What is landlord insurance?
Landlord insurance is similar to home insurance, but it's specifically designed to cover rental properties.
The three main types of landlord insurance are buildings, contents and liability insurance. Beyond these, there are various add-ons you may find useful, depending on the type of property you're letting.
You'll usually take out insurance on a property-by-property basis. Portfolio policies are available to landlords who own several rented homes and want to insure them all at the same time.
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Best landlord insurance providers
Finding the right landlord insurance policy can be tricky, so we've analysed the plans on offer from major providers such as Aviva, Axaand Direct Line.
Our experts rated 117 different aspects of landlord insurance policies, including their coverage of issues such as subsidence and malicious damage, to calculate the policy scores.
We also asked 872 landlords how satisfied they were with their insurance provider, and the likelihood of recommending the provider in the future.
Which? members can log in to see the results of our analysis. If you're not already a member, join Which? and get full access to these results and all our reviews.
| 84% | 74% | 80% | 93% | 96% | 80% | 65% | 58% | |
best buy | 80% | 65% | 78% | 82% | 83% | 85% | 70% | 87% |
| 78% | 74% | 75% | 78% | 88% | 80% | 65% | 61% | |
| 74% | 74% | 63% | 93% | 87% | 70% | 65% | 58% | |
AXA | 66% | 62% | 62% | 70% | 88% | 30% | 51% | 89% |
| 64% | 76% | 79% | 86% | 29% | 20% | 79% | 73% | |
| 63% | N/A | 71% | 74% | 46% | 30% | 54% | 95% |
Table notes: Policy scores are calculated based on all individual components, which are weighted as follows: buildings 40%, contents 20%, liability 20%, rent cover 10%, excess 5% and other factors 5% (weighting is based on how important each component is to landlords). *'Other factors' include admin charges for setting up, renewing, adjusting or cancelling your policy, interest for paying monthly and charges for defaulting on payments. 'N/A'- provider didn't get a large enough sample in our customer survey to receive a customer score.
How we chose the landlord insurance Best Buys
Best Buys are awarded to policies that stand out in our analysis as offering particularly high levels of cover.
Direct Line'spolicy and Alan Boswell Group's NIG policy were the only two our analysis found worthy of Best Buy status.
The policy from Direct Line fared particularly well for its rent cover (87%), while the NIG policy from Alan Boswell Group came joint second for liability cover.
Alan Boswell Group's Aviva policy actually achieved the highest policy score (84%), but missed out on Best Buy status due to Aviva's poor customer score and a higher-than-average percentage of upheld complaints made against it to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).
LVscores well for customer satisfaction, coming second in the customer score rankings (76%). But its overall policyscore was brought down by its liability and rent cover ratings, which came in below 30%, again meaning we didn't name its policy a Best Buy.
- Find out more:buy-to-let mortgages
Other providers worth considering
We only included providers that responded to our request for policy details in our table.
NFU Mutual didn't respond to our request, but it did top our customer score chart, earning a rating of 79%.
Our survey also yielded customer scores for CIA (63%), Simply Business (61%) and Aviva (57%), but they too did not respond to our request for policy details.
What type of landlord insurance do I need?
Insurance isn't as simple as 'one size fits all', and there are various add-ons and different types of cover landlords can opt for.
Buildings insurance
Buildings insurance covers damage to the structure of your property, as well as the cost of rebuilding the home if it's irreparably damaged.
You generally won't be able to take out a buy-to-let mortgage without proof of buildings insurance, and most lenders will specify the minimum level of cover they require in their terms and conditions.
If the property is a flat within a block, buildings insurance will usually be part of a shared block policy, which you'll pay for as part of your service charge.
Buildings insurance policies typically offer cover against the following types of damage:
- Theft, vandalism, malicious damage
- Lightning, storm, earthquake damage (may be limited to the building itself rather than fences etc)
- Subsidence
- Burst pipes
- Fire or smoke
- Oil or water impact caused by accidents
There may be gaps in buildings cover when it comes to damage that originates within individual flats - such as a fire or water leak. For this reason, it's very important to check exactly what's covered within the policy and to consider taking out your own landlord policy to cover any exemptions.
Contents insurance
Contents insurance can usually be taken out as a standalone policy or as an add-on to buildings insurance. The level of contents insurance you'll need depends on whether you're letting a furnished or unfurnished property.
A contents insurance policy will cover the cost of repairing or replacing fixtures and fittings such as carpets, furniture and electrical items if, for example, they're damaged in a flood, and some policies can be extended to cover accidental damage to items.
Landlord contents insurance policies only pay out on items that you've provided in the property. Anything that belongs to your tenants, from everyday belongings to furniture, won't be covered, so tenants should take out their own policy too.
Liability insurance
Liability insurance covers you if your tenant or a visitor suffers an injury in your property.
Also known as public liability cover, this insurance protects you financially against unforeseen accidents, but shouldn't be considered an excuse to not make the property as safe as possible for your tenants.
Liability insurance policies often have extremely high coverage limits stretching to millions of pounds, which could be necessary if you're held legally responsible for an accident and need to pay compensation.
Rent guarantee insurance
Rent guarantee insurance (otherwise known as tenant default insurance or rent receivable insurance) protects you if your tenant falls into arrears.
There are many reasons why your tenant might default on their payments, such as losing their job or struggling with the cost of living.
That's why rent guarantee insurance can come in handy as missed payments will be covered. It also usually includes legal expenses cover, which covers the costs of repossession and eviction proceedings if required.
When included in a policy, rent guarantee insurance is usually offered as an optional extra.
Rent guarantee is not to be confused with loss of rent insurance, which provides coverfor lost rental income during a claim if the property isn't habitable during that period.
Loss of rent is usually covered under a standard landlord building insurance policy. Rent guarantee, however, normally needs to be added on.
- Find out more:should you use a managing agent?
Home emergency cover
Home emergency cover offers round-the-clock cover against loss of essential services in your property.
These policies cover the cost of repairs and should enable you to get services up and running quickly.
Home emergency cover usually offers protection against the following issues:
- Plumbing and heating problems (you may need to pay extra for boiler cover)
- Roofing problems
- Issues with doors and windows
- Drains, pipes and sewer problems
- Infestations
- Electricity problems
- Lost keys
However, past research by Which? has found that some home emergencypolicies contain exclusions that can undermine the value of the cover, so make sure you read the small print before taking out a policy.
How much does landlord insurance cost?
The amount you'll pay for landlord insurance depends on a whole host of factors, including your claim history and the age and history of the property itself.
Other factors include:
- Location and type of property
- Number of tenants
- Rebuild cost of property
- Level of contents you're insuring
- The level of excess you choose
Membership of a landlord accreditation scheme may entitle you to a discount from some insurers.
Check you're getting a great deal and search for a new home insurance policy using the service provided by Confused.com. Get a quote now
How to find landlord insurance
There are a number of ways you can find and buy landlord insurance, including:
- Price comparison websites
- Directly from insurance companies online or by phone
- Through an insurance broker
- Through a financial adviser
As with any financial product, you should always shop around and compare quotes, and if you're unsure take independent advice before rushing in.
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How to claim on your landlord insurance
If you need to make a claim, you should contact your insurer directly. It's important to do this as soon as possible, as waiting too long could result in the claim being rejected.
Once you've filed a claim, you'll need to provide evidence of what, when and how the issue occurred and what it'll cost to rectify it.
You should provide your insurer with any documents that could help them, including photos, estimates for repairs, invoices and any police report reference numbers if applicable.
How long it'll take your insurer to investigate the claim and respond can vary, so check the conditions of your policy.
Landlord insurance policies: key terms
Insurance documents can be confusing, especially if you're not familiar with the terminology.
Some of the keywords and phrases you'll need to get your head around when choosing a policy, are:
Insurance policies describe the things they cover as 'perils'. The perils list should be one of the first things you consult when choosing an insurer, as coverage differs between providers.
Insurers will generally allow you to add on extra types of cover (at a cost), and some will allow you to build your own bespoke policy, though in the case of buildings insurance this would have to meet the standards set by your mortgage lender.
The rebuild cost of your property only covers the raw cost of material and labour to rebuild your home, so it may be lower than its market value.
If you want to work out your property's rebuild cost, you can pay for a house survey or use an online calculator, such as the one provided by the Association of British Insurers.
The 'sum insured' is the maximum amount an insurer will pay out for any single claim.
As a rule of thumb, the sum insured should be equal to the rebuild cost of your property.
Insurers usually adopt an 'automatic reimbursem*nt' process for the sum insured. This means that after you've made a claim the maximum sum insured will usually stay the same; however, your premium may cost more when you renew.
When you make a claim on an insurance policy, you'll usually need to pay something towards the cost. This is called the excess.
The level of excess has a big effect on how much the policy will cost you in the first place, so choosing the right amount is very much a balancing act.
For example, standard insurance policies may charge as much as £500 excess on plumbing claims or £1,000 excess on subsidence claims. You can negotiate this down, but you'll need to pay more up-front for the cover.
Rent guarantee insurance will generally come with an excess of one month's rent.
Insurance policies will always feature a list of things that they don't cover. These are called exclusions.
Always take a close look at the exclusions list before choosing a policy.
- Find out more:the comprehensive Which? guide to becoming a landlord
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