Compare landlord insurance

What is Landlord Insurance?

Landlord insurance provides protection for people renting out properties to tenants. It’s designed to safeguard against a range of different risks, protect your property investments and provide peace of mind.

Why do I need Landlord Insurance?

All landlords face risks. And some of these risks can be expensive to resolve or difficult to manage.

In the event of a claim, landlord insurance can cover loss, damage, specific expenses, lost rental income, compensation costs, legal fees and more. It may also give you access to legal or professional advice. 

You may also find that you need certain covers to join particular groups, organisations or platforms, while some tenants may prefer to rent from landlords with insurance.

Compare landlord insurance quotes

If you have a rental property, it makes sense to insure it - but when you compare quotes to find a cheap deal there are a few things you need to be aware of.

Credit checks and background checks, shorthold tenancies and deposit protection schemes – being a landlord isn’t always straightforward, and the ins and outs of landlord insurance can sometimes add additional complexities to an already admin-heavy investment.

Still, finding the right landlord insurance, and ensuring you’re getting that cover at the right price, can be easier than you might think if you know where to go to compare policies from some of the best landlord insurance providers. 

Is landlord insurance mandatory?

Landlords aren’t legally obliged to take out landlord insurance, but if you’ve taken out a buy-to-let mortgage to buy your rental property there’s a good chance this type of insurance policy might be a contractual requirement.

Most buy-to-let lenders will include a clause in their loan agreement that requires the borrower to ensure the property has buildings insurance at the very least, and since a standard home insurance policy won’t be suitable for a buy-to-let property this does mean that you’re likely to be contractually obliged to take out landlord buildings insurance at a minimum.

If you’re buying a flat in a larger building, you might find that buildings insurance is included in the service charge. If this is the case you have no obligation to take on further insurance, but remember that buildings insurance only covers the cost of rebuilding or repairing the flat if it is damaged, not any of the contents.  

Of course, even if your own lender doesn’t impose this obligation (or if you’re already mortgage-free on your buy-to-let property), landlord insurance is still a good idea, because your rental property is an investment asset and landlord insurance is specifically designed to help to protect that asset.

What does landlord insurance cover me for?

Landlord insurance is an umbrella term for a number of different covers, each designed to protect you from a specific type of risk.

Some common covers include:

• Buildings cover: designed to protect against loss or damage including malicious damage to the building, such as damage caused by fire, flood, subsidence or escape of water. This cover can cover the cost of repairs to your building.

• Fixtures and fittings cover: designed to protect against damage, theft or breakage of fixtures and fittings within your rental properties. This can cover the cost of repairs and replacements for things like fixed glass and mirrors, electrical sockets and light fixtures. 

• Property owners' liability insurance: designed to pay legal fees and compensation costs awarded to a tenant or member of the public if they were to suffer an injury or property damage.

• Employers’ liability insurance: a legal requirement for most landlords that employ staff. It’s designed to pay your legal fees and compensation costs if an employee becomes sick, injured or dies due to their work.

• Terrorism cover: designed to protect against property damage, liabilities and financial losses caused by an act of terrorism.

• Landlords’ contents insurance: designed to protect against loss or damage including malicious damage to your items within the property (such as furniture and upholstery). This cover can pay for repairs or replacements.

• Rental income cover: if your property becomes so damaged that it cannot be occupied, this cover can pay your rental income while the property is uninhabitable.

• Rent guarantee insurance: not to be confused with rental income cover, this add-on for residential landlords is designed to cover rental arrears if a tenant is unable or unwilling to pay their rent. It can also cover legal expenses associated with contract disputes, audits by HMRC, repossessing your property, evicting squatters and more.

What type of incidents will landlord insurance cover me against?

Landlord buildings insurance is the core part of every landlord insurance policy, and can help to cover your costs if your rental property ever suffers structural damage due to things like:

• A fire

• Flooding

• Storm damage

• Frost damage

• Vandalism

• Malicious damage caused by tenants

Some policies may also cover you for accidental damage, although this can vary from one insurance provider to the next.

What isn’t covered by landlord insurance?

All insurance policies contain exclusions – so you should always refer to your policy documents for full details around exclusions, terms and limits of your cover.

For example, while Superscript would love to cover everything, they can’t insure:

• Any property that is let out to a local authority with an unknown occupant

• Mansion blocks or the flats contained within them

• Homes that are unoccupied for more than six months of the year

• HMOs with more than five tenancy agreements or any tenancy agreements of less than 180 days

• Any damage which results from acts of fraud or dishonesty by you or your employees

• Any costs associated with damage caused by the property being used for illegal activities, other than damage caused by the illegal cultivation of drugs

Will standard home insurance cover my rental property?

No, standard home insurance wouldn’t be an appropriate option if you’re insuring a rental property, because the types of insurance risks these properties represent are different from the insurance risks owner-occupied homes carry. 

For instance, tenants may be less likely to notice structural issues like subsidence or rising damp than owner-occupiers, and some tenants may also be disinclined to inform their landlords if and when they do notice these types of problems. 

Some buy-to-let properties may also be more likely to stand empty in between tenancies than an owner-occupied home, which could increase the risk of vandalism or theft, and some tenants may also be less inclined to take good care of the property since they don’t own it.

All of these factors increase the likelihood of an insurance claim, which means standard home insurance wouldn’t be suitable.

What add-ons or optional extras can I add to my landlord insurance policy?

There are a number of optional extras that many landlord insurance providers will allow landlords to add to their standard policies to give them more rounded coverage, such as:

• Rent guarantee insurance

• Accidental damage insurance

• Unoccupied property insurance

• Landlord liability cover 

• Alternative accommodation cover

• Landlord home emergency cover 

• Legal expenses cover

How much does landlord insurance cost?

The best landlord insurance policies can provide invaluable protection for arguably one of your most valuable assets, so it’s best to find the right policy for your property rather than simply looking for cheap landlord insurance.

In addition, specific factors relating to your rental property are likely to have a significant impact on your landlord insurance cost, including your rental property’s location (and the crime rate in that location), how old the building is, its estimated rebuild cost, whether it has a history of subsidence or flooding, etc.

The exact price of landlord insurance depends on your property portfolio and your insurance requirements.

Landlord insurance from our partner, Superscript, typically starts at £12.95 a month* – but you may be quoted a higher or lower price.

That’s because the price of landlord insurance depends on a number of different factors, including:

• How many properties you rent out

• The type of properties you own

• Where those properties are located

• The covers you choose

• The limits you require.

*10% of landlords paid £12.95 a month or less for their Superscript insurance between January and March 2023.

How can I find the best landlord insurance quotes?

There are a number of steps you can take to increase your odds of finding better landlord insurance quotes, such as:

• Comparing quotes: When you compare landlord insurance quotes from a range of different providers you increase your odds of discovering a cheaper price for the very same cover.

• Increasing security: Installing additional security features in your rental property can sometimes help to reduce your landlord insurance quotes, because they reduce the risk of theft and burglary.

• Keeping contents insurance to a minimum: Even if you rent your house or flat out on a furnished basis, it’s unlikely you will need as much contents cover as an owner-occupier as personal belongings like clothes are not something you have to include. After all, your tenant is responsible for insuring their own contents, so your landlord contents insurance will only need to cover the contents that belong to you.

• Paying annually: Monthly payment plans might be convenient, but they usually increase the overall cost of your landlord insurance policy. To keep costs down, pay for your landlord insurance annually.