Some landlord insurance policies may have certain conditions attached to who you can and cannot rent your property. For example, some policies may specifically exclude cover if tenancies are granted to groups such as students, DSS recipients, asylum seekers, or others.
While this may be perfectly acceptable for some landlords, there may be others for whom it is not. You may be one of them, who may find this condition relating to tenants to be restrictive – impinging on your freedom of choice to rent your property to whomsoever you choose without the added overhead of seeking out new landlord insurance at the same time. It is your business, after all.
There is also the question of unlawful discrimination in the criteria you use for selecting your tenants. Guidance issued by the government in March 2022, for example, reminded landlords that you are breaking the law if you discriminate on any of the following grounds:
- disability;
- age;
- marriage or civil partnership;
- gender reassignment;
- sexual orientation;
- sex;
- religion or belief; or
- race
The more selective you are in the categories of tenants you allow, therefore, the more complicated the situation may become and the greater your risk in running foul of the Equality Act’s definition of discrimination.
So, you may be relieved to discover that there are some buy to let insurance providers – such as ourselves at Cover4LetProperty – who impose no such tenant restrictions and who make no such distinctions. We offer cover for DSS tenants as well as for the other categories of tenants where restrictions may also apply. This gives you the freedom to let your property to whom you want.
What does DSS tenant mean?
The acronym DSS stands for the “Department for Social Security” – a government department that was responsible for welfare benefits payments, but which hasn’t existed since the early 2000s.
A DSS tenant is someone who is in receipt of benefits like housing benefit or Universal Credit – for example, someone who is unemployed, disabled, and/or is a single parent.
Some landlords – and some insurance providers – are uncomfortable letting to tenants on low incomes, as they worry that those on benefits may fail to keep up on their rental payments or cause malicious damage. Beware, however, as the housing charity Shelter reminded landlords and tenants in a posting on the 1st of August 2022, it is unlawful to discriminate against a tenant or potential tenant on the grounds of their disability.
Cover4LetProperty and insurance for DSS tenants
The good news is that at Cover4LetProperty, there are no restrictions on whom you let to. We cover all tenant types, including people in receipt of housing benefits, students, or any other group.
You don’t even need to let us know that you have a tenant or tenants in receipt of housing benefits or any other benefits when you get your landlord’s home insurance quote.
With our easy-to-use quote and buy online system, we will compare the market landlords’ insurance to see which solution most suits your own unique requirements. Our service is free and there is no obligation to buy the cover after you have received your quote.
If you prefer to speak to someone to get your let property insurance quote, then please feel free to telephone us on 01702 606 301. One of our friendly, professional team will be delighted to help.
What does landlord insurance for DSS tenants cover?
Our DSS landlord insurance is the same as our standard landlord insurance policy. It offers exactly the same protection – such as cover for the building against the standard risks such as fire, theft, loss, or damage, as well as add-on elements providing:
- cover for subsidence as standard – a severe problem that is not nearly as widely covered as it may once have been;
- malicious damage caused by your tenants or their visitors (claim limits apply) – perhaps not something that you may have come across before, but it does happen;
- contents insurance (if required);
- compensation for loss of rent and rental income (up to pre-set amounts) if your tenants have to move out to alternative accommodation while repairs are carried out on damage caused to your property by an insured event (fire, flooding, storms, and all those risks covered under your policy);
- trace and access cover which protects you financially in situations where you may otherwise be facing the repair costs relating to the damage that a tradesman may have caused locating and fixing another problem.
With our landlord property DSS insurance, you can feel confident that your buy to let business is protected.
DSS landlord insurance
As a busy landlord, you may wish to avoid what could be the nasty surprise of finding that your choice of tenant had invalidated your existing landlord insurance.
Opting for a policy where no such DSS tenant restrictions exist is a way of simply and easily removing something else that you need to remember.
Our DSS landlord insurance will give you peace of mind that your business is protected with what we consider to be comprehensive, cost-effective cover.
On a related matter, you might also want to put yourself fully in the picture about any need for unoccupied property cover. This is additional, standalone cover that you might need if your property is temporarily unoccupied no matter what your tenant type or whether they are in receipt of housing benefits.
You may find that typically policies will have a time limit on the number of days (typically 30-45 consecutive days depending on the policy) that your property can stand empty before your standard buy to let cover becomes invalid – and that’s when you may need to consider unoccupied property insurance.
Next steps
If you have any questions or queries relating to a new or existing policy, please do not hesitate to contact us.
