Urgent: Buy to Let insurance

schander

Hi all,

Not sure if this is the right place for this, or if it should be in the insurance forum.

Anyway i have just exchanged on a buy-to-let and my solicitor has just informed me that I am responsible for the insurnace on the house now. So should i take out buildings and contents or just buildings??

I'm new to all this. Yes I know i should have done more research before buying but things got hurried along a little as the seller was desperate to sell, to the quickest buyer.

Thanks
satpal

Leon_W

If you bought with a mortgage then your solicitor shouldn't have exchanged without insurance being in place !

If it burns down tonight who will pay ? I bet the solicitor wont be offering.

You are badly exposed and should get something sorted ASAP.

clutton_2

alan boswell insurance brokers - 01603 218000

sanfrancisco

You will only need contents insurance, if you have some contents!

A_Nice_Englishman

If you didn't realise you had to insure your property, you may find the following useful. It's what I usually post when someone asks about starting a property rental business.

Starting a property rental business is like starting up any other business. You need a business plan.

Do void periods, bad debts, repairs, redecoration, legal fees,insurance, agents fees, costs of evicting bad tenants, rises in interest rates to, say, 8% and possible falls in property values figure in your business plan?

Are you familiar with the 50 Acts of Parliament and 70 sets of regulations which may apply? Did you know you can be held responsible for the anti-social behaviour of your tenants?

Then you need to look at the taxation side. Any profit you make will be taxed at your highest rate of income tax and if you make a profit when you sell you will have to pay Capital Gains Tax. though there may be reliefs.

schander

sanfrancisco wrote:

You will only need contents insurance, if you have some contents!

I would have thoguht that I needed only buildings as there should be not contents??

I think i will sort out buildings and contents, then i can always cancel contents if i dont need it.

Thanks

Satpal

clutton_2

Even if you let unfurnished you will still have contents - landlords policies include white goods and some stuff like carpets, blinds etc - talk to a good broker - they are the ones that know about the intricate details of the policy. ask about liability also. Tenants need to insure their own belongings

please dont take this the wrong way but it sounds like you need to do an enormous amount of reading before you go any further - where are you going to get your AST from from example ? i strongly strongly suggest you join the National Landlords ASsociation; and that you use a letting agent for the first six months to see how things are done.

jema_2

check the finite policy wording, some exclude tenants having people in the house, ie only cover when named tenants in... fire if having people to stay = not covered, some wont cover you if house empty for little as 5 days...try asking tenants what they're going to do...no chance,
theres a lot of odd policy exclusions, PM me if you want to know who we use

Sisyphus

A_Nice_Englishman wrote:

If you didn't realise you had to insure your property, you may find the following useful. It's what I usually post when someone asks about starting a property rental business.

Starting a property rental business is like starting up any other business. You need a business plan.

Do void periods, bad debts, repairs, redecoration, legal fees,insurance, agents fees, costs of evicting bad tenants, rises in interest rates to, say, 8% and possible falls in property values figure in your business plan?

Are you familiar with the 50 Acts of Parliament and 70 sets of regulations which may apply? Did you know you can be held responsible for the anti-social behaviour of your tenants?

Then you need to look at the taxation side. Any profit you make will be taxed at your highest rate of income tax and if you make a profit when you sell you will have to pay Capital Gains Tax. though there may be reliefs.

lol have you kept a tally of the number of times you feel the need to post this. Scary.

whambamboo

Sisyphus wrote:

lol have you kept a tally of the number of times you feel the need to post this. Scary.

The scary thing is the number of people investing hundreds of thousands in a business without doing any research or having a clue what they are doing.

A_Nice_Englishman

Sisyphus wrote:

lol have you kept a tally of the number of times you feel the need to post this. Scary.

whambamboo wrote:

The scary thing is the number of people investing hundreds of thousands in a business without doing any research or having a clue what they are doing.

Sorry if I'm boring people but I hope that if just one or two take notice they will be saved from a possible business failure and their tenants will be saved from having an 'amateur' landlord who doesn't understand his/her responsibilities.

Funnily enough, nobody has yet come back and said 'yep, I've looked into that and decided property rental is the business for me'

My own experience is that I rented out my house when I moved to a different part of the country to work. Even owning the property outright I found I would do better keeping the money in the bank so I've sold up. I could have held out for a rise in property prices but personally I doubt that will happen in the short term.

Those professional landlords who are in property rental for the long term and bought some time ago will no doubt have a different view.