If you are a landlord looking for the best let property insurance, then you may be keen to achieve this while still keeping to a sensible budget.
There may be few people these days, in any walk of life, able to disregard cost implications completely. With something like buy to let insurance however, it may be important to ensure that you do not sacrifice levels of cover in an attempt to save a bit on premiums.
Since properties and landlords are all different, you may find that policies for home insurance for landlords may also vary considerably from one policy to another and one provider to another.
The best landlords’ insurance for you
The policy that turns out to be the best let property insurance cover for one landlord may be very different to the solution that you feel may be best for you.
Looking at price alone may not tell you much about the elements of cover on offer, so a sensible approach may be to compare what is available in various landlords building and contents insurance policies so that you can be sure that they match your definition of the best.
All in the eye of the beholder
The problem is that what may appear to be the best landlords cover to someone else, may not appear to be so to you.
There are so many variables that a discussion of what is best, in abstract, is virtually impossible or at least, misleading – it simply depends too much upon your individual circumstances and set of requirements.
There may be two lessons to be taken from this:
- insurance providers that claim to be offering the best let property insurance without knowing your own unique situation beforehand may be using a little advertising licence;
- it may be difficult to establish what insurance is suitable for you without thinking about what’s important to you in cover terms.
Let’s assume for the sake of illustration that you have a large Georgian or Victorian period property that you are letting out.
Such properties, in some areas of the country, may be rather more prone to subsidence problems than more modern properties. That may mean that you regard subsidence cover to be an essential part of any landlords cover you purchase (in fact, subsidence cover is not any longer a standard part of any home or landlords cover and while we offer it as standard, not all landlords insurance providers do).
As another example, perhaps you have previously had a negative experience with tenants that have maliciously damaged your property. If that’s the case, you may regard cover against malicious damage by tenants to be essential.
Comparing buy to let insurance quotes
You may feel that having the best let property insurance is important to you, as a landlord, if you are to protect your financial investment in your buy to let property.
Your selection criteria for the best let property insurance may be very different to those of another landlord.
It might be possible, for example, to decide on a particular insurance for landlords’ policy based on price:
- you may believe that the best policy is the one which is the cheapest;
- on the other hand, you may think that the most expensive must be the best because it may offer you more in terms of policy features and benefits.
When it comes to landlord insurance though, the reality may be that price alone just may not give you enough information to make a decision on what is or is not the best let property insurance.
Each and every buy to let insurance policy is likely to be different and comparing price alone will tell you nothing about the protection that the various policies offer for your buy to let property.
Comparing the cover offered
To identify the most suitable buy to let insurance quotes, therefore, you need to look at more than just the price of the premiums and compare what is actually covered by different policies.
How you decide what is the most appropriate let property insurance quote may depend on a number of factors, including the type of property you have, whether or not you let it on a furnished basis and of course, your own personal preferences for your buy to let insurance. A few of the features you may wish to look out for may include:
- if a tradesperson has to be called to fix a problem in your property, then it may well be the case that the repairs are covered by your landlord insurance cover – damage that this person may have to cause to your property while trying to locate the original problem and rectify it, may not be, unless your buy to let property has trace and access cover included;
- losing rental income if your tenants have to move out of your property while repairs to damage caused by an insured event are carried out may be a serious concern for you, however, a policy which might provide for loss of rental income may be a solution;
- are there any opportunities for reducing the level of premiums through discounts – with some landlords’ insurance providers, such as ourselves, this may be possible on some policies where reductions of up to 40% may be possible if you agree to accept a higher voluntary excess;
- with some landlord’s insurance, there may be restrictions on the types of tenants that you can have in your property – you may typically find students and DSS amongst the categories excluded, whilst other policies (such as those arranged by us here at Cover4LetProperty) may be more flexible and, so, more suitable for your business;
- providers may take different views about which features of cover are provided as standard and which may be optional and only available at an extra cost – two examples of such may be subsidence and malicious damage by tenants and if you feel strongly about either one, it may be worth looking out for a policy where these are offered as standard (ours do!);
- does the level of cover for third party or public liability indemnity appear adequate to you – some policies may be more generous in this respect than others and if you are sued for damages and there is a shortfall in the cover provided by your policy, then you may be personally responsible for the remainder;
- what you may consider to be the best insurance for your buy to let property may not be the same as another landlord, who may have a different set of requirements;
- using a service to find a landlord’s insurance quote online – or over the telephone if you prefer – we can help you to find appropriate let property insurance quotes for your situation.
You may consider some of these potential differences in cover offered in landlord insurance policies to be essential parts of the cover you would expect to obtain. Some landlords, on the other hand, may be less concerned one way or another.
We may be able to help you find the most appropriate landlords cover for your own very particular set of circumstances. We understand only too well that, at the end of the day, what is the best let property insurance for you may not be the best for someone else.
Other points to look for
There are a number of additional considerations you might want to keep in mind in your search for a buy to let insurance quote:
Contents cover
- you may find that the policy provider’s position on landlords’ contents cover may vary and some may be closer to your idea of what is appropriate than others.
- landlords’ contents cover for a buy to let property may typically come on either a new for old or market value replacement basis. Which is suitable for you will depend on factors such as the quality and age of those furnishings and how much you would be prepared to pay yourself to replace them if the need arose.
Legal fees and expenses
- some let property insurance policies may also provide paid-for cover options for certain elements of any legal fees that you may incur, though this typically may not include costs relating to rent recovery or eviction proceedings.
Flood insurance
- if your property is located in a known flood-area, it may be important to verify the position of your insurance because some policies may impose restrictions on policyholders with properties in such areas.
Read the terms and conditions of your policy carefully
You don’t need to be a perfectionist to want the best let property insurance that your money can buy.
As with all insurance, the terms and conditions of your let property insurance are critical – so read them carefully.
These may prove to be important to you in the event you need to make a claim, so it is important that you read them closely to ensure they are sensible in your context.
There may be no such thing as a typical landlord and there may equally be no such thing as typical buy to let landlord insurance. What would constitute the best buy to let property insurance for you may be totally unsuitable for another landlord with a different set of criteria.
Using our site, where you can compare let property insurance policies and get expert advice if required, may help you get the most suitable buy to let landlords’ insurance for your own particular circumstances.
Bearing these pointers in mind may help you find some of the best let property insurance policies around – thereby allowing you to make an informed decision as to which one is the most appropriate for you.
Of course, we are always on hand to source your quotes if you prefer, so please give us a call on 0800 9707 172. We’d be delighted to help.
