Should a landlord have landlords insurance?

Soldierearth54

Hi,


I will be renting out my flat via a letting agent and would like to know whether I should have landlords insurance or standard home insurance?


Should I have separate home care cover?


Any advice on this area would be great!

InsideInsurance

Home insurance only covers a property if its your home. If its let out and you dont live there then it wont provide cover.

If its let out you need Landlords, if you use it just as an occasional place to stay then you need Holiday Home/ Second Home insurance.

By Home Care do you mean Home Emergency - ie a plumber to come out if a pipe bursts? In which case, purely your decision on if you want the convenience of it or happy to deal with these things yourself. Like Home insurance, you'd need the landlord version of the product if you do want it

Soldierearth54

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Home insurance only covers a property if its your home. If its let out and you dont live there then it wont provide cover.

If its let out you need Landlords, if you use it just as an occasional place to stay then you need Holiday Home/ Second Home insurance.

By Home Care do you mean Home Emergency - ie a plumber to come out if a pipe bursts? In which case, purely your decision on if you want the convenience of it or happy to deal with these things yourself. Like Home insurance, you'd need the landlord version of the product if you do want it

Thanks.


Yep home emergency. I'm not sure whether or not it will be worth it. The property is only 5 years old so chances of boiler breakdown etc are slim.


Do you know much about EPC certificates and landlords registration? My prospective letting agent is telling me these are required.

Heliflyguy

It sounds like you might need to ask some questions here...

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/

InsideInsurance

Landlord Emergency insurance is useful in that you can give them a number so if they find a 10' geyser coming out the wall at 2am they have someone to call. Alternatively a bit of homework and you could provide them with your "preferred suppliers".

What they cover varies fairly considerably but all are only for "the emergency" and so any redecorating or other such work still falls on your shoulders (or your regular property insurance) once the leak is plugged.

Looking at http://www.rla.org.uk/landlord/guides/epc/ it says you must now have a formal EPC done. Not sure what you mean by "landlord registry"

Soldierearth54

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Landlord Emergency insurance is useful in that you can give them a number so if they find a 10' geyser coming out the wall at 2am they have someone to call. Alternatively a bit of homework and you could provide them with your "preferred suppliers".

What they cover varies fairly considerably but all are only for "the emergency" and so any redecorating or other such work still falls on your shoulders (or your regular property insurance) once the leak is plugged.

Looking at http://www.rla.org.uk/landlord/guides/epc/ it says you must now have a formal EPC done. Not sure what you mean by "landlord registry"

Thanks for that.


The letting agent advised I need to register as a landlord with the council at a cost of £66 for 3 years.

InsideInsurance

Registration as a Landlord is a local issue, for England and Wales as there is no national requirement for it. Scotland may be different.

Worth checking with your local council to see if this is compulsory or optional (or totally made up)

Soldierearth54

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Registration as a Landlord is a local issue, for England and Wales as there is no national requirement for it. Scotland may be different.

Worth checking with your local council to see if this is compulsory or optional (or totally made up)

LOL let's hope it's made up.

Pincher

If you have a mortgage, the lender usually makes it mandatory to have insurance. This is so if the house burns down, the lender gets their money back. Yes, I know, why don't THEY pay for the insurance, since it's for their benefit.

If you have no mortgage, then it's how lucky you feel.
If the tenant dies from a gas leak, or the chimney stack falls through the roof and kills him/her/pet, what happens?

1. Get the first flight to the Bahamas/Karachi/Moscow.

2. Blame the Gas safe engineer.

3. Claim poverty and offer a monthly payment of £10 a month for one hundred years.

4. Claim mental trauma, and apply for NHS treatment for traumatic stress, and get your lawyer to file for incapacity to stand trial.

kingstreet

Assuming this is a leasehold flat and the building is insured by the freeholder, it should continue to be covered even if it is sublet. Check your lease.

You may need the freeholder's permission to sublet and you'll certainly need your mortgage lender's, if you have one.