Tenant default insurance

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Why is rental default insurance important?

Every year, millions of tenants default on their rent payments. Rental default insurance, which we call tenant default cover, is a type of rent protection backstop for landlords. If your tenant defaults on rent – whether it’s their first missed payment or they’ve got a history – this insurance can cover you for owed rent, up to £100,000.

  • landlord insurance tenant default – easy to add on to your standard policy
  • 12 months of rent covered and all tenant types considered
  • no excess to pay and no waiting around – claim from the first missed payment


Tenant default insurance for landlords – what’s covered?

Tenant default insurance is designed to give landlords a layer of protection, in case their tenant defaults on rent payments. For example, if your tenant was made redundant and fell behind with their contracted rent, you might decide to issue an eviction notice and claim back the money you’re owed, up to £50,000.

Thinking about claiming? Make sure you let us know about any potential claim within 90 days of the first rental arrears.


How much does tenant default insurance cost?

Find out how much you’ll pay by comparing prices from a range of trusted insurers. You choose what goes into your policy, so you only pay for what you need.

Prices start from £6.23 per month

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Our team of UK-based insurance experts are here to help, Mon 09.00am – 05.30pm, Tues 09.00am – 05.30pm, Weds 09.00am – 05.30pm, Thurs 09.30am – 05.30pm, Fri 09.00am – 05.30pm, Sat 09.00am – 02.00pm

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How do claims work?

Unlike price comparison websites, we take the hassle out of claims for you. We know how important it is to get your business back on track quickly – and with a minimum of fuss. That’s why you get access to your dedicated claims any time, day or night. Call them on 0333 207 0560 or claim online. They’ll do their best to be fair and supportive.

£51 million in claims paid out in 2023

Example claim

Having insurance through Simply Business has saved landlords thousands of pounds when a tenant defaults on rent.

Verity saved more than £8,900

After months of chasing for late rent Verity (not her real name), attempted to post a letter to her tenants through the letterbox, but found it had been covered over. The legal helpline included in her tenant default insurance provided immediate advice, and her policy covered the lost rent.

Chosen by nearly 1 million small businesses and landlords

Rental default insurance FAQ

Whether you’re new to buying landlord insurance or you’ve been letting your property for a while, here are the answers to some commonly asked questions about tenant default meaning and other landlord topics. You can also check out our landlord insurance FAQs.

Tenant default insurance (also known as ‘rental default insurance’) is a popular landlord protection. It can cover the income your property generates, if your tenants can’t pay their rent. Sadly, millions of UK tenants default on their rent every year, often due to their own financial difficulties – our tenant default cover is designed to protect against this, up to a total value of £50,000.

If you’ve included tenant default cover in your landlord insurance policy, keep in mind after speaking to your insurer, you must serve an eviction notice to your tenants before a claim is paid

The first step will usually be a call to our UK-based claims team helpline for guidance on how to proceed. From there, most cases begin with an eviction notice to your tenants using a Section 21 or Section 8 notice, or both, to claim on your policy. Once you’ve served notice, our claims team can guide you through the process of recovering your lost rent.

Rent guarantee and tenant default cover are often misunderstood as being the same thing. Both of these covers are designed to protect a landlord’s income if their tenant stops paying rent – however, there are key differences which you should be aware of before adding either protection to a landlord insurance policy.

Tenant default cover is designed to pay you the rent you’re owed if you decide to evict tenants who are behind on the rent. Among other things, you’ll need to serve a Section 21 or Section 8 notice, or both, to claim on this type of cover.

Rent guarantee insurance is a different form of protection. It can include cover for properties left unoccupied for a period of time between tenants, as well as instances where the property is uninhabitable due to renovation work, malicious damage, or disasters like fire and flooding. It’s often an option you can discuss with a letting agent who specialises in managing the property for you.

Simply Business provides tenant default cover as an option for your landlords’ insurance policy, but we don’t currently include rent guarantee in our quotes.

You aren’t legally required to take out a specific landlord policy, but remember – a conventional home insurance policy won’t cover you for rental activities, and a mortgage lender will usually demand you have specific landlord cover in place, before you let your property.

Popular covers include property owners’ liability and contents insurance, for accidents on your property, plus buildings cover to protect the property itself.

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:

As we’ve outlined above, there’s currently no legal obligation to take out a dedicated landlord insurance policy. However, a home insurance policy won’t cover you for the specific risks you and your tenants face, and a mortgage lender will usually require you to have buy-to-let insurance in place too, before renting out your property.


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