Landlords' Cover for Plumbing & Drains and Electrical?

nubbins

No advice about Homeserve as such but if you do sign up go through Topcashback and get £30 - £65 cashback

http://www.topcashback.co.uk/homeserve/

cattermole

I used Homeserve as a home owner for years and never had a negative experience.

They even changed taps on one occasion, a drain unblocked, boiler breakdowns and an emergency concerning leaking water, a leaking radiator.

All calls attended within a few hours. Do read the small print carefully if and when you make a claim though on what you actually say on the phone.

Also an electrical fault.

All of the above included a Boiler service.

My daughter severely disabled rented a flat and there was an underlying problem with the water heater in the flat (it was all electric) the thermostat kept blowing. It truly was a nightmare and in the end the Letting Agent suggested to the landlord the best way forward was to take out a homeserve policy to repair it, which was fine and they came out if there was a problem. It saved him money in the long run and everyone a hell of a lot of hassle.

We have switched to Corgi homecover recently for the boiler and electrics (on price) but I have kept a policy with homeserve for plumbing & drains as Corgi don't offer this or didn't?. I have also found Corgi very good and the Engineers they send are local small companies, all I have found to be very good and professional.

Not had an experience of BG for many years.

SuzieSue

We've used Homeserve for several years because we have a Potterton Powermax HE boiler which most heating engineers won't touch.

They have been fine when we have had a problem although around 7 years ago when the boiler stopped working in December they said that the earliest they could get an engineer was in 4-5 days as they were very busy. The boiler hasn't broken down since then, so I don't know what if their service has improved.

We have had other minor problems which they have dealt with satisfactorily.

The only thing I don't like is that you don't know what time the engineer is going to arrive until he rings you in the morning which isn't great if you live quite a way away from the property. We always ask for an afternoon appointment but sometimes the engineer rings at 9am to say he will be there at 10am. When this has happened and we tell him that we won't be there on time he has always able to move the appointment to slightly later, but I am not sure if it will always be possible.

NewLandlord

Thanks for the further feedback - I'll certainly check out Homeserve. I noticed that Corgi was mentioned and it seems to have superb online reviews:

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/corgihomeplan.co.uk

and they also seems to have drainage and plumbing cover too:

https://www.corgihomeplan.co.uk/our-products.

Has anyone else had good (or bad of course) experience with them? Or are there any other insurance companies that have been decent for electrical and plumbing / drainage cover?

cattermole

I swapped to Corgi because Homeserve had started to get quite expensive and I think it can pay to swap a bit like Energy deals. As you always get a better deal if you are a new customer.

Can't fault Corgi tbh, very good. We have always had the same firm come for boiler stuff and they are a very good local family firm, as a consequence have used them for private stuff as well and recommended to friends. Never have to phone up to find out when they are going to do annual service with Corgi, I did once or twice with Homeserve, they always call me to arrange a day (or the local firm do on their behalf).

Only thing I would say do they actually do a policy for Landlords? I could not see one on the link you gave above. Seemed to be for the Homeowner only. So would check this before committing if you decide to go with them.

SuzieSue

SuzieSue wrote: »

We've used Homeserve for several years because we have a Potterton Powermax HE boiler which most heating engineers won't touch.

They have been fine when we have had a problem although around 7 years ago when the boiler stopped working in December they said that the earliest they could get an engineer was in 4-5 days as they were very busy. The boiler hasn't broken down since then, so I don't know what if their service has improved.

We have had other minor problems which they have dealt with satisfactorily.

The only thing I don't like is that you don't know what time the engineer is going to arrive until he rings you in the morning which isn't great if you live quite a way away from the property. We always ask for an afternoon appointment but sometimes the engineer rings at 9am to say he will be there at 10am. When this has happened and we tell him that we won't be there on time he has always able to move the appointment to slightly later, but I am not sure if it will always be possible.

Just to update my post. The boiler has been playing up over the last few days so I just rang Homeseve and they are sending an engineer round on Thursday. This time they have agreed to an afternoon slot although they can't be more precise than 12-5pm. The engineer will ring between 8 and 10am on Thursday morning to give us a more accurate time.

HappyMJ

SuzieSue wrote: »

Just to update my post. The boiler has been playing up over the last few days so I just rang Homeseve and they are sending an engineer round on Thursday. This time they have agreed to an afternoon slot although they can't be more precise than 12-5pm. The engineer will ring between 8 and 10am on Thursday morning to give us a more accurate time.

Thursday? It's Tuesday today. My independent gas person comes the day after a problem is reported to him and at the very least has a quick look. He collects the keys from the agent and enters the property on his own with permission from the tenant. The tenant can be there if they want there's no reason to be but if they couldn't be there I wouldn't go to the property to supervise. He knows what he's doing and can do it by himself and call me if there's a problem.

SuzieSue

HappyMJ wrote: »

Thursday? It's Tuesday today. My independent gas person comes the day after a problem is reported to him and at the very least has a quick look. He collects the keys from the agent and enters the property on his own with permission from the tenant. The tenant can be there if they want there's no reason to be but if they couldn't be there I wouldn't go to the property to supervise. He knows what he's doing and can do it by himself and call me if there's a problem.

Yes, obviously that's better but the boiler is working (we just have to press the reset button every so often) so I didn't ask for an earlier date as Thursday was better for us than Wednesday.

Of course, it you know an independent who will come the next day then there is no need to use Homeserve, but I don't and most will not repair Powermaxes anyway.

NewLandlord

Thanks everyone for all the detailed information and advice. I'll probably end up going with Homeserve as they are noticeably cheaper than British Gas. (Note that for some strange reason Homeserve don't allow you to have postdated landlord's insurance contracts. I was told that I have to place my order by phone, or online, on the day I want it to start.)

Corgi had great reviews but sadly they don't do landlord's insurance but I may well consider changing my home insurance to them .

British Gas had been good to me so far, but sadly they are noticeably more expensive and the reviews for both Corgi and Homeserve seem to be at least as good.

Thanks again everyone.

P.s. The tip about going via a cashback site really helped too!

SuzieSue

SuzieSue wrote: »

Just to update my post. The boiler has been playing up over the last few days so I just rang Homeseve and they are sending an engineer round on Thursday. This time they have agreed to an afternoon slot although they can't be more precise than 12-5pm. The engineer will ring between 8 and 10am on Thursday morning to give us a more accurate time.

Just to update my post, the engineer rang at 9am today and gave me a 2 hour slot in the afternoon as promised. He changed a couple of parts and the boiler seems to be working fine.