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Landlord Insurance

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  • £7,500 contents cover included (when building affected at the same time).
  • For self-managed and agency-managed properties.
  • Underwritten by AXA Insurance.
  • Average quote time is only 10 minutes.
David Joyson

Written by

David Joyson

Home Insurance Expert & Customer Champion

Sophie Kamkar

Reviewed by

Sophie Kamkar

Content Marketing Manager

Less than 1 minute

Updated: 12 Mar 2024

Home insurance for landlords

Homeprotect works with landlords to offer home insurance policies tailored to your circumstances.  

Our buildings and contents cover is a combined home insurance policy that is designed to protect both your home and belongings against a range of risks including fire, smoke, storm, flood, subsidence, and theft.  

As part of our landlord home insurance offering, we offer additional extras including loss of rent and landlord legal protection, to give property owners peace of mind when renting to tenants.   

Do I need landlord insurance?

For some homeowners, building insurance and contents insurance provide enough protection against the risk of damage from fire, flooding, burglary and more.  

However, landlords often need additional extras to cover some of the increased risks that result from tenant relationships and the fact that they aren’t present in the property every day.   

If you let us know your property is let out to tenants, we can tailor your policy accordingly.  

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What’s covered by landlords home insurance?

Landlords insurance provides financial protection if you need to repair the property you let or replace your belongings after they’ve been stolen, damaged or destroyed.

It comes in two parts: buildings insurance (cover against damage to the property itself) and contents insurance (for damaged or stolen items within the home). These can be combined or bought separately, so the first step is deciding which option is better for you.

What we offer

Quick home emergency response times

Have a home emergency, such as electricity failure, faulty locks or vermin infestation? With the 24/7 Home Emergency cover, which we provide as standard, you can typically get an engineer at your home within four hours. And if you’re worried about an uncontrollable leak in your home, we aim to have an emergency plumber to you within two hours.

Extreme weather conditions may extend response time. Policy terms and claim limits apply.

5 star rated buildings cover

Our building insurance has been given the highest rating by independent financial research companies, Defaqto and Moneyfacts.

Repair guarantee

Any buildings work we undertake is guaranteed for 24 months following a claim and any contents repair work we undertake is guaranteed for 12 months.

New for old

Where we replace an item, we will do our best to meet the original specification on a ‘new for old’ basis. If we can’t find an exact replacement, we’ll offer you a suitable alternative, or a full cash settlement.

Legal advice

We provide Legal Protection cover as standard, giving you access to telephone legal advice on any personal legal issue, under the laws of the UK, any European Union country, the Isle of Man, Channel Islands, Switzerland and Norway.

What isn’t included?

Damage cause gradually, or by wear and tear, or by failure to fix a known issue.

Faulty design or poor workmanship.

Theft, vandalism or malicious damage caused by a tenant.

The cost of repairing or replacing items following a mechanical or electrical fault.

Lost items.

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Landlord Insurance Cover Levels

Our landlord insurance is designed to protect your property against insured events such as fire, storm, flood, escape of water, theft, malicious damage, subsidence, landslip or heave.

Buildings cover

Covers the main structure of your home if you need to rebuild or repair it.

up to £1 million

(eligibility criteria applies)

Contents cover

Covering the value of all your possessions in the home, on a new for old basis. As standard, our buildings insurance provides up to £7,500 of cover for your landlord contents. If you choose to add contents insurance, we provide up to £30,000 as standard.

up to £30,000

Loss of rent

We’ll cover lost rent if your tenants can’t live in the home due to an insured event.

up to £30,000

Home emergency

Covers emergencies that occur in your home like uncontrollable water leaks, electricity failure, faulty locks and vermin infestation. Two levels of cover are available.

up to £500

Family legal protection

Provides a 24/7 legal advice helpline and up to £25,000 cover for claims involving contract disputes and property damage. For a claim to be successful, there must be reasonable prospects (more than a 50% chance) of winning the legal case. Two levels of cover are available.

up to £25,000

Trace and access

Covers the cost of detecting the source of a water or oil leak and repairing any damage caused in the process.

up to £10,000

Outbuildings cover

Covers rebuild or repair of your outbuildings (such as detached garages, greenhouses, sheds and summerhouses).

from £20,000

Liability cover

Liability cover involving accidental death, bodily injury or illness or property damage that you are legally liable to pay.

up to £5 million

Landlord Legal Protection with Rent Guarantee

This is optional cover, tailored for landlords, which replaces the Family Legal Protection which is included as standard. It provides a 24/7 legal advice helpline and up to £50,000 cover for claims relating to the letting of your property including repossession, property damage, recovery of overdue rent and payment of rent arrears during an eviction process. Protection provided only when more than a 50% chance of recovery.

Optional

Accidental damage

Covers situations when unexpected accidents happen, such as spillages on the carpet, breakages around the house or drilling through hidden pipes. Two levels of cover are available.

Optional

New Customer?

If you’re deciding on whether to buy home insurance with us, you can use our latest policy booklets as a guide.

Existing Customer?

Your Questions Answered

If you purchase our Legal Expenses for Landlords cover option, you are covered for legal costs and expenses to recover rent owed by your tenant for the property if it has been overdue for at least one calendar month. You are also covered for legal costs and expenses if a repossession action is required.  

In addition, if you have purchased the Rent Guarantee option, you are covered for:  

  • 100% of your rent arrears – for a limited period – while your tenant or ex-tenant still occupies your property  
  • 50% of your rent arrears – for a limited period – while your property is vacant (following repossession) if you need to repair it before it can be re-let  

Rent arrears are payable 30 days in arrears. Policy terms and conditions apply.  

No, it is not illegal to not have landlord insurance. However, while it isn’t a legal requirement, landlord insurance is popular as it protects those renting to tenants if the worst happens.   

Standard home insurance is unlikely to cover any of the specific risks facing landlords or the building when the homeowner isn’t present, so home insurance policies specially tailored to landlords provide peace of mind against risks like damage, theft and unpaid rent.  

Boiler breakdown is available as an optional upgrade as part of home emergency cover, which is available as an add-on with Homeprotect home insurance policies. With this policy, we aim to have a plumber out to you within four hours.   

Homeprotect can quote for building insurance for landlords, which works in the same way as building cover for traditional homeowners – designed to protect your home against a range of risks including fire, smoke, storm, flood, subsidence, and theft.  

A standard home insurance policy is unlikely to be able to cover you adequately as there are a higher number of risks associated with your property. Landlord insurance is designed to take situations involving tenants into account.

We’re pleased to be able to offer cover to all residential landlords. However, our policies are based on the specifics of the individual property as well as your details, and for that reason, we do not provide blanket coverage. As no two buildings are the same, landlords should take out a separate policy for each letting, one which has been specified to meet the needs of the property.  

The only instance in which Homeprotect may offer cover for multiple properties under the same policy is in a block policy (a single building split into multiple addresses). Chat with our team today.   

The cost of a landlord’s insurance policy varies depending on the size, location and type of your property. The cost also varies depending on how much cover you take out, whether you opt to pay a little more to reduce your excess and whether you opt for any of the additional landlord cover options such as loss of rent cover or landlords legal expenses cover.

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