Cheap Buy to Let Insurance

Cheap buy to let insurance

Let’s not mince words nobody likes insurance, apart perhaps from people who make their living selling it. That continues right up until we’re in trouble and need to claim. At that point that insurance policy instantly becomes our most prized possession. You may agree with that slightly tongue in cheek statement, but if you’re currently renting out your property it won’t change your need to find good, cheap buy to let insurance.

Cheap buy to let insurance needs to be a commercial product. That’s because whether your property is rented out for residential or commercial purposes (or perhaps both) for you as the policyholder the rental is a commercial enterprise.

That’s important to understand because it tells you something about the nature of the insurance you’ll need and in particular that ordinary ‘owner occupier’ buildings and contents insurance just won’t be good enough. In fact, any such insurance you have on the property for your own occupation will become instantly invalid the moment you rent it out, even if for just a holiday period. Why?

The nature of risk is such that your property is more at risk when it is rented out. Yes, you have the same risks of natural disasters as an owner-occupied property but in addition you have a whole catalogue of risks that either would not apply at all to an owner occupied dwelling or would be much reduced.

Some of these may be obvious. You could have troubles with tenants who decide to vent their frustrations on your property, contents or fittings and fixtures. Serious damage and or theft could result certainly way beyond the value of the deposit you hold.

Risks

Then there are those risks to your property and contents that arise due to the absence of proactive care. If you’re occupying a building you may take action immediately to check that knocking noise in the boiler. A tenant may be less bothered right up to the point they phone to tell you that it’s just exploded.

It’s also true that generally speaking rented properties stand empty for a higher proportion of the time (e.g. between rentals) than owner-occupied ones. Insurance companies don’t like empty properties because they know the risks of burglary, forced entry, vandalism and leaks etc, will all be higher than for an occupied property.

To this must be added the need for the protection you may need to offer to others as a result of your property’s use for commercial purposes. If your tenants or their visitors are injured by your property then you can expect claims for compensation. This will also apply to members of the public who come onto your property or are injured by it in passing (e.g. falling slates/tiles etc).

All things considered, instead of your property generating money for you, it could seriously damage your financial health unless you have landlords insurance in place.

The good news is that cheap buy to let insurance can often be found through specialist providers of rented property insurance. They operate over the Internet and can offer a range of policies, one of which is highly likely to meet your needs for good cover at an economical price.