To help you keep abreast of all the latest trends, here we bring you the principal property news headlines – for owners, investors, and landlords.

Let’s take a look …

Up and Up – New records (again) as rents soar skywards

Rent levels across the UK are soaring. Evidence comes by way of a story in Landlord Today on the 6^th of July that identified a 1.3% increase in June alone.

Nationally, the average monthly rent has risen to a record £1,229 but there are regional differences, of course. In London, for example, the average rent costs £2,077 per calendar month – having increased by 1.9% in just the last month.

By far the steepest rent increases, however, were in Scotland, where the average rent rose by a staggering 5.5% month on month – setting new records for Scotland and the biggest increases in any part of the UK.

At the other end of the scale, some parts of the UK recorded falls in the average levels of rent. In the Northeast of England, for example, rents fell by a further 1.1% in June to just £625 a month.

The types of properties losing the most value in June 2023

In a market where overall house prices are in decline – an estimated 11.1 million homes, or one-third of the total housing stock, have dropped in value – the online listings website Zoopla on the 6^th of July identified those types of dwellings currently most likely to have fallen in value this June.

Properties most likely to have fallen the greatest in value are larger detached houses and bungalows, said Zoopla.

Some parts of the country have fared worse than others – with as many as 65% of homes along the coasts of southern England falling in value during June. Other areas where prices have tumbled the most include Scotland and Northern Ireland.

But Zoopla also offers a warning to those wanting to invest in the current housing market. For any prospective buyers thinking of taking advantage by purchasing in areas where homes are falling in value, says Zoopla, it is important to consider the risk of increasing mortgage rates and the prospect of negative equity.

Renters Reform Bill 2023 – What landlords and tenants need to know

Law firm Cripps took the opportunity on the 30^th of May of recapping the contents of the government’s Renters Reform Bill that was introduced to Parliament on the 17^th of May:

• assured shorthold tenancies (AST) will be abolished and replaced by periodic assured tenancies – relieving tenants of the need to commit to a minimum rental term;

• future tenancies can be terminated at any time by tenants giving two months’ notice;

• Section 21 – so-called “no-fault” – evictions will be abolished, and landlords will have the option of terminating a tenancy only for strictly-defined statutory reasons;

• those statutory reasons include:

• an intention on the part of the landlord to sell the let property;
  • if the property is needed for housing a close family member of the landlord;
  • persistent rent arrears on the part of the tenant (at least 2 months arrears on a minimum of 3 occasions during a 3-year timeframe);
  • tenants’ anti-social behaviour.

• landlords can increase the rent only once a year (after giving at least 2 months’ notice of any such increase);

• landlords cannot unreasonably deny tenants the right to keep a pet – but a damage deposit or insurance costs can be charged;

• tenants’ deposits must be held in an approved scheme;

• a register of residential landlords and their properties will be held, and available for inspection, on a Privately Rented Property Portal; and

• landlords will be obliged to register with an Ombudsman scheme set up to examine and decide complaints raised by tenants.

Nationwide HPI: House prices relatively stable in June

The House Price Index maintained by the Nationwide building society confirmed that the housing market has achieved relative stability but remains in overall decline compared with property values one year ago.

In fact, the national average house price rose by a modest 0.1% in June – reversing the fall of 0.1% that had been recorded the previous month – but taking the overall annual fall in values to 3.5%.

There are regional variations, with the biggest falls in value in the past 12 months in East Anglia, where average prices have dropped by 4.7%.

During the second quarter of this year, the decline in average house prices has been felt in every region of the UK except for Northern Ireland.

The energy regulator Ofgem on the 25^th of May 2023 released the good news that energy bills should be coming down this summer. Following recent falls in the overall price of energy, with effect from the 1^st of July the energy price cap will be reduced from its present £3,280 to £2,074 – at the same time reducing the typical household’s energy bill by around £426.

Those reductions are thoroughly welcome, of course, but whether you are a homeowner or landlord there is only really one sure-fire way of cutting your energy bills – and that is to consume less energy. Let’s see how you might do that:

Shorter showers

• you could save almost £100 a year simply by spending less time under your shower in the mornings;

• according to Smart Energy, by cutting your typical time in the shower from 8 minutes to 4 minutes, you could be saving as much as £95 on your annual energy bill;

The showerhead

• while reducing the time in the shower might seem fairly obvious, a further modification to the shower itself could also save you money by reducing the amount of water – and the energy used to heat it;

• an estimated 70% of the water you use in your shower is hot water, so reducing the flow with a more water-efficient showerhead could save you a further £100 a year, said the Huffington Post on the 20^th of April 2023;

Put the kettle on

• do you fill up the kettle whenever you need to boil water regardless of how much you’re actually going to use;

• a story by Wales Online on the 3^rd of September 2022 estimated that by boiling only as much water as you need, you could be saving yourself £11 a year – it might not seem that much, but when it comes to saving energy, every little helps;

No standby

• the same news source also referred to a simple tip that at first sight would seem to have little impact on the energy you consume;

• this is the hoary old chestnut of leaving countless appliances and devices permanently on standby – for as long as all those gadgets remain plugged in, they continue to use electricity;

• by disconnecting the power supply, the average household could save as much as £55 annually, said Wales Online;

Beat the draughts

• you will have spent a fair amount of gas or electricity heating your home, so keep that valuable energy where it belongs on the inside and protected from the draughts and gaps around doors, windows, and up through ill-fitting floorboards;

• it might cost as much as £225 to plug all those gaps, suggests the Energy Saving Trust, but that simple measure alone could save you up to £125 a year – it’ll pay for itself in less than 24 months;

Insulate

• the key to keeping the heat inside your home, of course, lies in efficient insulation;

• there are all manner of areas you might want to think about protecting in this way – from cavity wall insulation to underfloor or roof insulation;

• but the most efficient and effective result for probably the majority of households is still likely to be loft insulation;

• an article in the Consumer Association’s Which magazine on the 4^th of January 2023 estimated that a properly insulated roof space in a four-bedroom detached house could generate energy savings of up to £215 a year while even a 3-bedroom mid-terrace home could achieve savings of up to £115 a year through efficient loft insulation.

The spiralling cost of energy has played a large part in the challenges most of us face in the battle against the rising cost of living. While the signs are promising for a steady reduction in energy bills for the remainder of this year, there is still much we can do to cut consumption – and make further savings on those bills.

Current UK property news focuses on both home ownership and conditions in the private rental sector.

Catching the eye of homeowners will be a story identifying the country’s hottest of property hotspots and an overview of movements in average house prices nationwide.

The private rental sector continues to be marked by a noticeable shortage in the supply of available accommodation – a shortage likely to be made much worse if there is no raising of the mortgage tax relief allowance.

Most valuable areas of the UK property market where conditions remain ‘very hot indeed’

A story in the Express newspaper recently identified a few surprises when it revealed the hottest of the UK’s current property hotspots.

The local property market topping that list was the Scottish capital Edinburgh, where the average price of a home is currently £326,024. A total of 11,295 sales were completed during the past year – at an estimated combined value of £3.7 billion.

Second in the overview’s ranking was Buckinghamshire where there were some 7,115 sales of homes – at a cumulative value of £3.4 billion.

In third place was the London Borough of Wandsworth where home sales reached a total of £3 billion – made up of the borough’s 4,552 transactions.

Some surprises in the top ten hotspots included North Yorkshire (at number four), Belfast (in eighth place), and Birmingham (in ninth).

Nationwide: House price growth shows signs of stabilisation in April

It fell to the Nationwide building society in its regular house price index to summarise the current state of the housing market.

The picture presented is one of a fairly stable market.

After seven consecutive months during which the average house price continued to fall, April saw a modest 0.5% increase in those prices. It also meant some improvement in the annual movement of house prices – from a previous -3.1% to its current -2.7%.

Supply shortage remains the key obstacle for the rental market

An article in Landlord Today on the 30^th of May considered the widening gap between supply and demand in the private rented sector.

The demand – measured by the number of prospective tenants registering their interest with lettings agents – is clearly increasing. Not only are the numbers higher than in the traditionally quiet month of December, but the volume of prospective tenants is also now an estimated 24% higher than at this time last year.

Turning to the supply side of the equation, however, the article noted that despite the surge in demand only the same number of vacancies for tenants existed now as they did last year. The imbalance between supply and demand has risen by some 35%, said Landlord Today.

Although a marked shortage in supply would normally herald increasing rent levels, the article noted that only 50% of letting agents reported month by month rent increases – compared with 75% of those agents who responded to the same question last year.

Reversing the abolition of mortgage tax relief would ease supply crisis in the rental sector

The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) claims to have discovered a way of helping to stabilise just such an imbalance between supply and demand in the private rented sector.

In a press release on the 26^th of May, the (NRLA) argued for a reintroduction of mortgage interest tax relief for landlords claiming that this would help to alleviate the crisis of supply of let accommodation.

The NRLA argued that something needs to be done to persuade landlords to remain in the buy to let business. It referred to predictions that if the Bank of England’s base rate peaked at 5% and remained above 2.5% for the next four and a half years – as widely reckoned – a further 735,000 let properties would be sold by landlords quitting the market. Compared with 2021, a further 13% of the property available for rent would be lost.

Whether they are complaints about rowdiness by your own tenants or objections from the latter about the neighbours, dealing with problems of noise can become a major headache for landlords.

All the parties involved, of course, might well be looking to you as the landlord for a calm and timely solution to the problem. As the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) noted recently, how you handle the situation could be saving you an unwelcome tenancy dispute.

Conversation

The seemingly lost art of conversation is probably the first step towards handling any noise complaints – whether they’ve arisen because of your noisy tenants or because the latter have complained about the neighbours.

You might be surprised by the effectiveness of a quiet word in the ear of tenants or neighbours. Often, the issue might have arisen simply because one or the other was unaware that their behaviour was the source of unacceptable levels of noise.

Know the law

If you are going to play a part in managing complaints about levels of noise, it obviously helps to know where you stand in relation to the law.

Noise can come from any number of sources, of course. That includes loud music – whether or not it’s being played at a party – loud televisions, children screaming and shouting, dogs barking all the time, or a host of different domestic appliances or household tools.

If the noise emitted is loud enough to cause a “nuisance”, it is breaking the law. The various laws – including the Noise Act 1996, the Noise and Statutory Nuisance Act 1993, and the Environmental Protection Act 1990 – define a noise nuisance as a level at which it interferes with the quality of life.

Enforcement by environmental health officers

If the level of noise – whatever the source – is determined to have become a statutory nuisance, environmental health officers of the local authority can issue an “abatement order”.

If the guilty party or parties fail to comply with that order, the local authority can issue proceedings for the matter to go to court – where fines up to £5,000 can be imposed. If the police are also called out – where an element of aggression or violence is involved, for example – an antisocial behaviour order might be issued. The police can also confiscate items such as sound systems and loudspeakers.

Who’s to blame?

If you are the landlord, you are not formally responsible for any noise nuisance caused by your tenants. Though you may not be strictly liable, you will nevertheless want to maintain good relationships both with neighbours who are complaining and any other of your tenants in the same building who are affected by unacceptable levels of noise.

Friendly neighbours will be helpful allies in all manner of issues you might have as a landlord, so it is important to keep them on your side. Tenants who are affected by noise nuisance caused by others may decide to quit your premises to live elsewhere – leaving you with the headache of finding replacements.

Eviction

If all else has failed and you have issued more than a couple of warning notices to irresponsible tenants who are continuing to cause a noise nuisance, you have the option of evicting them through a repossession order on the ground of their antisocial behaviour.

If the problem has reached these proportions, of course, you will need to be careful to follow the letter of the law with respect to the grounds for eviction and give the required period of notice to quit before you can seek a repossession order from the courts.

Early intervention

As you will see, therefore – and as is so often the case involving landlords’ issues with tenants and neighbours – early intervention is the key to successfully managing noise complaints.

Act now while understanding and friendly relations still rule the day. That way, you avoid the need for any more stressful action.

UK property news headlines shine a light on apparent trends in the housing market. Some reports focus on the movement in the overall house price index. Others consider the apparent slump in house prices.

Private sector landlords are warned of further, relatively steep, increases in buy to let mortgage rates and the cost of borrowing.

It’s a sign of these uncertain property times, perhaps, but there are some apparently prepared to pay as much as £95,000 for a humble beach hut.

Nationwide House Price Index

The influential House Price Index maintained by the Nationwide building society revealed the biggest decline in average house prices since July 2009.

In the 12 months to the end of March, house prices across the whole of the UK fell by an average of 3.1% – the biggest slump in prices in 19 years.

Changes in the monthly rates of decline have been relatively small – but nevertheless steady. A 0.5% drop this February, for instance, was followed by a further 0.8% fall in March.

There were regional variations, of course. Scotland fared the worst – a previous year on year increase of 3.3% was reversed into a 3.1% fall by the end of the first quarter of this year. In the West Midlands, on the other hand, average prices fell by a relatively modest 1.4% during the same timeframe.

UK house prices have dropped an average of £3,006 since the start of 2023

Similar themes were pursued in a story published by the Express newspaper on the 26^th of April.

This also addressed the recent fall in average house prices across the UK but provided a particular focus on London where values have dropped by an average of £5,903 since the beginning of this year.

Some parts of the country – the Southeast, Southwest, and Scotland – have fared still worse, with a monthly decline of as much as £21,000 in one or two areas, according to local estate agents.

With the cost of a home in the UK falling by an average of £3,006 since the beginning of the year, the current national average house price has fallen from January’s £293,673 to £290,667 in February.

Landlords warned over further interest rate hikes

A story in Landlord Today on the 28^th of April issued warnings to private sector landlords of further impending increases in borrowing rates and the cost, therefore, of buy to let mortgages.

The Bank of England’s base lending rate currently stands at 4.25% – the highest it has been in 14 years. The article says that some sources are expecting the Bank of England base rate to hit 5.0%.

This expectation comes after Office for National Statistics figures stated that inflation fell less than expected to 10.1% last month.

The next meeting of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee is Thursday May 11.

For sale: a £95,000 beach hut

If you’d thought that a humble beach hut on your favourite stretch of coastline would represent a fairly modest investment, you may need to think again.

A story in the Daily Mail on the 20^th of April identified five seemingly ordinary, standard beach huts ranging in price from a shade less than £30,000 right up to £95,000.

All of the examples were for beachside cabins with the usual restricted floor area, and the price for at least one of them included leasehold ownership only.

The five are at:

• Hunstanton in Norfolk – with an asking price of £29,950;

• Kingsway at Hove in Sussex – £33,500;

• Holland-On-Sea in Essex – £42,500;

• Tankerton in Kent – £65,000; and

• Thorpe Bay in Essex – £95,000.

If you’re planning to invest, you’re probably praying for another fine, sunny English summer.

When disaster strikes and your property suffers loss, damage or theft, it can be very stressful. To get things back to normal as quickly as possible and to make a claim on your property insurance policy, please …

Contact us on 01702 606 301 during office hours. We will be very happy to help you with your claim and provide support at what can often be a very challenging time.

Please have to hand your insurance policy number, which can be found in your policy documents.

Alternatively, you can contact your insurance company directly.

What information will be needed to make a claim?

Once you have notified us or your insurer directly that you wish to make a claim, you will need to provide further information and, possibly, documentation:

• please tell us or your insurer about the situation and the loss or damage you have suffered;
• depending on the insurer and the situation, you may be required to fill out a claims form in addition to providing details over the phone;
• listen to the advice provided by your insurer on how to limit any further damage;
• confirm your excess amount with us or your insurer;
• review your policy documents to ensure that you meet any deadlines or requirements for making a claim.

What happens next?

Once you have started the claims process, typically you will be asked to:

• provide any necessary paperwork, such as photographs or repair estimates, to support your claim;
• in some cases, you may need to meet with an assessor who will assess the damage in person and review the details of your claim;
• if the claim is related to theft or vandalism, make sure to file a report with your local police station as soon as possible. You will need to provide the incident number as proof to support your claim.

How we can help you make your claim

As a specialist landlord insurance provider, we have given advice and help to thousands of customers when they need to make a claim.

We provide assistance at all levels of your property insurance claim as this can be a frustrating time. We speak to people a lot who have issues with the stress of the situation, and it is advisable to contact us in the event of a claim, as we have experts able to help.

We can advise on the action you need to take and help guide you through the claims process.

Your cover and your claim

Landlord insurance policies have different levels of cover and, whilst we try and explain these at inception, you may require clarification in the event of a claim.

When choosing Cover4LetProperty for your landlords insurance, you have access to a wide range of exclusive policies for tenanted properties, unoccupied and commercial covers.

At the inception of your landlords insurance policy, we explain the procedure for making a claim. This is then backed up in writing in your let property insurance policy wording and Schedule.

You are also given a dedicated Account Handler for your policy, who can give advice and a contact number to speak to your landlords insurer.

We are always open to feedback on your claim as we select our landlords insurance providers on the basis that they have the same ethos of customer service as we do!

Further reading: Making a claim for flood damage to your property

What’s hot in the latest UK property news? Let’s take a look behind some of the latest headlines to find out more.

The importance of NOT being underinsured

Do you ever ask yourself whether you have enough building insurance?

A story in the Mail Online on the 29^th of March suggested that it is certainly a question you should be asking. Millions of homeowners, said the newspaper, who failed to ensure that they have sufficient cover are at serious risk of being underinsured.

Underinsurance occurs when the total sum insured is insufficient to cover the cost of repairs or reinstatement. In the case of building insurance, the total sum insured must anticipate a worst-case scenario in which the home is completely destroyed. If it is not – the building is underinsured – and any insurance settlement in the wake of a total loss will not be enough to cover the cost of clearing the site, building anew, and paying all the various professional fees associated with building a home from the ground up.

The Mail Online made the point that while reconstruction costs have shot up by some 18% in the past year alone (the biggest increase since 1980), millions of homeowners have failed to respond by adjusting their building insurance upwards – instead, they remain underinsured.

More powers given to landlords to evict unruly tenants

Government plans for wholesale reform of the rental market include greater powers not only for the police but also for landlords to clamp down on anti-social behaviour. In the latter case, that means making it easier for landlords to evict unruly tenants.

In a report by Propertymark on the 27^th of March, it was argued that the government wants to strike a fair balance between protecting the rights of tenants while at the same time allowing landlords to take action against those acting irresponsibly – if necessary, by repossessing their let property.

Lending support to landlords who need to manage unruly tenants, it is proposed that:

• all tenancy agreements specifically refer to a ban on anti-social behaviour;

• the eviction process is simplified and made faster; and

• short-term lets – such as Airbnb – require registration, so that homes let in that way are not used as gateways for anti-social behaviour.

Rental market report: the latest news on rents

The online listings website Zoopla, on the 29^th of March, published its latest report on the state of the rental market.

The key takeaway is that the recent spiralling of rent levels seems to be calming. Nationally, the increase in average rents fell from its record rate of 12.3% in the middle of last year to a current 11.1%. What is more, that rate of increase is likely to fall still further – to 4% or 5% – by the end of this year. The decline might be even more marked in some inner city areas, such as central London.

The present easing of the rental market comes after significant growth. This was fuelled by an imbalance between supply and demand.

Demand remains strong this year – though somewhat less than in 2022. At the same time, higher buy to let mortgage interest rates are discouraging investment by landlords – so the supply of new rental accommodation is restricted.

Trade body highlights “water shock” issue affecting new-builds

A story in Estate Agent Today on the 30^th of March shone a light on a new but increasingly prevalent problem of condensation in new-build homes.

Incidents involving water cascading down from the roof space and high levels of condensation are branded a form of “water shock”, according to the Property Care Association (PCA).

The problem appears to be exacerbated by the fact that new homes are built to ever-increasing standards of airtightness – to make them more energy-efficient. The downside is that moisture from all the normal domestic routines such as bathing, cooking, and doing the laundry is more difficult to remove through the building’s ventilation systems.

A spokesperson said: “Quite often, new homes are finished to a tight deadline, without time for the water that is part of the construction process to dry out.

“This means the property is already carrying excess moisture, and when people move in, that water load increases.

“The ventilation system, already under considerable strain, has to process the excess moisture tied-up in the building’s fabric but then, with few windows open in winter and baths, showers and tumble dryers all running, the home becomes even more loaded and this is when we see ‘watershock.’

“This involves water flowing down walls and windows, as the ventilation system struggles to operate effectively.

“Although it’s distressing and can look dramatic, our message is not to panic. With some simple changes and after a few months of warmth in the summer, the problem will generally resolve itself.”

The latest UK property news delves into the fundamentals of the housing market. There is the latest Nationwide house price index (HPI), an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), and warnings about a significant shift in the housing market itself.

But our review kicks off with calls for the validity of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) to extend for no longer than three years at a time.

Call for EPCs to be renewed every three years

If the government’s net-zero targets are to be successfully met – through an improvement in building standards and an end to fuel poverty – then Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) should be issued with a validity of just three years, according to a story in Landlord Today on the 6^th of March.

Energy assessors argue for a re-design of the ways EPCs work:

• they should feature estimated carbon emissions, the energy consumed, and the cost of that energy – the so-called “3 Cs”;

• incorporate a “golden triangle” energy assessment that looks at the estimated energy cost to the building, its occupancy rating, and energy consumed;

• ensure EPCs reflect the current state of the building – by restricting the validity of the EPC to no longer than 3 years;

• give priority to education in energy efficiency; and

• keep assessment methodologies up to date.

Halifax HPI for Feb 2023

Average house prices in the UK remain fairly flat – figures confirmed by February’s house price index maintained by the Halifax building society, published on the 7^th of March.

The price of a house in the UK increased by 1.1% during the month to reach an average of £285,476 – a price that has held more or less steady for the past three months.

While house prices fell during November and December, ground has been made up more recently thanks to the latest reductions in mortgage interest rates, heightened consumer confidence, and a relatively buoyant labour market. All these factors have helped to stabilise house prices, says the Halifax.

Competition investigation launched into the housing sector

An investigation of the availability and cost of housing – both owner-occupied and rented – will be conducted by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), revealed the online listings website Zoopla on the 3^rd of March.

The CMA declares that the cost and quality of housing are some of the most significant issues to be addressed by housebuilders in the UK – so, it wants to make sure that there are no obstacles to competition in the market. That is the way it can gauge whether the industry is providing as many homes as people need at sufficient speed.

While these issues of cost and availability extend to both the owner-occupied and private rented sector, the CMA will also look more closely at the experience of tenants and whether landlords and their agents can benefit from greater help and support in meeting their obligations.

The big changes hitting the UK housing market in March

The Stoke Sentinel has highlighted some of the changes coming to the UK property market this month including:

The Spring Budget – March 15

The article says that major measures designed to support house prices are unlikely. Something that might be on the table, however, is the potential cancelling of the £500 Energy Price Guarantee, which sets a cap on the normal household energy bill, in April.

Bank of England MPC meeting – March 23

On March 23, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England will get together once more. Last month, the MPC voted to increase the Bank’s base rate of interest by 0.5%, the tenth consecutive meeting in which the rate was raised

Help to Buy ends – March 31

As of March 31, the Help to Buy scheme will come to a close. Those who are in the process of applying for a Help to Buy equity loan must complete the process before the deadline in order to be eligible for the scheme.

The government has stated that there will be no extensions to this date, regardless of the circumstances.

The Help to Buy scheme, established by former Chancellor George Osborne in 2013, offered first-time buyers the opportunity to purchase a home with a 5% deposit. While the policy was initially met with praise and enthusiasm, it has come under fire in recent years for being a major factor in the house price inflation that has caused many to be priced out of the market.

One of your fundamental responsibilities as a private sector landlord is to keep any property you let safe and free of any kind of health hazard. Regular inspections of your property provide a way of ensuring that safety.

Regular inspections also let you spot any need for repairs or maintenance. That helps you maintain the value of your property investment. Inspection checks are a win-win result for both you and your tenants.

Just remember that you must agree access to the let property with your tenants to make any inspection checks at least 24 hours in advance – and preferably, in writing, at least a week in advance:

Legal requirements

• the law makes clear that those property inspection checks must be done, some which are on a regular basis and some which need to happen each time you take on a new tenant;

• top of that list is an annual inspection by a Gas Safe engineer of the gas supply and appliances – with a copy of the latest inspection certificate given to tenants within 28 days;

• the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 make it a legal obligation for the electrical installation to be checked by a suitably qualified person at least once every five years;

• the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Regulations were last updated in October 2022 and make landlords responsible for installing, inspecting, and checking smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in all privately let accommodation;

• landlords are also legally required to have done everything reasonably possible to protect the property and its tenants from smoke damage and fire – please read our brief guide Landlords: Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, and the Law;

• remember that HMO’s have further legal requirements, such as the installation of fire doors – please read: A Landlords Guide to HMOs;

• our Landlord Legislation Guide also provides further information:

The landlord-tenant relationship

• property inspection checks also provide you with a valuable opportunity to develop your relationship with your tenants and to learn just how they are treating the accommodation;

• if the tenancy agreement allows them to keep a pet or pets, for example, this is a time to make sure that no undue or lasting damage is caused;

• you might also want to verify that a tenancy agreement’s ban on smoking within the let property is being maintained;

• you’ll be able to assess not only any damage caused by the tenant but also listen to any requests for necessary repairs – a two-way exchange that may help develop the healthy relationship you want with your tenants;

• our Landlords Guide to Health & Safety has further information:

Repairs and maintenance

• it’s not only the tenant, of course, who will identify any needs for repairs and maintenance;

• be on the lookout for anything that might compromise the health or safety of your tenants, of course, but also use regular property inspection checks to gauge the whole range of possible tasks;

• even though there have been no visible signs of mould or damp, now is a time to stamp down on any early signs of a potentially serious problem – so watch for areas that feel soft to the tread or touch, dark stains on the walls, or flaky paint or wallpaper. Our Guide to Condensation provides useful information;

• check that there are no leaky pipes or taps – and call in the plumber before any problem becomes noticeable;

• you – and your tenants – will be glad you eradicated all signs of any pests before an infestation developed;

• once established, infestations by pests such as bedbugs, fleas, and cockroaches can be difficult to control – so timely intervention is called for.

Regular property inspection checks can help you maintain your legal responsibilities and obligations as a landlord. But they can also serve to strengthen your relationship with your tenants – painting you as a caring and responsible landlord.

Regular inspection checks are also an essential part of keeping your property in a good state of repair – a sure way to protect your investment and a precaution about which your landlord insurance provider is certain to insist.

Further reading: Landlord Checklist.

Please note that this article is for guidance purposes only and should not be deemed legal advice. Legislation can change. For further clarification, contact your local authority or lettings agent.

In the perfectly normal course of events, there may be times when your property stands empty and unoccupied. What is the status of your property insurance at those times? It might not be an issue – but it may become one. If your property stands unoccupied for more than a specified number of consecutive days, your buildings and contents insurance could be at risk.

So, who is likely to need unoccupied property insurance and what exactly does it cover?

What is empty property insurance – and who needs it?

Insurance providers look to understand the risks they are covering when they offer you a policy – that is the very nature of insurance.

Should the risks they are covering change, insurers also typically take the opportunity to reconsider the suitability of the existing policy. If the risks change sufficiently, your insurer reserves the right to decide that the existing policy is no longer valid and that something more suitable needs to be put in place.

This basic principle applies to all insurance – including property cover.

If your property moves into what is called “unoccupied status”, the risks associated with it will typically change sufficiently to justify the insurance provider requiring a different form of cover to be put into place.

If you fail to notify such a change and subsequently make a claim against the original policy, your claim may be refused.

When risks change

Homeowners

When a property is unoccupied, the risk of significant events such as burglary and vandalism increases along with relatively minor problems (a leaking pipe, for example) that if left unnoticed may nevertheless turn into major problems that cause substantial loss or damage.

At Cover4LetProperty, we know that sometimes the question of empty versus unoccupied property status can cause a little confusion for some property owners.

To be clear, the reason your property is unoccupied doesn’t matter in terms of a typical buildings insurance policy. You will typically need to take action to protect your interests in cases such as:

• the death of a relative means you’ve inherited an occupied property – whether it’s furnished or empty – since you may also be legally responsible to protect the value of the property if you’re the executor of a will;
• you are going to be working away from home for several months or so;
• you are taking an extended holiday for a similar period of time; or
• you are remodelling or refurbishing your property and need to move out for the duration of the work.

Buy to let landlords

If you are the landlord of buy to let property, one of the last things you want is the so-called “void” – the time during when no tenant is in residence, and you, therefore, have none of the rental income on which your business relies.

But there may be occasions when that state of affairs is unavoidable, if for instance:

• you have bought a previously abandoned property and are looking to refurbish it before letting it to tenants;
• the buy to let property you own is currently undergoing works and needs to be left vacant whilst the works are in progress or you’re unable to let the property when planned due to over-running re-decoration or other works;
• there is a longer than usual interval between one set of tenants leaving and new ones moving in;
• you are planning to sell the property and want to offer vacant possession to any new buyer;
• your tenants have notified you of their intention to take an extended overseas trip for business or pleasure purposes; or
• it’s proving difficult to find tenants – for whatever reason.

Reasonableness

Insurers understand that a property cannot be occupied 24/7. That is why both owner-occupier and landlord insurance policies will usually make some allowances for insurance cover to continue when the property is unoccupied for shorter durations. Those shorter durations normally include situations such as holidays, tenant changeovers, business trips and so on.

While this is reasonable and reflects real life, policy providers typically restrict the unoccupied cover included in a standard property policy to a specified maximum number of consecutive days. That figure is usually somewhere in the range of 30-45 consecutive days. The amount may vary from insurer to insurer.

Once a property stands unoccupied for longer than that specified number of consecutive days, it will become formally classified as “unoccupied” and will require separate, standalone unoccupied property cover going forward if continuity of protection is required.

Control

Your insurer typically pays little attention to the reasons for any period the property stands unoccupied and relies solely on the fact that it has become unoccupied.

It doesn’t matter whether you have experienced delays in finding new tenants or as an owner-occupier; whether you have been detained unexpectedly overseas on an extended business trip. In either case, you will typically need separate unoccupied property cover to maintain the protection your property requires.

A specific point for landlords to note is that even in situations where tenants are continuing to pay rent as normal, if they have left the property unoccupied whilst they are taking an extended holiday, for example, or a lengthy business trip, the same basic principles will apply – if no one remains in the let property for that period, it is unoccupied.

In other words, a standard home insurance policy, or typical landlord insurance policy will only maintain its full protection of your property for a specified maximum number of consecutive days without someone in residence.

So, who needs unoccupied property insurance?

Once your property is formally regarded by your insurer as unoccupied, elements of the cover provided might typically change or cease.

As we have explained, the risks from burglars and other intruders or emergencies requiring repairs or maintenance significantly increase when the property is unoccupied. The home insurance or landlord insurance that otherwise normally protects the property becomes inadequate when it stands unoccupied.

If it does become unoccupied – or appears likely to – that is when you need to compare empty property insurance policies and consider arranging unoccupied property insurance online.

Unoccupied property insurance

It may be helpful to review some of the many risks to which any unoccupied property is exposed:

Theft and vandalism

• empty and unoccupied buildings are easy targets for criminal damage, theft, and vandalism;
• the resulting dilapidation can accelerate the property’s decline and rapid loss of value;

Maintenance and repair

• when there is no one at home or no tenants in your property, problems needing otherwise routine maintenance and repair are going to go unreported and may therefore develop into full-blown incidents – a dripping tap, for example, might soon leave the property flooded;

Weather

• the British weather is nothing if not unpredictable – and when your property is unoccupied, storm damage, high winds, ice or snow may cause problems which are again unreported and have the potential for causing considerable damage;

Infestations

• a property that is left empty and unoccupied may be at much higher risk of infestation by rodents or other pests – eradicating the problem may require specialist services, suggests the government website, in view of the law and regulations on the control of such pests.

Unoccupied property insurance

At times when your property is empty for a pre-defined period, specialist unoccupied property insurance is required. Unoccupied property insurance is very much what the name suggests – it provides insurance cover for your property – whether that is your home, let property, holiday home or commercial property.

When you look more closely at just what this type of insurance covers and compare empty property insurance, however, you may find that considerable care and attention continue to be required.

Some versions of the product, for example, restore an element of cover, but it is restricted to so-called FLEA or FLEEA risks – Fire, Lightning, Explosions and Aircraft (FLEA) or Fire, Lightning, Earthquake, Explosions and Aircraft (FLEE), respectively.

Other versions may offer reduced levels of cover or exclusions for specific risks, such as flooding.

At Cover4LetProperty, we offer three levels of unoccupied property cover, so you can choose the level that is most suitable for you.

What do you want unoccupied property insurance to cover?

Empty property insurance may be tailored to cover exactly what you want it to cover.

Depending on the type of premises and the reasons for it being empty, you might choose relatively basic cover. More comprehensive protection against a wider range of risks and perils, including cover for the contents too, may be needed if the property is your own home for instance.

Your objective is to secure the level of cover you require for your particular empty property.

Comprehensive empty property insurance, for example, fully restores the protection you enjoy with your usual home insurance or landlord insurance when the property is more or less continuously occupied.

In that way, you may rest assured that your unoccupied property and its contents remain covered against the full range of risks – including fire, flooding, storm damage, impacts (from vehicles and falling objects), vandalism and theft.

Property owner’s liability insurance

Also restored is indemnity against your property owner’s or landlord’s liability, in the event of any third party – including neighbours and members of the public – being injured or having their property damaged and holding you liable. Claims such as these may run into very substantial amounts – and may even be made by persons who have gained entry to your property illegally or without your authorisation.

In recognition of the size of potential claims – especially those involving personal injury – indemnity of at least £2 million (and often more) is customarily provided. Empty property insurance arranged by Cover4LetProperty, for example, typically provides a generous £5 million of indemnity.

This gives you peace of mind against claims not only from entirely innocent parties but also from those such as squatters, arsonists and vandals who may have entered illegally (but may still have recourse to allegations that the property owner is liable for any injury or property damage they suffer).

Specialist insurance from a specialist provider

Arrange your unoccupied property insurance online through us here at Cover4LetProperty and you have the choice of cover that protects as much, or as little, as you choose.

This standalone insurance product may also typically provide cover for just as long as you need it – and unlike many other types of general insurance, may be purchased for periods of less than a year. If you are going to be away for just three or six months, for instance, your unoccupied property insurance may be bought for only that period.

This might be one of your options if the reasons for the property being empty are because it is undergoing building works, for example.

As you would before buying any other type of home insurance, carefully compare empty property insurance and all its variations – and you are likely to find that here at Cover4LetProperty we offer expert, specialist advice on competitively priced policies.

Further reading: Guide to Unoccupied Property