Buy to Let Home Insurance

Buy to let home insurance

It doesn’t matter whether you’re planning to rent out your property to a single tenant, a multiple occupancy or even on a part residential part commercial basis, it may well be advisable to think carefully about your insurance cover.  If you don’t have the right buy to let home insurance and then suffer a problem, you could end up with a financial disaster on your hands.

The first thing point to keep in mind is that trying to ‘make do’ with ordinary owner-occupier insurance could prove to be a serious mistake. The sort of buildings, fixtures, fittings and contents cover insurance offered to an owner-occupier will simply not cover a commercial renting situation.

You may not think it fair, but the reality of life is that an insurance company will believe that the risks of problems and claims are higher with rented property than with owner-occupied dwellings. As such they will insist that a specialised buy to let home insurance policy is used that takes into account your specific risks and needs as a landlord. If you try to make a claim on an owner-occupier policy when the property is in fact rented out you are not only guilty of making a fraudulent claim but will also find your insurance is invalid. Oh yes, and the insurance companies DO have ways of finding this out in the event of a claim!

If you are looking for specialised insurance the next thing you may wish to consider is the nature of the cover you need.

As a landlord, you may be exposed to several forms of potential risk:

• Claims from your tenants, visitors to them or members of the public, arising from incidents where they have been injured as a result of your property. If your fence blows down and injures a passer-by then they will most likely be asking you for compensation. If you suffer a leak that also damages the property next door, then expect your neighbour to get in touch VERY quickly asking for damages. If your tenant suffers an injury due to a poorly maintained floorboard, they may be unlikely to ignore it as “just one of those things.
• Your property is just as likely to be damaged due to natural causes as any other. Remember, any existing owner-occupier insurance covering these things will become invalid the moment you rent the property out.
• As tenants occupy your property, there may be a far higher chance of accidental or malicious damage to the building, fixtures, fittings and contents. Theft of contents and even fixtures & fittings is an added possibility.
• Your property is likely to stand empty for periods in between lettings and for redecoration etc. It is therefore perhaps more likely to be burgled or vandalised at such times.

As a result of these risks and if you’d like to sleep a little more easily at night, it may be useful to find a specialist provider of landlords insurance services. They may be able to help you with the professional landlord policies you’ll possibly need to protect you against these and other similar risks. Buy to let home insurance may cost you less than you think from a specialist provider and if you’re planning to rent out then making further enquiries could prove a sensible thing to do.