Landlords Insurance
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As a broker which specialises in low cost landlords building insurance we could save you hours of time and literally hundreds of pounds. By using us for your insurance you can let us do all the searching to make sure you pay a reasonable premium and get the comprehensive cover you expect. Our instant online quote facility will provide competitive quotations from a panel of insurers so instead of you having to look around you can sit back and let our system do all the work for you. With premiums starting from as little as £75 you will find it hard to match the premiums we can offer. To provide peace of mind for our clients and to protect their interests we will only ever place cover with an insurer which have been authorised and regulated. The Financial Conduct Authority regulate the insurance industry and offer a level or protection for landlords who feel their insurer has treated them unfairly. As a responsible landlord you would want to make sure your properties are insured will respectable companies which is why we go to great lengths to make sure your building insurance is with a well known, solid insurer. An obvious fact is that some insurers will consider certain areas a greater risk than another insurer which is why we provide quick quotes from several insurers at once and provide links to read the keyfacts for each policy so you know exactly what is and isn't covered by the policy before you consider proceeding with cover. Building cover We have gone to great lengths to gain suitable contracts with insurers to offer you the best building insurance cover and the following risks are usually covered by any policy we offer:
Additional building Cover To provide the best protection for our clients we place your insurance with insurers which can usually provide additional cover as standard when many other insurers would charge for the privilege! Examples of such cover are shown below.
We understand that some landlords will want to insure their property against any accidental damage caused by the tenant which is why we can usually provide accidental damage cover for your building at a very reasonable price. An example of when you may claim on your landlords building insurance for accidental damage would be if the tenant was to go into the loft and accidently put their foot through the ceiling. We do offer employers liability insurance which can be useful for anyone who operates a business in the UK such as builders. When arranging your building insurance it is important to insure the property for the rebuild value and not the sale price which is very often much higher. The reason for this is that should the worst happen and your property was too fall down then you still own the land so the costs involved are simply for rebuilding the property rather than the location. When arranging your buy to let insurance there will be some occasions when the property may cost more to rebuild than the sale price, for example some grade listed buildings will cost more to repair/rebuild than the sale price.
Re-instatement value As a landlord insuring your let building you need to remember that the building sum insured should be the full reinstatement value and not the sale price. The only accurate way to obtain the re-instatement value is to have a full building survey carried out by a professional. There are tools online such as the ABI rebuild calculator which can give an indication to the what the sum insured should be but generally these figures can be quite inaccurate and we generally do not recommend using such a service. Property owners liability The idea of being a landlord and letting your property out can be daunting, especially in the case of the 'no win no fee' culture that we are growing into which many believe is increasing the amount of liability claims made against landlords. For example if your tenant was to fall down the stairs within the property and hold you responsible then you could be held liable for huge legal costs and compensation costs. As standard our policies come with £2,000,000 worth of property owners liability insurance to provide you with the safe knowledge that should the worst happen then you are insured for such a peril. As a responsible landlord you will obviously take steps to make sure the property is safe and regulary maintained but the risk is still there regardless which is why it is crucial to make sure your buildings policy provides this cover. Online Quote
There are many factors which can affect the premium you pay for your let building insurance policy. One huge factor is the building sum insured, obviously the higher this figure is the higher your premium will be. For example under normal circumstances your premium would be lower if you were insuring a property with a rebuild value of £80,000 than if you were to insure a property with a rebuild value of £160,000. When arranging your insurance it is important to remember that you need to insure the property for the full reinstatement value and not the sale price.
The location of your property can have a major effect on your premium, for example a property located in a small, quiet village may cost less to insure than a property located in a busy town known for being a troublesome area. Insurers rate each UK postcode slightly differently based on several factors such as known flood risks, subsidence risks, crime ratings and such like. While insurers may apply a load to your premium or increase the excess if the area is known as a flood or subsidence area you must still disclose these factors before proceeding with a quotation.
Some insurers will consider certain tenant types to be a higher risk than others. For example a property may be considered more at risk if occupied by 4 unrelated DSS benefit recipient tenants than if it was occupied by 1 professional person. We provide quotations from a range of insurers meaning we can usually quote on any risk regardless of tenant type, for example students, DSS benefit recipients, council tenants, asylum seekers and professionals. The amount of tenants you have in the property can also effect the premium, excess or terms of a policy. For example if you had a property which was occupied by 4 unreleated DSS benefit recipients then some insurers may be unable to provide accidental damage cover.
Some insurers will apply a discount on your let property building insurance premium based on the age of the property, for example a property which was built in the last few years may result in a lower premium than a property which is 80 years old.
The insurers we deal with usually require the property to be of standard construction which is generally considered a property which is built solely of brick, stone or concrete with a slate, tile or concrete roof. Failure to meet these requirements may mean we are unable to insure your building or the premium may be higher than that of a standard construction building.
The type of cover you require for your building insurance can obviously have an effect on the premium you pay, for instance standard cover under normal circumstances will be cheaper than accidental damage cover. However the price difference is usually so neglible that we advise landlords should generally opt for this additional cover on their landlords building insurance policy.
If your property is split into commercial and residential use then this can effect the premium you pay, for exampl ea property which has a ground floor of a commercial business such as a chemist and a top floor of a residential let flat could be more expensive to insure than a standard residential 2 storey property. Some commercial businesses may add a load to the policy because of the increased risk they pose, for example if they use heat the fire risk could be increased or if the business was a computer retailer then theft damage risk could be increased because someone may break into the residential property to gain access to the shop.
Just like motor insurance your claims history can have a impact on your premium, for example if you have a history of high claims then you may find that your premium is higher than if you had no claims in the last 3 years.
Policy Excess As a landlord the last thing you want to be doing when making a claim is having to pay a huge excess which is why we offer policies with excesses starting from as low as £100 for any claim with the exception of subsidence which under normal circumstances will have a £1,000 excess. Non Disclosure When arranging your insurance it's crucial to remember that you must disclose any material fact which could effect the quotation, for example if you know the area is a flood risk. |