
All About Buildings Insurance
Landlords building insurance is a type of insurance that covers you for structural damage to your building, such as collapsed walls, flood damage and subsidence (we’ll go into these in a little more detail shortly).
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What does Landlords Building Insurance cover?
What is Landlords Building Insurance?
As with most insurances, it’s not a legal requirement to have Landlords Building Insurance, but it will protect you in the event of costly damage to your property, which you would otherwise have to pay for out of your own pocket.
Buy-to-let mortgage providers will insist you have it in place when you secure your mortgage, in order to protect their investment. Our advisors are available to guide you through everything you need when securing a mortgage and you can also book a call below.
How is Landlords Building Insurance different from Home Insurance or Home Emergency Insurance?
Insurance can vary wildly and it’s important to make sure that you are getting not only the best deal for you, but that you are getting a policy that is the right fit for your property portfolio.
When you don’t live in the property, the risks are slightly different. As the residential owner, you know that you are taking care of your property to the best of your ability, but as a landlord, you can never be sure how well your property is being cared for and your access to check is limited. Therefore you should prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
The last thing you want is to invest in insurance that won’t pay when you need it to!
Do you already have Buildings Insurance?
If you are an accidental landlord, you might think you already have this covered. An accidental landlord is just what it sounds like – someone who became a landlord without planning to or purchasing a buy-to-let with that intention. This could be someone who inherited property and chooses to let it out rather than selling it, or it could be someone who is moving and decides to let out their previous home, rather than sell up.
In these instances, it’s possible that the property is already insured. However, it’s important to ensure that the policy is in your name (in the event of inheritance, which would void any existing insurance) and that it is the right insurance.
As we’ve covered, Landlords Building Insurance is different to Residential Home Insurance. If you are renting out a home that you had previously lived in, you will need to update your insurance to the landlord specific variety, or it simply won’t cover you when you need to make a claim!
What does Unoccupied Property Insurance cover?
You can usually only get Unoccupied Property Insurance if your property is unoccupied for 60 days or more, some only offer 30 days. Less than this is usually covered by a standard policy, as it’s considered a void period between tenancies, rather than a building that is long-term uninhabited.
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Storm. Acts of God can hit your unoccupied property just as easily as your occupied one.
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Flood. Natural disasters can strike at any time, particularly in the winter, and without someone in the property, the damage could be even more extensive – and expensive to fix!
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Fire. Accidents happen anywhere and anytime – and fire is particularly destructive.
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Leakage. Pipes can burst and cause a flood or oil could leak from a heating system.
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Theft. As we said above, your unoccupied property could be even more of a target for burglars, so you will definitely need to be covered for burglary and criminal damage!
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Legal fees and property owners liability. The removal of squatters and trespassers, as well as repairing any damage left behind can be expensive, so ensuring that you are covered for that can really give you peace of mind. You can also be covered for damage caused by your property. This could mean a falling roof tile breaking a car window or a broken step tripping up a delivery person.
How to get the best Landlord Buildings Insurance quotes?
So now that we’ve convinced you to make sure that you have Landlords Building Insurance, you’re probably itching to get a quote.
If you have more questions that we haven’t covered here, or you’d just like to speak to a person, you can book a call with our team, who’ll be able to organise an appointment for a quote in just a few minutes.