Lanlord rent protection insurance

walker9664

Hi All, I have being paying for rent protect payment insurance for 2 years on 2 property's, I had a change in tenancy and the new tenants will be on 80% salary due to Covid19. I tried to phone direct line to check if I would be covered, only to be greeted by a recorded message stating that Direct Line would not honour the policy due to new government legislation. Is this legal? I have paid nearly £1000 a year for several years for this service, and to now be told I am no longer covered, this has been a complete waste of money and unethical. I tried to get through to a human and stayed on hold for nearly 2 hours with no luck in speaking to anybody. So I am unable to even stop paying for this service, I am unable to cancel the direct debit as it is tied in with the buildings insurance. In my opinion this is the same as paying for fully comprehensive car insurance and when making a claim being told my insurance will not honour this and will only cover you for 3rd party. I have received no written correspondence stating they are changing the terms in conditions, and cannot believe what they are stating is legal. Any advise greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance   

shaun_from_Africa

walker9664 said:

I have paid nearly £1000 a year for several years for this service, and to now be told I am no longer covered, this has been a complete waste of money and unethical.

Just because they have changed their terms now doesn't mean that the money that you previously paid has been wasted as presumably you were covered during this time.
The UK has an ongoing situation that hasn't occurred for a very long time so it's inevitable that there are going to be major changes and disruptions which although may be hard, are things that we are going to have to live with.
I'm sure that the T&Cs of your policy allow for changes to be made and once the situation is back to normal, you will be able to get a partial refund for the time that cover wasn't being provided.

Hasbeen

Is the new government legislation not regarding evictions?
It should be on your policy documentation or check your account on line re applicable cover

born_again

How is the fact the tenants on 80% salary effect your rent payments? Or are they using it as a excuse not to pay the rent?
Personally this week my outgoings have dropped so much a 80% cut in income would still leave me in credit.

George_Michael

I just wanted to point out that this isn't a consumer rights issue and you would probably be better off asking in the 
Buying, renting & selling forum:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/house-buying-renting-selling
as there may be people on there who know what your legal rights are.

SuperHan

I think the Direct Line cover required that you sought eviction in order for the rent guarantee claim to stand. As you can't seek eviction you're prohibited from keeping up 'your side of the bargain' and so you can't make a valid claim under the insurance.

davidmcn

George_Michael said:

I just wanted to point out that this isn't a consumer rights issue and you would probably be better off asking in the 
Buying, renting & selling forum:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/house-buying-renting-selling
as there may be people on there who know what your legal rights are.

There's already a thread there on this topic:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6116550/rent-guarantee-insurance

zoob

Just collect 80% off the normal rent seems the fair thing to do since there still getting money 

unholyangel

SuperHan said:

I think the Direct Line cover required that you sought eviction in order for the rent guarantee claim to stand. As you can't seek eviction you're prohibited from keeping up 'your side of the bargain' and so you can't make a valid claim under the insurance.

You can seek eviction, you just now need to give them 3 months notice instead of 4 weeks, before starting legal proceedings for possession.