
• your tenant drops a mirror in the bathroom, cracking the sink and several floor tiles

Read more about accidental damage insurance

Tenant default insurance

In case your tenants don’t keep up their rental payments.

What’s typically covered by tenant default insurance?

• up to £50,000 rental indemnity across a 12-month rental payment period, if you have to evict your tenants for not paying rent

For example:

• your tenant misses a few rental payments so you serve an eviction notice, giving them three months to find alternative accommodation – before moving out, they cause intentional damage to the property, breaking doors and damaging the kitchen cupboards which will all need fixing before new tenants can move in
• your tenants fall behind on their rental payments, missing four in total – you serve an eviction notice and need to claim the unpaid rent

Read more about tenant default insurance

Property owners’ liability insurance

In case you’re legally responsible for injuries or property damage, as owner of the building.

What’s typically covered by property owners’ liability insurance?

• legal liability for injuries, accidental loss or damage, as the owner of the property

For example:

• your tenant’s elderly relative trips on a loose stair carpet tile, falling and fracturing their wrist and hip which will require extensive hospital treatment
• during a storm, tiles are blown from the property’s roof, damaging the bodywork and glass of cars parked on your street

Read more about landlord liability insurance

Landlord legal expenses insurance

In case you’re faced with legal costs as the property’s landlord.

What’s typically covered by landlord legal expenses insurance?

• repossession – covering your legal costs when trying to regain possession of the property, and appointing a solicitor to represent you
• property damage – covering your legal costs if over £1,000 of damage is made to your buy-to-let, and appointing a solicitor for you
• tenant eviction – covering the legal costs of evicting your tenants (if you choose to add our specific tenant default insurance, this can pick up the rental payments they owe you)
• rent recovery – covering your legal costs when recovering rent you’re owed, if it’s late by one calendar month
• tax protection and contractual disputes – representing and negotiating for you, if a full enquiry is made into your personal tax affairs, or during a contractual dispute over goods and services

For example:

• your tenants stop paying rent and you need to pay legal costs as part of the eviction process, so that you can repossess the property
• there’s a contract dispute with your tenant and you need legal support to help negotiate and resolve the issue

Read more about landlord legal expenses insurance

What if my property is unoccupied?

If you’ve bought insurance for an unoccupied property, you’ll be asked to confirm if the property is expected to be occupied within 60 days of the policy starting.

After this, you must contact us to confirm when the property becomes occupied – if you don’t tell us, this can cause a delay in any claims being processed.

You should also be aware that you can’t claim for lost rent under the loss of rent section of your insurance if your property becomes unoccupied.

What if my tenant’s situation changes?

If your tenant’s employment status changes – or if a new tenant moves in and their employment status is different to the previous tenant – you’ll need to tell us immediately. If you don’t, it could cause a delay in any claims being processed.

Are carpets and curtains covered?

The definition of ‘fixtures and fittings’ will depend on the insurer – sometimes, it will include laminate flooring, carpets, curtains and blinds.

It’s a good idea to check the wording in your policy to understand what’s covered.

Read more about contents insurance for landlords and buildings insurance.

Will tenant default insurance cover me if my property becomes unoccupied?

If your property becomes unoccupied, you won’t be able to make a claim for lost rent under tenant default cover.

This also applies if your tenant falls into arrears and can’t pay their rent, but you’re not planning to evict them. You can only claim for lost rent under tenant default cover if you start repossession proceedings.

Read more about tenant default insurance and rent guarantee insurance.

What if I’m subletting my property?

It’s vital that any tenancy agreement that you have is between you and the occupant of the property.

If the occupant of your property has a tenancy agreement with a third party (such as a letting agency or a local authority) and not you as the property owner, then your insurance policy could be cancelled and you won’t be able to make any claims.

Do I need any other additional landlord covers?

You can add a range of other important covers to your landlord insurance policy, all while keeping it simple with a single premium and a single renewal date. You might consider these covers:

• Landlord insurance
• Commercial landlord insurance
• Building insurance
• Unoccupied property insurance
• Multi property landlord insurance
• Residential landlord insurance
• Alternative accommodation