It’s likely to be one of the stiffest challenges for any buy to let landlord these days – and in the years to come. And that is keeping up with the ever-changing and increasingly rigorous energy efficiency standards demanded by law of any property in the private rented sector.

So, let’s take a closer look at the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rules for rented property.

The law

Since October 2008, any private rented dwelling in England and Wales requires a valid Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). The certificate confirms the energy efficiency of your let property which is given a rating between A and G – where a G rating is the most inefficient and an A rating the most energy-efficient.

Subsequently, stricter Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) came into force on the 1^st of April 2018, setting new standards by which any new tenancy starting after that date would have to have an EPC rating of at least an E rating. With effect from the 1^st of April 2020, every let property – new and existing tenancies – has been required to conform to the minimum E rating of the MEES.

The relevant legislation is the Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2019 and it is unlawful to let a property without the stipulated EPC rating. Different but similar legislation applies in Scotland and in Northern Ireland.

Exceptions

The government appears to have recognised the financial impact these energy efficiency standards may have on those landlords forced to upgrade older and less energy-efficient properties:

• once a landlord has spent £3,500 (including VAT) on any upgrade to a property, no further improvements need to be made, and you can apply for an exemption from further MEES enforcement; and

• if you can prove that the works necessary to improve the property’s energy efficiency will devalue or damage it, or if you have been unable to obtain the necessary third-party permissions (from sitting tenants or a freeholder, for example) you may again register an exemption.

Some Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) – multi-occupancy dwellings where several households share basic facilities such as the kitchen, bathroom, and toilet – are exempt from the MEES standards, as are hostels. In all other cases, a certificate is required for each flat or house you might be letting.

Where an EPC is required, the certificate remains valid for 10 years and you must arrange a separate EPC for every let property you own.

On the horizon

But landlords are not yet done with the EPC challenge. At the end of 2020, the government held further consultations on the feasibility of rolling out stricter energy-efficiency standards still.

The upshot of that consultation exercise was a decision in principle by the government to strengthen the standards further through the requirement that all new tenancies created after 2025 would have to be in dwellings with an EPC rating of C or above.

That new standard would then be applied to all tenancies – including new and existing tenancies – by the year 2028. Although the current exemptions would continue to apply, the price cap on the cost of improvements is expected to be raised from £3,500 to £10,000.

The timeline for the introduction of these standards is incorporated in a Private Members Bill before Parliament that has been tabled by Lord Foster.

It remains to be seen, of course, during these times of escalating inflation, whether landlords will be able to afford the expense of still further energy-efficiency improvements.

Disclaimer: Please note that this information is based on the author’s current understanding of legislation and may be liable to change. Please always check with the relevant body if you require further guidance or confirmation.

As the property market begins to cool in the face of rising inflation the government releases new plans for extending the Right to Buy. Other UK property news reveals the latest coastal hotspots for affordable – and dry – places to live while some landlords are coming to the rescue of financially hard-pressed tenants.

PM announces new cost of living plan including extension of Right to Buy scheme

iNews on the 9^th of June carried reports about a recent speech in which Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged support for more first-time buyers by extending the Right to Buy to housing association tenants (council house tenants are currently eligible to participate in Right to Buy schemes).

The Prime Minister also spoke about increasing the availability of low-deposit mortgages so that low-paid workers could also use any housing benefits included in their Universal Credit receipts to get a first step on the housing ladder.

The twin-pronged housing initiative was announced to a fanfare that it would “unbolt the door to ownership”.

Housing market shows signs of cooling, says Halifax

There are signs that the housing market – recently characterised by runaway price increases – seems to be cooling, according to a report by the BBC on the 8^th of June, citing figures compiled by the Halifax building society.

The average price of a home in the UK continued to climb throughout the month of May – taking the annual growth to 10.5% a – prices grew at their slowest rate in four months, although May still marked the eleventh consecutive month of increases.

In its report on the latest figures, the Halifax noted that the number of mortgage applications was beginning to fall as households faced the inflationary pressures of higher costs of living. This has reduced the demand from buyers and re-established a closer balance between supply and demand – so, also reducing the rate at which house prices will grow.

Best coastal towns and cities to relocate to in the UK – from cheapest to driest

The recent pandemic sparked a surge of interest in moving to live beside the seaside – and a story in the Express newspaper on the 7^th of June revealed some of the most popular choices, together with those with the driest and sunniest weather.

Ranking the coastal locations according to the affordability of homes there, together with the favourable climate, the Kentish resort of Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey came out on top, with Shanklin on the Isle of Wight running a close second, while a second coastal town in Kent, Minster-on-sea, which is also on the Isle of Sheppey, came in third place overall.

Completing the top 5 coastal hotspots was yet another town in Kent, the port of Dover, and Holyhead on the Isle of Anglesey.

Landlords bail out struggling tenants

As inflation begins to take its toll and the cost of living plunges many private sector tenants into the danger of rent arrears, many landlords are coming to the rescue, explained a story in the Daily Mail on the 2^nd of June.

A recent survey of more than 700 landlords revealed that more than four in ten of them were helping their cash-strapped tenants by reducing the rent by up to £50 a month.

By coming to the rescue in this fashion, some of those landlords were allowing the rent reduction for as long as the next six months or more.

Despite many landlords leaping to the help of their tenants, 45% of those surveyed admitted that any rent reduction made them suffer financially, although 38% said they would maintain rents at the same level in the coming 12 months despite the difficult financial climate.

55% of those surveyed said that they would have to increase rents in the coming year.

With buy to let mortgage repayments to meet, maintaining your property in a good state of repair, and not to mention the search for dependable tenants who are going to pay their rent on time, you’re may not put insurance at the top of your list of priorities.

But insurance for landlords is a safeguard that might be overlooked at your peril – and here are just some of the reasons:

• calamities such as fire, floods and impacts may cause severe damage to the structure and fabric of your let property (and – in a worst-case scenario – the entire premises may need to be rebuilt);
• the contents of your let property may also be vulnerable to loss or damage – not least as a result of accidental or malicious damage by your tenants;
• allegations that you are the liable property owner for injuries or property damage suffered by third parties might run into the hundreds of thousands of pounds;
• a significant amount of rent may be lost if you are temporarily unable to let the property because of damage caused during an insured event; and
• legal expenses might quickly mount up if you need to challenge insurance claims or defend your property against other action in some way.

Insurance for landlords is the prudent way to safeguard your financial interests against such potential losses.

No ordinary homeowner

Even this brief list of potential perils suggests one of the key features of insurance for landlords – it is qualitatively different from the insurance arranged by owner-occupiers.

Certainly, there may be some similarity, owing to the simple fact that each type of insurance offers protection for the physical structure of the property, and of its owner’s contents, but the similarity ends more or less there.

The owner-occupier, of course, is intent on insuring the home in which he or she lives. The landlord is insuring a let property owned as a business.

The business use of any let property is a critical aspect of its insurance. The risks faced when you are running a business – and your property is, therefore, occupied by tenants – are of a quite different nature and order compared to those when it is your own residence, and you and your family yourselves are living there.

The difference is critical because it affects the risk taken on by your insurer. Where the risks are those of a let property and you have tenants in occupation, for instance, standard home building and contents insurance, such as that typically arranged by an owner-occupier, is inappropriate.

If that is the cover on which you are relying, any subsequent claim may be turned down by your insurer.

It is essential to ensure that you arrange the appropriate insurance for the type of property you own – regular home insurance if you are an owner-occupier, but landlord insurance if it is let property.

Where can I buy insurance for landlords?

As might have become clear, therefore, landlord insurance is something of a specialist, niche product. For such a product, it may be sensible to look to an experienced, specialist insurance provider – such as ourselves here at Cover4LetProperty – to secure the particular cover you require as a landlord.

Whilst it is simple and straightforward to arrange for an insurance quote online, insurance for landlords may need to be tailored to the specific circumstances of the individual landlord.

In that case, you might want to give us a call on our direct, dedicated helpline – which is completely free of any of the annoyances you might encounter when using a call centre. We’d be very happy to help!

It is a safeguard you may be overlooking at your peril:

• calamities such as fire, floods and impacts may cause severe damage to the structure and fabric of your let property (to the point even that it needs to be totally re-built);

• your contents of the let property may also be vulnerable to loss or damage – not least as a result of accidental or malicious damage by your tenants;

• claims against your liabilities as the property owner might run into the hundreds of thousands of pounds;

• a significant amount of rent may be lost if you are temporarily unable to let the property because of damage caused by one of the insured events; and

• legal expenses might quickly mount up if you need to challenge insurance claims or defend your property against other action in some way.

No ordinary home owner

Even this short list of potential perils suggests one of the key features of insurance for landlords – it is qualitatively different from the insurance arranged by owner occupiers. Certainly, there may be some similarity in the fact that each type of insurance offers protection for the physical structure of the property, and of its owner’s contents, but the similarity ends more or less there.

The owner occupier, of course, is intent on insuring the home in which he or she lives. The landlord is insuring a let property owned as a business.

According to the Telegraph newspaper (April 2015), there are some 2 million such landlords in business in Britain at the moment – and their economic contribution is probably not given the political support it deserves, says the paper’s correspondent.

The business use of the let property is a critical aspect of its insurance. The risks faced when you are running a business and your property if occupied by tenants are of a quite different nature and order compared to those when it is your own residence and you are living there yourself.

The difference is critical because it affects the risk taken on by your insurer. Where the risks are those of a let property and you have tenants in occupation, for instance, standard home building and contents insurance as might be arranged by an owner occupier is inappropriate and if this is the cover on which you are relying any claim may be turned down by your insurer.

Where can I buy it?

It may be apparent, therefore, that landlord insurance is something of a specialist, niche product. For such a product, it may be sensible to look to an experienced, specialist insurance provider – such as us here at Cover4LetProperty – to secure the particular cover you require as a landlord.

Whilst it is simple and straight forward to arrange for an insurance quote online, insurance for landlords frequently needs to be tailored to the specific circumstances of the individual landlord. In that case, you might want to give us a call on our direct, dedicated helpline – which is completely free of any of the annoyances you might encounter when using a call centre.

With particular aspects of the cover tailored to suit your specific needs, the insurance then typically provides protection for the physical structure and fabric of your let property, any contents within it that you own (if you have elected for landlords’ contents cover), indemnity against claims arising from your liabilities as a landlord or property owner, and compensation (up to prescribed limits) for any loss of rental income following an insured event.

An EPC – an Energy Performance Certificate – is a document required by the landlord or owner of any residential or commercial property under construction or intended for sale or for rent.

Although EPCs are regulated and administered separately in England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, you can face stiff fines if you do not have an EPC when one is needed.

If you are a landlord, in recent years EPCs have become more than ever critical measures of energy efficiency standards that must be maintained by any property you intend to let – and which must not be let until that standard is achieved.

What does the EPC show?

The certificate confirms the energy efficiency of a property by giving it a rating between A and G – where A means very efficient, and G means inefficient.

The EPC is colour coded and in appearance resembles those stickers you see attached to any electrical appliance (such as fridges and freezers) you may have bought recently.

Unlike appliances, however, the energy rating for your property may be enhanced by making some or all of the improvements identified in the EPC – measures such as better insulation or replacing your light bulbs with energy-saving ones.

When letting your property, there may be some advantage in letting tenants know the efforts you have made to reduce their energy costs: this might make finding tenants easier and encourage them to stay for longer. In any event, you need to make a copy of the EPC available to your tenants. There is a fixed penalty for failing to do so.

An EPC is valid for ten years – although you may want to update it, of course, to reflect any energy-saving improvements you have made during that time.

If you a letting a property in multi-occupancy (with facilities shared by several tenant households) or are running a hostel, no EPC is required. In all other cases, a certificate is required for each flat or house you might be letting.

EPCs for landlords

A raft of new legislation and regulations have thrown EPCs into steadily greater importance as far as landlords of private rented property are concerned.

Guidance published on the 22^nd of April by the online letting agency Letting a Property, reviewed the history of EPCs, with particular reference to their impact on landlords.

While private rented properties have all required an EPC since 2008, the stricter Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) which came into force on the 1^st of April 2018 required all new tenancies to have an EPC of at least an E rating. That requirement was extended to all tenancies – including existing ones – with effect from the 1^st of April 2020. If you let a property without the minimum required EPC, you are breaking the law.

At the end of that same year, following further consultations by the government, the latter announced its intention to strengthen MEES requirements still further with the proposal that, in the future, all new tenancies must be for let properties that achieve an EPC rating of C or above by 2025. That standard would then be extended to all existing tenancies by the year 2028.

How do I get one?

Clearly, the production of an EPC requires some technical expertise and qualification. The inspection and certification must be made by an accredited person, known as a domestic energy assessor, who is typically a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

If your property is in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland, you can use the government website to find a qualified energy assessor in your area to arrange an inspection and the issue of a new EPC. You can also use the site’s search function to view and print any existing EPC for the property. The process is somewhat different if the property is in Scotland.

At a time of rapidly escalating energy costs, you might also want to review guidance published by the Department of Energy and Climate Change entitled “Help towards lower bills and warmer homes”. You might also consider leaving a copy of this guide to greet any new tenants moving into your let property.

Please note that this blog is based on our current understanding of legislation and may be liable to change.

The role of a buy to let landlord is becoming ever more difficult and financial success is by no means assured. Working with a letting agent might ease some of the many – and increasing – responsibilities you have to take on so that you are released to concentrate on what will really make your business thrive.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the issues.

What you’re up against

Speak to any buy to let landlord and you are likely to discover just how much effort goes into running the business:

• from the very outset – as soon as you begin advertising the let;
• finding suitable tenants;
• conducting reference checks;
• collecting deposits and arranging their formal safekeeping – in accordance with the relevant deposit protection scheme;
• drafting, agreeing, and signing tenancy agreements;
• drawing up and conducting inventories;
• arranging annual inspections for the safety of gas and electrical installations;
• arranging for ongoing repairs and maintenance throughout the tenancy;
• ensuring that rent is paid on time;
• answering all manner of enquiries from the tenant;
• conducting a further inventory at the end of the tenancy;
• agreeing to the terms for the return of any deposit; and then
• starting the whole process over again for the next tenancy.

Little wonder, therefore, that being a landlord can become more than a full-time job. If you want some of that pressure to be taken off your shoulders, you might consider turning to letting agencies. Why? What do they do?

The role of the letting agent

Depending on the specific contract of agreement for letting agency services, landlords typically request help on one of two levels.

Tenancy matters

Probably the most usual form of agreement sees the landlord handing over to the letting agent responsibility for every aspect of advertising and selecting tenants and taking up references for suitable candidates.

The letting agent is typically then also responsible for drawing up the tenancy agreement, arranging receipt of the deposit, conducting an inventory, collecting the rent, and generally maintaining a channel of first communication with the tenant throughout the tenancy. The letting agent will then conduct the final inventory and arrange the return of the appropriate share of any deposit originally received.

The task of checking and vetting tenants is already quite onerous. The validity of your landlord insurance policy may depend on that vetting to have been done rigorously and the law imposes a further onerous responsibility – the so-called Right to Rent obligations.

The Immigration Act of 2014 included provisions referring to the Right to Rent and the obligation imposed on landlords of private rented property to establish and confirm the immigration status of any prospective tenant and members of their household.

But this, too, is one of the landlord’s duties and responsibilities that may be signed over in an agreement in writing between the landlord and the letting agent instructed by him. Letting agents may need to check and inspect the original documents identifying not only the prospective tenant but also of any other individual planning to live on the let premises and to keep copies of those documents as a record.

Following the Covid outbreak, the government introduced measures to allow these checks to be made entirely online. Those simplified arrangements are scheduled for review at the end of September 2022.

Full-service property management

In addition to the responsibility for managing every aspect of your relationship with the tenants, you may also instruct letting agents to take on wider property management responsibilities, including the responsibility for ensuring that the property is adequately and regularly maintained and that repairs are carried out as and when necessary.

Who pays?

This is another area in which the law is explicit. The Tenant Fees Act came into force on the 1^st of June 2019.

As the housing charity Shelter explained in guidance published on the 23^rd of February 2022, the provisions of the Act make it an offence for landlords or letting agents to charge tenants fees for services such as taking up references, making credit or Right to Rent checks, administration of the tenancy, or for renewing a tenancy when it reaches its agreed term.

In other words, if you decide to instruct letting agents to take care of all your tenancy matters or on a full-service property management basis, you will need to accept responsibility for meeting the agent’s fees and charges – they cannot be charged to the tenant, and you may face stiff financial penalties if you attempt to do so.

Summary

Only you can decide whether you wish to hand over some of your responsibilities as landlord to a letting agent. We hope this blog has given you some food for thought.

Further reading: Guide to choosing a letting agent.

A healthy landlord-tenant relationship is one based on mutual respect and trust. Your tenants expect you to maintain the property, keeping it safe and free from health hazards. You can expect your tenants to treat the place with the care and respect it deserves. That means your tenants playing their part in preventing household problems.

What you can expect from your tenants

In guidance published on the 7^th of April 2022, the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) reminded landlords that tenants have an obligation to behave in a “tenant like” way.

That’s quite a vague formulation but Citizens Advice explains that it means tenants should be held generally responsible for:

• doing minor repairs – like changing light bulbs and fuses;

• keeping the accommodation clean and tidy;

• not causing damage to the property – or allowing their visitors to do so; and

• using the facilities sensibly – avoiding blockages by trying to flush something unsuitable down the toilet, for instance.

While these examples may also be open to interpretation, the following might help to flesh out the issues.

Electrical safety checks

Landlords in England are obliged to have the electrical installation in any let property checked and tested when a tenancy begins and at least once every five years thereafter.

But the onus is on tenants to report any electrical failure or fault to the landlord, grant the necessary access to allow the inspection, and maintain their own electrical appliances in safe working order.

Gardens and drainage

If the let property has a garden for the tenants’ use, the tenancy agreement will spell out responsibilities for its upkeep and maintenance.

As the landlord, you remain responsible for the external condition of the property but can reasonably expect your tenants to exercise care to ensure that debris from the garden – fallen leaves, for example – does not block or clog the drains.

Central heating and hot water

Maintaining your let property in a good state of repair and fit for habitation typically means providing some form of heating – especially for the provision of hot water.

If there is a failure of the central heating boiler or other means of providing hot water, you should be able to rely on your tenants to let you know as soon as possible – and it then becomes your responsibility to fix or repair any problems that are found.

Don’t forget that landlords are legally required to have all gas appliances and installations checked annually.

Loft space

The loft space in a let property might be something of a grey area. It is not part of the living space but may still be let as part of the tenancy.

Dacorum Borough Council (in northwest Hertfordshire) has published useful guidance on the use of the loft space in its council houses – and the same principles typically extend to homes with lofts in the private rented sector.

The guidance explains that if tenants have access to a loft, they can use it to store lightweight items only. They must not store items directly onto loft insulation or the plasterboard of ceilings and will be held responsible for any damage caused by going into the loft – if they step on un-boarded plasterboard and put a foot through the ceiling, for example.

Mutual confidence

Just as your tenants have the right to expect you to keep to your obligations as a landlord, so you might also rely on your tenants to play their part – that is the way to establishing a relationship based on mutual trust and confidence.

After many months of runaway increases in the price of the average home, the leading headlines making present property news all point to a marked slowing down of a market impacted by the rising cost of living.

Other UK property news stories feature a renewed push to extend Right to Buy legislation, a peculiarly British fascination with the humble beach hut, and the size of the deposit currently required by the first-time buyer.

UK house price growth slows as cost of living crisis starts to hit market

Although April marked the ninth consecutive month of increases in the average house price in the UK, that growth is beginning to slow, according to a story in the Guardian newspaper on the 29^th of April.

The increase for the month was a modest 0.3% – taking the overall average across the UK to a record £267,620. This was the smallest monthly increase since September last year and compared with the 1.1% increase in March.

House prices are now up by 12.1% on the year – reflecting a decline from the annual figure of 14.3% recorded in March. The spate of increases also reflected a surge in demand from house hunters eager to find bigger homes and gardens yet the market’s failure to supply sufficient properties to meet that demand.

As inflation, the rising cost of living, and more expensive mortgages begin to impact household budgets, house prices appear to be growing less quickly.

Government considers giving more tenants the Right to Buy

First introduced by Margaret Thatcher for council tenants more than 40 years ago, the present government is now considering extending the Right to Buy to all tenants, including those in the private rented sector, according to Landlord Today on the 3^rd of May.

As a first step, the extended scheme would see a Right to Buy extended to housing association tenants – currently some 2.5 million households.

An alternative idea under consideration by the government is to encourage recipients of Universal Credit benefit payments to use that money to secure a mortgage on a home of their own.

Beach hut owners in Essex town under fire for ‘customising’ their luxury wooden sheds 

Britain’s peculiar love affair with the humble beach hut might have hit the rocks if a story in the Daily Mail on the 2^nd of May is anything to go by.

The story recounts criticism and threats by the council to withdraw beach hut licences if owners at Frinton-on-Sea, in Essex, fail to abide by the rules governing the “improvement” or “customisation” of their huts.

Some owners have been found to have extended their beach hut, added a veranda, or built a patio alongside – all without the required authorisation by the local council. The council also reserves the right to determine exactly what colour any beach hut is painted.

By flouting the council’s rules, owners have been warned that they could face losing their licence to occupy the beach hut – and with it, the loss of the potential £80,000 premium for which those licences currently change hands.

First-time buyer deposits soar more than 50% in a decade

The average first-time buyer needs to find a deposit of £45,569 research by the online listings website Zoopla reports on the 26^th of April.

This represents an increase of a staggering 54% on the £23,625 which was the average first-time buyer’s deposit just ten years ago.

It is not only the absolute value of the deposit that has increased but also its percentage of the total purchase price of a home. Ten years ago, first-time buyers put down an average of 17% of the home’s purchase price as a deposit. Today, that percentage is 20%.

Recent property news in the UK continues to focus on the runaway increase in prices post-pandemic. But there are also warnings on the horizon about the rising cost of living and the difficulties faced by many tenants in meeting their energy bills.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the latest UK property news.

House price rise since first lockdown revealed

Since the first in the succession of lockdowns was imposed just over two years ago, the average house price in the UK has gone up by £43,577, according to a story by the BBC on the 7^th of April.

That price rise of 18.2% has taken the cost of an average home to £282,753.

The surge in prices has been fuelled by a so-called “race for space” – which is borne out by a 21% increase in a typical detached home during the period in question, compared with just an 11% increase in the price of the average flat.

The market has been inflated still further an imbalance between supply and demand with relatively few homes listed for sale.

Claims that landlords feel they should help tenants offset energy bills

A buy to let management platform, GetGround, claims that more and more landlords are coming around to the view that they should lend practical help to those tenants struggling to pay their energy bills in the face of the rising cost of living and price inflation.

According to the story in Landlord Today on the 11^th of April, landlords are hoping to help tenants meet spiralling energy costs by carrying out energy efficiency improvements to their let properties.

Landlords who want to help in this way are turning to energy improvements in homes they already own rather than investing in more modern or energy-efficient properties.

Homebuyers could struggle with mortgages as UK banks tighten affordability tests

Inflation, the rising cost of daily essentials, imminent tax increases, and higher energy bills are all having an impact on the way in which mortgage lenders have to compute the affordability of loans, according to a story published in the Guardian newspaper on the 11^th of April.

The rising pressures on household budgets mean that the average borrower will find it more difficult to meet new mortgage commitments.

Financial analysts argue that lenders’ current tightening of affordability rules is probably the most severe since 2009. Interest rates are on the increase while the cost of living is rising at a pace last seen in the 1980s. In the face of those pressures, mortgage lenders are bound to question whether an advance remains affordable – and, if not, will reduce the size of the loan that is offered.

As borrowing becomes more difficult, of course, those same analysts explain that buyers will lower their sights and the housing market, in general, will be expected to slow down.

Shirley in Solihull is new buyer competition hotspot

In some parts of the country, the competition among buyers in the housing market is notably higher than in others, reveals a report conducted by online listings website Rightmove.

The current hotspot – where competition among buyers has grown the fastest – is Solihull in the Midlands where there is now more than twice the number bidding for homes as there were 12 months ago.

Other property hotspots where such competition has more than doubled include Jesmond, in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Chorlton cum Hardy in Greater Manchester. London boroughs that have also seen double the competition include Balham, Upminster, and Chessington.

In property hotspots such as these, the average price of a home has increased by an average of 11% – a little more than the national average of 10.4%.

As a landlord, you will be keen to protect the investment you have made in your buy to let property. Buy to let insurance (or landlords’ insurance as it is also known) will help you do just that. Choosing the appropriate policy is likely to involve you comparing landlords’ insurance to find the most suitable product for your property.

Here are some of the reasons for comparing landlords’ insurance and the factors you might want to consider when making those comparisons.

Make sure you have the appropriate cover

When arranging any kind of insurance, you want the most appropriate cover for the job. Before you can compare landlord insurance, though, you need to recognise many other types of property insurance that you might be offered.

From standard home insurance to commercial property insurance and from UK holiday let insurance to unoccupied property insurance, there is a bewildering array of different types to choose from – and landlord insurance simply adds to that long list.

Don’t be tempted to try and use a standard home buildings and contents insurance policy if you’re actually a landlord – it is a trap into which “accidental” landlords, in particular, might fall. Any owner-occupier insurance you have will typically become immediately invalid the moment you start obtaining rental income from your property – or even a part of it.

That may even apply if you rent it out infrequently for holiday use, Airbnb or even if you have a lodger – say through the government-backed Rent a Room scheme. If you’re obtaining rental income from a property, then you must have appropriate landlord’s cover.

Fit for purpose

Make sure that any landlord insurance you buy is fit for your particular, individual purposes.

Different landlords with different properties may all have their own set of requirements when it comes to their buy to let insurance cover. What is appropriate for one might be unsuitable for another.

Thankfully, therefore, there are a number of different types of policy with distinct levels of cover available all at a variety of different price levels. To be sure of getting the most appropriate for you, you need to conduct a landlord insurance comparison.

During that comparison, there’s nothing wrong with staying cost-conscious and trying to watch the pennies. But ensure you consider value for money rather than just price alone.

The differences between the policy terms and features of competitively priced policies might prove important and relevant to you and your buy to let business.

Making a judgement based on price alone may not give you the protection you need.

Categories of tenant

Landlords will have typically identified a particular target market from which to attract tenants for their let property.

Some types of accommodation may offer more flexibility in this respect than others and you may, therefore, need insurance protection that does not limit the types of tenant.

Not all policies offer cover for all types of tenant, with some specifically excluding certain categories – such as students, the unemployed, welfare benefits recipients or asylum-seekers.

Policies arranged by Cover4LetProperty offer you complete freedom in this respect and a policy that provides cover for all categories of tenant avoids your having to check your policy each time you re-let your property.

Inclusions and exclusions

Make sure to compare like with like when conducting your comparison of landlord insurance. A careful reading of the terms and conditions will prove a valuable way of identifying and understanding exactly what is included and what is excluded from the policies in which you might be interested.

Exclusions tell you what risks are not covered, of course, but there is a related consideration, often known as “warranties”, which may make one policy considerably less comprehensive than another.

An example might be the level of security needed to protect against theft loss or damage – if the warranted measures are not taken, the insurer may refuse to pay any associated claim.

You are also likely to encounter terms and conditions relating to unoccupied or empty property insurance. This may be required if your property is to stand empty for a period of 30-45 consecutive days or more. There may be several reasons for this, including building or refurbishment work, delays in tenants moving in, their absence on an extended holiday, and so on.

Features and options

Against all the background considerations we have considered so far, you will then need to move on to a comparison of the particular features and options presented by different landlords’ insurance policies.

The following are likely to be the most notable:

The bricks and mortar – building insurance

• at the heart of your landlord insurance is protection for the very structure and fabric of the building itself – building insurance;
• it provides for sufficient financial compensation for any repairs and reinstatement necessary after loss or damage to the building, including a worst-case scenario in which there is a total loss, and the land needs clearing, professional fees are required and the premises need to be rebuilt;
• typical risks covered in this central element of your policy are likely to include fire and smoke damage, flooding and storm damage, impacts (from vehicles and falling objects), vandalism, and theft;
• the total building sum insured must cover the estimated costs of that worst-case scenario in which the property must be completely rebuilt – an estimate on which you might want to consult professional valuers and surveyors or use the residential rebuilding cost calculator of The Building Cost Information Service (BCIS);

Protecting your contents

• if your property is let as furnished, the contents alone could be worth several thousand pounds or more;
• these – and any other contents you own in the let property – can be safeguarded by landlords contents insurance;
• whether you choose contents cover that replaces new for old or settles claims after the deduction of the estimated wear and tear of items will depend on the condition and value of your contents, of course – and we are more than happy to advise you accordingly;
• don’t give in to the temptation of understating the cost of your contents simply to try and keep your premiums lower, but conduct a room-by-room inventory to estimate your contents’ value accurately and avoid the risk of underinsurance;

Subsidence

• cover against the risk of subsidence is an issue with many property insurance policies – including the building element of your landlord insurance – since some policies include protection as standard, but by no means all do so;
• compare the landlord insurance policies arranged by us here at Cover4LetProperty and be reassured that all of them include cover against subsidence as standard.

Trace and access cover

If you have ever called in the tradesman to fix a fault only to be left facing the additional costs of having to make good damage that was caused by tracing and gaining access to the source of the problem, you might want to consider the benefits of optional trace and access cover to add to your landlord insurance policy.

Malicious damage by tenants

• however careful your tenancy selection and referencing safeguards, there remains a risk that rogue tenants cause malicious damage to your let property;
• by no means all buy to let insurance policies offer protection against such risks, so you might be reassured by the fact that all those arranged by us here at Cover4LetProperty include that cover as standard (up to pre-agreed limits);
• the cost of repairing any malicious damage caused by your tenants or their visitors might easily exceed the amount of any deposit you have taken- but note that even with this cover, there may be upper limits to how much the policy may pay out;

Landlords’ liability insurance

• compare landlord insurance quotes to verify that landlord’s liability indemnity insurance is included and to what level – different policies have different limits;
• the cover provides essential indemnity against claims made against you – as the landlord or property owner – by your tenants, their visitors, your neighbours or even members of the public who have suffered an injury or had their property damaged through some incident involving your let property;
• the possibility of serious injury or even death raises the prospect of very substantial claims for compensation, and for that reason, the minimum level of liability indemnity provided is at least £2 million – but frequently more;

Loss of rental income

• most landlord insurance policies incorporate some degree of compensation in the event of an insured incident causing such damage that the premises are no longer habitable until repairs or reinstatement has been made;
• clearly, this could result in your suffering considerable loss of rental income pending repairs and reinstatement of any damage;
• our policies offer provision for suitable compensation for such loss of rental income – subject to prescribed limits (typically reflecting a percentage of the total sum insured under your landlord insurance policy);

Excesses

• an excess is the first part of any claim for which you remain financially responsible – to this extent, an excess represents an uninsured loss;
• by accepting an additional voluntary excess, you may reduce the cost of your buy to let insurance premiums – this could be a way of securing discounts on some of our insurance policies;
• if you agree to accept a higher excess on your policy, of course, you may then need to make a more significant contribution towards the settlement of any claim.

Unoccupied property insurance

Typically, any insurer will consider your let property unoccupied once no one has been living there for a period of 30 to 45 consecutive days (the exact period may vary from one insurer to another).

And that may happen quickly if you’re between lets or just having your property converted or renovated.

If your landlord insurance policy becomes severely limited – or lapses altogether – once it is regarded as unoccupied, you will want to consider the protection of specialist unoccupied property insurance. Indeed, if you are buying the property with the help of a mortgage, your lender will probably insist on it.

Comparisons the easy way

It may be worth reiterating that in such a very crowded market, with so many different types of insurance, a variety of policies and competitive pricing from one insurer to another, it is often difficult to make accurate or meaningful comparisons.

At Cover4LetProperty, you might find the entire process of arranging your landlord insurance all the more straightforward by doing so entirely online.

Being able to arrange your landlord insurance online may make it easier than you think to arrange cover for your buy to let property. The days when you may have had to traipse up and down the high street if you were looking for cover are thankfully long gone.

Instead, you can now look at what providers are offering and compare landlord insurance online, using a service such as ours – and, hopefully, you’ll find a let insurance policy that matches your own unique needs and circumstances.

Alternatively, if you would prefer to speak to someone, then please call our friendly team on 01702 606 301 – they will be delighted to help!

A Parliamentary report on the 29^th of March 2022 acknowledged that the cost of living in the UK has followed a steep upward curve since the beginning of 2021 and inflation – at 6.2% over the past 12 months – has reached its highest recorded level in three decades.

Meanwhile, the Guardian newspaper on the 11^th of April pointed to many everyday items that are currently costing more than 8% than they did a year ago, with average gas and electricity bills going up by almost double to hit £2,000 a year.

It is a time when any householder will want to make the very most of available finances – so, here we will suggest some of the ways you might do just that:

Gas bills

• if you have gas-fired central heating reduce the amount of energy consumed simply by turning down the thermostat a degree or two – and preserve the heat you have used in warming up a room by closing the curtains and blocking draughts, suggests the government-backed Money Helper;

• make still further savings by ensuring that the thermostat you use is a smart thermostat;

• no one is suggesting that you invest in a whole new range of appliances, but when it comes time to replace any nearing the end of their useful life, remember to look out for the most energy-efficient models – especially if you are installing a new boiler;

Electricity bills

• saving on your electricity bills will involve similar care to preserve the benefits of any energy you are consuming – through efficient insulation and the use of smart meters and thermostats;

• the roof space in the loft should be insulated to a depth of between 250mm and 270mm but you might also want to consider investing in double glazing;

• when you are buying new electrical appliances, make sure to check the energy efficiency ratings of comparable products and choose the most efficient – namely, appliances rated A+++;

• when setting the cycle on your washing machine, bear in mind that clothes are likely to come out just as clean if you wash them at 30º instead of 40º – and that switch will save valuable electricity consumption;

• don’t keep electrical appliances on standby but make sure they are completely switched off by disconnecting them at the plug – a story in the Mirror newspaper on the 13^th of February 2022 estimated that pulling the plug on the television alone could save households as much as £25 a year;

Water bills

• water consumption is probably one of the most overlooked utilities when it comes to economising on its use – that is largely because of the conventional way of charging a fixed rate assessed based on the property’s rateable value;

• this is changing and around 50% of homes now have water meters installed – so that you pay directly for what you use – and, according to a story in the Independent newspaper on the 19^th of February 2022, a further six million homes might be forced to have meters fitted in order to prevent water shortages;

• if you are paying metered water charges, therefore, you will be interested to review the ten tips on saving water suggested by the Eden Project – these include water-saving flush cisterns, shorter showers, turning off the tap between rinses, and the installation of water-efficient devices and appliances.

As inflation in the UK continues to drive up the cost of living, you might want to pay closer attention to these energy-saving tips and suggestions to help you make the most of your finances.