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House insurance for rental property

Can you use standard house insurance to cover your rental property? Probably not. General house/home insurance is for the home you live in, and does not provide cover for letting the property. If you’ve got tenants, it’s probable that your standard home insurance cover would be invalidated and possibly not pay out if you’ve got tenants. Your buy to let mortgage, if you have one, will also probably require that you have proper home insurance for rental property specifically.

Rental property insurance quote

When you get a rental home insurance quote, there are also additional covers included that are missing from a standard home insurance policy. However, some of the main covers will be familiar.

The building and the contents will be protected. The building insurance for rental property protects against mishaps such as flooding or fire. These are very real risks for any property owner, because the consequences are huge. The cost of repair to a building can be extremely high, and, for many landlords, could cause not only a block on the rental income, but also an unaffordable bill. The building insurance cover as part of your landlords policy will pay out in these events, making it possible to return to business as usual as soon as possible.

Similarly, the contents cover included works in roughly the same way as your normal home insurance policy – most likely you have fixtures and fittings, carpets, perhaps appliances, etc, which again are a major investment and expensive to replace. Contents cover with house insurance for rental property, it should be noted, though, does not cover your tenants possessions, only the items you supplied for the house or flat.

A quick note – if you’re renting out the property on AirBnB or similar, for short term lets, then you’ll need an AirBnB-friendly insurance policy which we can provide.

What else can be covered in landlord insurance for rental property?

Insurance for rental property owners can contain various other protection in addition to the basics. In this way you can get a tailored quote for a specialist policy that meets your most important needs.

How would you handle things if a tenant got hurt on your property, held you responsible, and made a legal claim against you? Legal fees to defend the case can be very high, not to mention the large sums of compensation that may be awarded, for which you’d be liable. Rental house insurance quotes can include liability cover, which protects you because it pays out in these events so that your compensation and legal costs are covered, so that you can rest easy.

Would you perhaps need rent guarantee cover? Along with contents and building insurance for rental property, rental property insurance can also be configured to include rent guarantee – this means your rental income is protected should a tenant stop paying their rent.

There’s also an option of rental income protection, which sounds like it could be the same thing, but isn’t. Rental income protection covers you in case your tenants cannot live in the house due to damage, again protecting you from loss of rental income.

There are several further options too, we’ll just mention two of them here. Accidental damage cover pays out if your property is damaged by accident, for example if a big spill spoils one of your expensive carpets. It assumes that the tenant caused the mishap accidentally, whereas the malicious damage option saves the day if you’re in the unfortunate situation that you’ve had tenants who have damaged your property on purpose.

How to find a good price

First off, it’s important to consider the levels of cover, not just the price. However, of course you want to get a very competitive quote. Whether you’re looking to insure a single property, or a portfolio, depending where you go, it can be tricky to get a really cheap quote. Thankfully we can help with this as we have great rates from a number of different insurers, so when we identify your needs, we can put together a bespoke quote. And insurers have very different pricing models, so the company that gives the best price for one individual may be expensive for another.

That’s why a broker such as Apricot, with good relationships with lots of insurers, can compare prices and very likely can find you a fantastic deal.

* 18% of our landlord insurance customers in 2020 had a premium of £100 or less per annum.