Landlord Insurance, Take Care When Choosing Protection Points to Consider

If you are in the property business and rent out your accommodation to others, then buy to let insurance is necessary. There are various element of insurance you may wish to consider, but broadly speaking, landlord insurance can be taken out as buildings insurance and contents insurance.

# Buildings insurance for landlords

A policy for buy to let buildings typically covers a broad range of events. However, there may be some limitations and exclusions within the policy and the benefits may differ between providers. Here is a general guide to the events that may be typically included in a policy:

• damage caused by fire and explosion, earthquake or lightning, riot or disturbances while the property is occupied;
• storm and flood damage;
• accidental destruction or damage to cabling underground that services the property;
• theft, providing reasonable force has been used to gain entry / exit to the property;
• a loss of rent in the event that the building cannot be occupied due to one of the insured risk happening;
• subsidence.

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Always ensure that you have checked over the wording of any policy you are considering to ensure that you know what exclusions may be included. It is also important to note that what is covered by one landlord insurance provider may generally not be automatically covered by another – policy features and benefits can vary, so do be aware of this when choosing your buy to let insurance UK cover. For instance, some providers include malicious damage protection in with their landlords insurance while others typically might not.

# Landlords contents insurance

Contents insurance is also typically available in buy to let insurance In most cases, landlord insurance provides protection against the same perils as the buildings insurance, the addition of other elements of cover too.

# Unoccupied property insurance

There may be circumstances which leaves your property empty for some time- such as when waiting for new tenants) in this case it is essential that you inform the buy to let insurance provider. Not doing so could render your insurance protection invalid.

Typically a property may be classed as being unoccupied if it is empty for a period of 30 or more days. With this in mind always ensure that the correct insurance is in place.

# Getting the most suitable deal

You may wish to look into taking building and contents insurance together with the same provider. If you wish to take out both forms of landlord insurance, you may be able to make savings this way.

However, as with all insurance policies, the key to obtaining the most suitable deal is to do your homework and research your options – or you may wish to get the help of a landlord insurance broker to search for insurance on your behalf.