reluctant landlord needs help with insurance please

ktj

Hi,
Following the deaths of my parents, their former home is proving difficult to sell and so is to be let with me as the very reluctant landlord. A reliable friend of the family is the intended tenant, but i am faced with organising everything and the first thing that I have been trying to organise is landlord insurance and this is what i need advice on.
I've got a quote from direct line of £131.55per annum; but through search engines, I've got a quote of £105 from Discount Landlord's who are underwritten by Stirling Group and a quote of £124 ( with better conditions) from Ark Insurance, underwritten by LLoyds.
I am obviouly tempted by the £105 quote but I have never heard of Discount Landlord or the stirling group hence this post. I've never heard of Ark insurance, but as they are underwritten by Lloyds should I go with them?
Has anyone had experience of these companies or can anyone offer any advice to a new landlord at this difficult time.
Thanks in advance for any help that you can offer. kje.

zzzLazyDaisy

I am sorry for your loss.

I can't comment on landlord insurance specifically, but I can tell you that when I came home from holiday to find my soil pipe broken and toilet waste discharging onto the garden, Direct Line were amazing. They had an engineer out to look at it the next day - this is despite the fact that this was the middle of winter with 4" snow and they must have been inundated with claims. The actual work was carried out less than a week later, and DL put me up in a hotel in the meantime because I had no toilet.

As a result of their excellent service I no longer switch my insureres each year, MSE style, as I used to do (although I do check that I'm being offered a fair deal).

It's not just the price you pay that matters with insurance, it is also the peace of mind that if you do have to make a claim, it will be dealt with professionally.

Of course this is just my experience.

huckster

I know this is a money saving site, but for £26 difference in premium, I would tend to opt for a company I had heard of. Providing that you have checked the cover and made a fair comparison.

Sometimes, the difference in services becomes apparent if you needed to claim. Some of these companies that offer online quotes, are just not up to the job, when you have the need to claim. Some are even painful to deal with, when you need to contact their customer services. They often have premium rate phone lines and charge higher fees for any amendments to the policies.

There are companies that have been around in landlords market for years. One of these is Letsure, who might be worth giving a call.

dacouch

The premiums you are being quoted are very low, how much are you Insuring the property for ?

dacouch

huckster wrote: »

I know this is a money saving site, but for £26 difference in premium, I would tend to opt for a company I had heard of. Providing that you have checked the cover and made a fair comparison.

Allegedly Ark Insurance are very good on flood claims

shudder

There is an independant company who provide a rating system (Defaqto) that measures various criteria:

• Cover options offered
• Level of cover provided for each feature
• Additional features such as seasonal increases.
• Services offered such as legal advice helplines
• Excess fees and charges
• Service Levels
• Complaints

Taking a quick look DL has a 3 star rating and Sterling have a 5 star rating, take a look here:

http://www.defaqto.com/star-ratings/buy-let-insurance

Also you will need to consider the legal requirements required by your local authority, i would recommend as a minimum obtaining a gas safety certificate (providing there is gas at the property) and installing smoke alarms.

benjaminM

Stirling underwriting is fine. They back many of the landlord insurers including the likes of rent guard and Arthur savage. Landlord insurance is pretty cheap these days so I'm not at all suprised by the premiums. For the premiums you have quoted your sum insured is about 95 to 100k? I have no problem with the cheapest premium.

ktj

Hi again,
Many thanks for all of the advice so far - it is very much appreciated.
As Stirling seem an O.K. company and Discount Landlord gave the best quote, I'll probably go with them.
Getting smoke alarms and a gas certificate are obvious priorities, but I live over 300 miles from the property and I am not in a position to visit, any suggestions as to how i can find a reliable, properly qualified person to do the necessary checks? Will the council do this or does the gas board still exist? It is over 30 years since I lived in a house with mains gas, so i'm at a bit of a loss as to how to organise getting a gas certificate. Also how much might getting a certificate cost? The house in question is a smallish, 3 bedroomed, ex council, terraced property.
Anyway, thanks again for any further advise that anyone might beable to offer. kje.

shudder

Any Corgi registered engineer can provide a certificate, you can go onto www.gassafetyregister.co.uk, type in the postcode and find one nearby to the property. The price depends the area and how many appliances need to be inspected, I think the average cost is around £65 for 2 appliances (boiler/cooker/fire). This needs to be undertaken annually.

There are also various websites that can recommend decent contractors and its probably best if you get a list for these in the area in case there is a need for any emergency repairs.

Alternatively if you dont want all the hassle appoint a letting agent close to the property to deal with it all. Obviously they will want to take a percentage of the rent but they will deal with all this for you and know the necesarry local authority requirements. Vet prospective tenants, arrange periodic inspections, know when certificates are due. This will live you with peace of mind.

HTH

GPR

Apart from getting insurance i would advise getting a proper legal tenancy document drawn up, if you have not done this due to thinking you have reliable tenant lined up.It really is vitally important and probably needed for insurance purposes anyway.Checks on their credit ratings are also advisable.Letsure is as far as I know ok and reasonable price while Homelet possibly better though more expensive.Tesco Compare will allow online comparison for landlord insurance in the specialist section and they include Letsure as one of their insurers.

PaulBear

Sorry I have come to this late but for future reference:-

Join Which© and on Which Local you can search for referenced professionals in the area you want. You MUST have a gas certificate done every year [c.£30] this is also for your own protection. I have had mains wired smoke detectors fitted [c£100] again mainly for my protection so batteries cannot be taken out, etc. and I also have yearly electric certificates done [c.£30]. Remember just in case anything happens, it helps to have proof you have done all reasonably in your power.

IGNOR THE INFO ABOUT CORGI, this is out of date, they MUST have 'Gas Safe' registration and you must also check that they are certified for the work you want them to carry out as it is now sub divided. http://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/
Electricians need to be 'Part P' registered see here http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/Planning/ChoosingTradersAndServiceProviders/DG_4018096

As to insurance, make sure that you insure for rebuild costs which include demolition, removal, etc. Rough guide is half as much again but calculator is here http://abi.bcis.co.uk/

Also do make sure that someone visits the house at least once every 6 months just to make sure that all is OK and make sure that the local council and utilities [Gas, Electric and Water] know who is in the house ASAP to save you any aggro over bills. Keep dated and timed copies or notes of all correspondence with peoples' name on. I know this sounds a lot but it is not really and you will be very glad of it should you have any problems.