The benefits of a let property insurance comparison

If you are just starting off as a landlord or are about to renew the cover on your buy to let property, you may benefit from conducting a let property insurance comparison prior to making a purchasing decision on one landlord’s insurance policy or another.

Policies may all differ and some may be more to your liking than others:

• being able to earn income from your occupation as a landlord may understandably be your primary concern but if your property is rendered uninhabitable following damage from an insured event, then you may suffer a serious loss if income;
• you may, therefore, be keen to use your let property insurance comparison to identify those policies, which may provide compensation in those situations where tenants have to vacate a property, while repairs are carried on damage caused by an insured event like a fire or earthquake, flooding or storm etc;
• not all policies may offer cover for categories of tenant like students, DSS recipients or immigrants – this may be important to you if you value the freedom to let your property out to whomsoever you wish;
• not all landlords buy to let insurance policies may offer financial protection for subsidence damage as standard – there are some that do though and they may be worth looking out for if this is something that concerns you;
• landlords house insurance may be available which can provide you with trace and access cover, meaning that you would not be responsible for paying for repairs to damage caused by a tradesperson while fixing another problem;
• accepting a higher voluntary excess of perhaps £100-£1000 may attract a premium discount of up to 40% from some providers of let property insurance, which might be a useful saving in tight economic times;
• if you were to be sued by a member of the public then you may be held liable for paying them compensation for any injuries that they received or damage their property sustained, that the court decided was in some way the fault of you and your property;
• the levels of public liability protection offered as part of landlords buildings insurance may vary from provider to provider and you may wish to bear in mind that you may be personally responsible to pay any shortfall in what your policy provides and what the court may award against you - satisfying yourself that your landlords cover provides an adequate level of protection to deal with situations like this may therefore be something that you would consider to be essential in any landlords insurance comparison exercise;
• if you have had the unfortunate experience in the past where malicious damage was caused to your property by your tenants, then you may use a let property insurance comparison to highlight those policies where this type of vandalism may be covered as standard.