Landlord Insurance

Renting to student tenants can be excellent business for residential landlords. Whether you are letting a single house/flat or an HMO (multi-occupancy building) the advantage is that students tend stay in their accommodation for a full academic year or more. So what do you need from your landlord insurance if renting to students?

Contents insurance

Student tenants should insure their own laptops and other personal property. But most student property is rented furnished or semi-furnished, so we will make sure your policy includes sufficient cover for the furniture and fittings.

Loss of income cover

Fire, flood or damage caused by high winds can lose you a lot of rental income if it makes your property uninhabitable. We can look to include cover against this in your policy.

Tips for renting to students

• Inspect your property regularly and keep a record of each inspection.
• Create an inventory of the property’s contents and get the students to read and sign it before moving in.
• Check that you’re in compliance with all landlord regulations such as gas and fire checks.
• Give your tenants contact details so they can report any problems straight away.
• Make sure your tenants know where the water mains are, so they can turn the water off in an emergency
• Secure the property with appropriate locks
• Inform tenants of any security features and encourage them to use them at all times

What else will your landlord insurance cover?

The policy includes standard buildings and contents cover, but also:

• Property owners’ liability. Limits from £1m to £10m+ dependent on your needs (£5m is standard). This policy meets your legal costs (following a successful claim) if a member of the public is injured on your property.
• Accidental or malicious damage to property by tenants, for example this may cover damage caused by tenants using your property for the illegal growing of cannabis.
• Subsidence cover included as standard.
• Wasp or bee nests. They can lead to widespread property damage if not treated and removed, so it’s good to know that nest removal is included in your landlord’s insurance quote as standard.
• Employers’ liability insurance. Essential if you employ staff to manage or maintain your property.

Houses of multiple occupancy are considered a high risk by insurers. That’s why the Bollington team’s expertise and experience in the market can prove so valuable, enabling you to combine the right HMO cover with good value-for-money insurance. 

Every kind of cover

As an HMO landlord your insurance needs are very different from those of a standard let property owner. Only a specialist policy can provide the essential cover, including:

• Loss of rent and buildings cover as standard
• Landlords’ contents if you have furniture in the property
• Alternative accommodation for your tenants
• Legal protection
• Public and property owners’ liability – essential in case tenants or visitors get injured in the property
• Employers’ liability insurance – important if you employ people to manage or maintain the property

The right cover for every type of tenant

• Professional
• DSS/Housing association
• Students
• Asylum Seekers

When you start renting out even a single property, you need to think about all the different types of cover your landlords insurance must include. It’s simply a matter of protecting your assets and their earning potential. 

Isn’t buildings and contents cover enough?

If you just own a single buy to let property, you may believe your buildings and contents insurance provides all the cover you need. Not true. It does not cover injury to a tenant in your property for example. A standard household insurer could refuse to pay out such a claim, leaving you seriously out of pocket. 

What will your landlord insurance cover?

The policy includes standard buildings and contents cover, but also:

• Property owners’ liability. Limits from £1m to £10m+ dependent on your needs (£5m is standard). This policy meets your legal costs (following a successful claim) if a member of the public is injured on your property.
• Accidental or malicious damage to property by tenants, for example this may cover damage caused by tenants using your property for the illegal growing of cannabis.
• Subsidence cover included as standard.
• Wasp or bee nests. They can lead to widespread property damage if not treated and removed, so it’s good to know that nest removal is included in your landlord’s insurance quote as standard.
• Employers’ liability insurance.Essential if you employ staff to manage or maintain your property. The standard level of cover we offer is £10 million, though other limits are available.

If you rent out property for commercial use it’s important to ensure that it is properly protected. And if you have a mixed commercial portfolio, you need to be sure that all the different uses are included:

• Warehousing
• Industrial units
• Shops
• Bars and restaurants
• Offices 

Talk to our expert team about your property mix and we’ll find the best, most affordable commercial landlord’s insurance quote available from our panel of insuers to meet your precise needs.

All the cover you need

• Buildings and contents cover
• Loss of rent in case the premises are temporarily unusable
• Landlords’ contents if you have furniture in the property
• Legal protection
• Public and property owners’ liability – essential in case tenants or visitors get injured in the property
• Employers’ liability insurance – important if you employ people to manage or maintain the property

Airbnb and similar schemes are an increasingly popular way for property owners to generate income. It’s easy to simply assume that your normal home insurance, along with the Airbnb Host Guarantee, covers your guests as well, but that isn’t necessarily true. Insurance-wise there are several things you need to bear in mind:

Your insurer needs to know

If you don’t tell your insurer that you occasionally welcome Airbnb guests for short stays, they may deem this to be ‘non-disclosure’ and refuse to pay out on insurance claims. This even applies to claims that have nothing to do with your Airbnb guests.

Airbnb doesn’t cover some important things

Cash, valuables and pets are all outside the scope of the cover Airbnb provide against damage to your property by guests. If a guest steals money, drops your laptop or harms your dog you are not covered. It also does not cover damage to communal areas such as entrance halls. Talk to our team about ensuring that your landlord’s insurance covers you against the real risks of being a host with Airbnb, Wimdu, Housetrip, One Fine Stay and similar schemes and we will look to our insurance partners to provide a suitable level of insurance to meet your needs.

If you rent out property through Airbnb and are looking for appropriate insurance cover, please contact our specialist home insurance team on 01625 348038 for advice on the best insurance for your needs.

When you’re a letting agent, management agent or residents’ association, property owners rely on you to take away all the hassle and get things right. That means you can’t afford any mistake when it comes to ensuring that the property you are managing is properly insured. As a management agency or residents’ association, you also need to consider having public liability cover for the risks you face on behalf of the property owners.

Make sure you’re protecting property owners with the right landlord’s insurance

Talk to our team and they’ll advise precisely what cover you need. And of course we’ll use our buying power and influence with insurers to keep your costs under control.

What your agent’s landlord insurance needs to cover

• Loss of rent and buildings cover
• Landlords’ contents cover if the properties are let furnished
• Alternative accommodation for the tenants
• Directors’ and Officers’ cover – bespoke cover required for Residents’ Associations, for example
• Public and property owners’ liability – essential in case tenants or visitors get injured in the property
• Employers’ liability insurance. Even if you already have this cover within your general business insurance, talk to our team. There’s a strong chance they’ll find you a better deal.

If you’re a landlord with multiple properties, whether all residential, all commercial, land only or a mixed portfolio, you need the security and peace of mind to know that if things do go wrong, you’re fully covered. So you need a landlord insurance solution that provides the right cover at the right price – and keeps life simple.

Why talk to Bollington about landlord’s insurance for a property portfolio?

• Multi-property discounts
• One simple renewal date
• Easily add additional properties to your insurance when you buy them, or remove them once sold

All the cover you need

• Cover for multiple buildings
• Landlords’ contents cover if you have furniture in any properties
• Alternative accommodation for tenants in case properties have to be evacuated in an emergency?
• Legal protection
• Public and property owners’ liability – essential in case tenants or visitors get injured in the property
• Employers’ liability insurance – important if you employ people to manage or maintain the property
• Optional Directors’ and Officers’ insurance – management liability policies including directors’ and officers’ insurance
• Loss of income cover. If your property is uninhabitable for a period of time, perhaps due to fire or flood your rental income will disappear. Insurance is available to help cover such lost income.

Inclusive cover for different tenant types

• Professionals
• Students
• Tradespeople
• Companies
• DHSS
• Asylum seekers

Unoccupied or under renovation properties can also be covered.

Inclusive cover for different property types

• Houses
• Blocks of flats
• HMOs – Houses of Multiple Occupancy
• Shops
• Industrial units
• Restaurants
• Pubs and Bars
• Offices

Standard content on all landlord insurance product pages

Quick quote, instant cover

Call or click and our competitive landlord’s insurance quote is on its way. And if you need instant cover, just ask.

With you all the way

We want you to stay insured with Bollington long term, so we’ll be there for you whenever you need advice, a change of policy, additional cover – whatever it takes to help your business thrive.