4* Defaqto rated landlord insurance

Residential properties are rental properties that are let to residential tenants under a tenancy agreement. They are often houses, flats or maisonettes, and may be let to student or non-student tenants.

Commercial properties are rental properties that are let for business purposes to commercial tenants. Commercial premises are used by many different types of business and vary in size from shops and restaurants to leisure centres and factories.

What is commercial property insurance?

Do you have multiple residential or commercial properties, a mixed portfolio of both, or a single property which is let to both residential and commercial tenants (such as flats above a shop)? If so, it could pay to insure them under one policy.

Non-standard properties are specialist rentals such as holiday homes, buildings of a non-standard construction or unoccupied properties. Rental properties that are affected by subsidence or liable to flooding are also likely to require specialist insurance cover.

We can provide:

• Flooded home insurance
• Holiday home insurance
• Renovation home insurance
• Subsidence home insurance
• Barn conversion insurance
• Flat roof home insurance
• Listed and period property insurance

If as a landlord or management company you own all of the flats or apartments within a single block or complex, you may wish to insure them on a single landlord insurance policy. This will ease the burden of admin and could mean you get better value for money.

If you’re renting out a property to tenants, whether it’s a single residential property or a large commercial premises, it’s important to make sure that you’re fully protected.

A policy will provide cover to protect the landlord’s buildings, contents or both against a range of perils, such as fire, flood, theft and malicious damage. Optional accidental damage insurance will further protect your buildings and/or contents against accidental damage caused by you or your tenants.

When you obtain a quote you’ll usually be able to choose additional landlord cover depending on the type of property you’re looking to insure, such as home emergency cover, legal cover or employers’ liability insurance.

While insurance isn’t compulsory by law, it may be a requirement of your mortgage or loan provider to make sure you have landlord buildings insurance in place.

While buying rental properties can be a great investment, those who are new to being a landlord don’t always realise that they may need specialist landlord insurance to cover the properties they rent out. This is often also a requirement for their mortgage providers. Luckily, there are many insurance options available to landlords to protect their let properties, and their income.

The type of landlord insurance you need for your rental properties will depend on a number of factors, including:

• What type of property are you renting? For example is it a single residential property, or a block of flats?
• How many properties do you own? If you’re insuring multiple let properties, portfolio insurance may prove cost-effective – you can find out more about multi-property insurance below.
• Who are your tenants? If you’re renting to students you may want to consider specialist student landlord insurance.
• Will the property be unoccupied? If it will be unoccupied long term, you may want to consider unoccupied property insurance
• Is it a permanent or temporary let? Is there an assured tenancy agreement in place, or are you renting it out as a holiday home? Endsleigh’s holiday home insurance will provide essential buildings insurance protection for your holiday or second home, including properties let through agencies such as Airbnb.
• Is it being let furnished or unfurnished? This will tell you whether you need contents insurance as well as cover for the buildings.

Should I furnish my rental property?

Endsleigh’s residential landlord building insurance will provide cover for:

• The cost for repairing or rebuilding your property, including garages, outbuildings, walls, gates, fences and patios, up to £1,000,000
• Property owners’ liability up to £5,000,000 for bodily injury to any person by accident
• Accidental damage to property
• Employers liability up to £5,000,000
• Malicious damage by the tenant or their guests up to £25,000
• Up to 30% of the sum insured for loss of rent and up to £3,000 for alternative accommodation
• Up to £7,500 trace and access cover

You can also choose to add useful covers to your policy, such as home emergency or landlord legal cover.

Please read your policy documents for full details.

We are unable to provide the following covers under our residential landlord insurance policy:

• Wear and tear or costs for maintenance
• Storm damage to gates, fences and hedges
• Pet damage (although we can provide cover for this with our lets with pets landlord insurance)
• Your tenants’ belongings
• Your excess, as stated on your policy documents

Please read your policy documents for full details. 

The cost of landlord insurance can vary and is determined by a number of factors. The premium is calculated based on your insurance history, as an individual, as well as the insurance history of the property.

Other factors can include:

• Property location
• Type of property
• Type and number of tenants
• Claims history
• The level of cover you need for the rebuilding cost of the property
• The level of contents cover you choose, if you add this to your policy
• Discounts are available for no claims history and if you’re an accredited landlord
• Discounts may also apply if you take out landlord portfolio insurance, where you can insure multiple properties under the same policy. As a general rule of thumb, the more properties that are covered under a policy, the cheaper the premium.

It’s important to be as accurate as possible when you provide this information so your quote is reflective of your circumstances. If false or inaccurate information is provided, it may invalidate the policy in the event of a claim.

If you’re unsure, speak to one of our insurance consultants who will be happy to help.

There are a lot of up-front costs to take care of when you become a landlord, which could include anything from letting and managing agent fees to the price of property maintenance - not to mention your mortgage (if you have one). Therefore, you’re likely to want to save money wherever possible – including your insurance premiums. 

To help you out, we’ve pulled together 5 simple tips that could help reduce the cost of your landlord insurance:

1. Increase your excess

Opting for a higher buildings or contents excess could ultimately reduce the cost of your landlord insurance – you’ll just need to make sure the excess is set at an amount you’re comfortable paying in the event of a claim.

2. Make sure your rebuild is right

It can be easy to over-insure, but unfortunately this can increase the cost of your insurance - which is why it’s important to get the rebuild right for your properties. You can find out more about calculating your rebuild here.

3. Consider whether you need portfolio insurance

If you’re renting out multiple properties, you could get a cheaper deal by taking out portfolio insurance – not only that, but it’ll save a lot of time on the paperwork!

4. Avoid unnecessary cover

Think carefully about the cover you actually need for your property – for example, if the property is being let unfurnished you may not require landlord contents insurance.

5. Decide whether to pay monthly or annually

While paying monthly is a great way to spread the cost of your insurance, you may pay slightly more to do so – so it’s worth considering whether you would prefer to pay annually to cut down your insurance costs.

If you’re letting your property furnished, you may require landlord contents cover to protect any items you own in the property. You can easily add contents cover onto your landlord buildings insurance with Endsleigh.

Endsleigh’s contents cover can protect your items - such as your carpets, curtains, furniture, household utensils, kitchen electrical goods and soft furnishings - against a number of different risks, such as if they are damaged in a flood or a fire or are stolen.

A single article limit of £2,500 applies and you cannot insure personal items or valuables or any items belonging to your tenants, so if you have any particularly expensive items (such as fine art or jewellery) you may need to investigate covering these separately.

In the event of a claim your contents will be replaced with a deduction made for wear and tear. This includes temporary removal cover and occupiers liability up to £2 million. Plus we automatically provide cover for garden contents up to £500 and for gardening equipment up to £1,000.

While home insurance will provide protection for your property’s buildings and any contents that you own (depending on the covers you selected when you took out your policy), it won’t necessarily provide cover for the additional risks involved with renting out a property – such as accidental or malicious damage by tenants or periods of prolonged unoccupancy.

Buildings insurance provides cover for the structure of your property against risks such as fire, theft and flood.

Landlord insurance, on the other hand, is a policy that can protect your rental property’s buildings and contents against risks such as fire, theft and flood, as well as providing cover for additional risks such as loss of rent and accidental damage or malicious damage caused by tenants.

The term ‘landlord insurance’ can also sometimes be used to refer to additional landlord policies, such as rent guarantee insurance or home emergency cover.

Yes - Endsleigh’s residential landlord insurance policy provides cover for malicious damage by tenants (and their guests) as standard up to £25,000.

First things first, what’s the difference between a tenant and a lodger?

• If the person lives in your home and you share facilities - such as the kitchen, bathroom and front door - then they are a lodger.
• If they live in a separate property, or have their own entrance and facilities (such as a house converted into flats where you occupy one of the flats), then they are a tenant and should have a formal tenancy agreement in place.

If you decide to take on a lodger to supplement your income, you will need to notify your home insurance provider as this could affect the cover you have in place. Some insurance providers may restrict cover if you have a lodger (such as excluding break-in where there is no forced entry), increase your premium due to the increased risk, or you may need to find an alternative policy. 

If you’re a leaseholder, you may also need to check the terms of your lease and/ or notify the freeholder before taking on a lodger.

Freehold versus Leasehold: What’s the difference?

Find out more about tenancies and the different types of property ownership.

It can get complicated trying to arrange insurance for multiple properties – especially if you’re covering them through multiple providers, meaning each property has its own set of policy documents and renewal date.

If you’re renting out more than one property, you may find it both time-saving and cost-effective to cover all your properties under one roof with a portfolio insurance policy.

All you have to do is speak to one of our expert let property consultants to easily add or remove properties from your policy, only paying for the time that the properties are on cover (pro-rata).

Endsleigh’s landlord portfolio insurance will provide:

• Buildings insurance up to the sum insured stated on your policy documents
• £5,000 contents cover per property
• Malicious damage cover by tenants (including students, housing association tenants and HMOs)
• Property owners’ liability up to £10 million
• Loss of rent and alternative accommodation cover following an insured event
• Up to 120 days unoccupancy cover

No, landlord insurance is not a legal requirement – although it may be a requirement for your mortgage to have buildings insurance in place.

However, there are other legal requirements involved with renting properties to tenants - such as carrying out regular gas safety checks on your properties and providing certain paperwork at the start of the tenancy.

Download the landlord and tenant responsibilities guide.

The excesses applicable when you make a claim with Endsleigh can vary depending on the type of insurance you hold, as well as the claim you are making.

With Endsleigh’s landlord building and contents insurance, the standard excess for most claims in £250 excesses but can differ depending on the nature of the claim. The most frequent excesses are subsidence (£1,000), malicious damage or vandalism (£1,000) and escape of water or oil £500).

For landlords who have insured more than five properties on one policy (portfolio insurance), you may incur excesses for property damage (£200) or subsidence (£1,000).

There is no excess for home emergency cover. 

Property owners’ liability insurance is usually included as standard on a landlord insurance policy, and will protect you if a tenant or visitor becomes injured in (or as a result of) your property. This cover is essentially public liability insurance for landlords.

For example, if a loose tile were to fall off the roof and hit your tenant or a passer-by, you may be liable to pay compensation and it can often be expensive to resolve. Liability cover can mitigate this risk.

With Endsleigh’s residential landlord insurance, property owners’ liability cover is provided up to £5,000,000.

Before you get a landlord insurance quote, it’s useful to have certain information to hand to make the process quicker and easier. Find out the following information about your property:

• What type of property is it? 
• What’s the construction? 
• Is there any flat-roof? If your roof is flat over a certain percentage, you may need specialist flat roof insurance.
• When was the property built? Is it a listed property? 
• What security is in place at your property?
• Does the property have a history of subsidence, landslip or flooding?
• What’s the rebuild value of your property? If you’re unsure, the ABI rebuild calculator may be able to help
• Do you need cover for any landlord contents?