Landlords Insurance is designed to protect residential and commercial property landlords from the unexpected risks that may occur when letting or leasing properties.
Do you have a buy to let property?
We can arrange buy to let house insurance for property that is let on a long term basis or short hold tenancy agreement to professionals, DSS, Students, Asylum Seekers or long term unoccupied properties.
Do you own a portfolio of properties or blocks of flats?
We can also arrange block policies for clients with multiple properties.
Are you the landlord of a commercial property?
We arrange cover for ;
Offices, Restaurants, Hotels, Pubs, Clubs, Cafes, Off-licences, Retailers, Warehouses and many more.
Cover is arranged with reputable Insurers including Lloyds syndicates and Zurich.
We currently have access to markets offering discounts of 10% and more on existing renewal quotations.
Just some of the added benefits that we may be able to arrange include:
- Index Linked Buildings Sum each year to protect you against inflation
- Accidental Damage cover on Buildings and Landlords Contents for certain tenant types
- Free Loss of Rent and Alternative Accommodation cover from 20% to 100% of the Building Sum Insured
- Property Owners Liability of £1m, £2m or £5m.
- Legal Expenses Cover optional
- Terrorism Cover optional
- Monthly payments can be arranged
Our Landlords Insurance team, covering residential and commercial property owners, is based in our London Office alongside our Home Insurance team and is managed by George Prodromou. George joined Oncover Insurance in 2002. In this time he has developed strong relationships with our providers, which enables us to obtain terms that meet individual customers’ requirements.
Whilst remaining professional and efficient George and his team endeavour to deliver a first class personal service to each and every client. We are happy to explain insurance jargon to ensure you fully understand each product. The client retention rates achieved by us reflect our ability to renegotiate terms on your behalf year after year.
Landlord Insurance
If you own a buy-to-let property it’s important to look after your investment by insuring its buildings and contents. There are extra risks involved when tenants are involved, which means you may want to consider taking out insurance specifically designed for landlords.
If the property you’re letting was your home, it’s essential you tell your current insurer you are doing so or your policy could be null and void. Your insurer may be happy with this change, although it may require that tenants meet specific criteria.
Special features of these policies include extra cover for owners’ liability and loss of rent should damage to the property mean it is empty for an extended period, different levels of contents cover for furnished or unfurnished properties. However, there may be restrictions on letting the property to DSS tenants, students or asylum seekers.
Buildings Insurance
Neither buildings nor contents insurance is legally required but you will have to take out buildings cover if you bought the property with a mortgage and, in any case, it would be unwise not to. This covers the structure of any buildings included in it and any items that would normally be left behind when residents move out, such as perimeter walls, patios and fixtures and fittings, against damage caused by perils such as fire, flood and pipes bursting.
Rather than the market value of the property, the rebuild cost is used as the sum insured – the cost of rebuilding the property if it is completely destroyed. This sum is included on your original valuation report and could be above or below the market value, depending on when the property was built. This figure should be adjusted each year to take account of inflation.
Contents Insurance
Buying contents cover is recommended as your tenants’ deposits may not be sufficient to pay for any damage that occurs. For an unfurnished property there is no need to take out a full contents insurance policy – just get cover for damage to items such as floor coverings, curtains and any electrical appliances you have supplied.
Your tenants should take out their own insurance for their belongings.
For a furnished property, you should take out full contents insurance. You are only insuring your own contents, the tenants must still insure their own possessions.
Rent Guarantee Cover
In case your tenants fail to pay the rent, it can be a good idea to take out rent guarantee insurance. This could occur for various reasons, including redundancy or the inability to work as a result of injury or sickness.
Should you be unfortunate enough to have unreliable tenants, you may need to go through lengthy legal proceedings to get possession of the property through eviction. Rent guarantee cover is relatively inexpensive and allows you to lessen any financial losses if this were to happen. This could be substantial if you are making mortgage payments on the property.
Before providing cover for this, the insurer will want to be sure that proper checks have been carried out on the tenants. Insurers like to know who is living in the property and will want to see references so for this reason it can be helpful to use a letting agent.
Commercial Property Owners Insurance
When insuring a commercial property, there may be many types of policies available from a number of various insurance companies to choose from. Making sure you have the correct commercial property owners insurance is very important.
As a landlord, you will be required to obtain insurance for certain risks. These risks are usually specified in the lease between you and your tenant. This may also be a stipulation made by your mortgage lender. These risks are normally:
- Buildings Insurance
- Property Owners Liability Insurance
- Loss of Rent in the event of damage or destruction to the buildings due to one the insured perils.
With shops and offices it is often a requirement that tenants cover plate glass, a risk which is often included in their shop owners or business risks policies.
It is usual practise for the landlord to arrange the insurance and collect the premiums from the tenant annually as service charges. This will be specified in the lease.
Where several tenants occupy one building, which is covered by one insurance policy, the lease should specify the apportionment of insurance costs amongst the tenants.
To ensure that the building is fully covered in terms of its replacement value a surveyor's insurance valuation will be required from time to time. It is in the tenant's interest just as much as the landlord's that the building is insured for its full replacement cost.
Always make sure you read information from the insurers about the product first. All policies will have exclusions and terms and conditions you may not be aware of. Although it may look like a great price, it may not be the best insurance for you!