Rental Protection Insurance

needahome_2

if its of any interest, the Gross written premiums to claims ratio is about 2% on these products

dcispv

rs1969 wrote: »

One of the quotes I had from CIA was with Rentguard insurance underwritten by AXA. Seen lots of negative feedback about Rentguard on the internet.

I also got a quote from rentguard.co.uk to compare the one from CIA. Their customer service is very poor. The email address for customer services (support@rentguard.co.uk) mentioned on their website is invalid. How can anyone trust such a company?

I eventually went with Direct Line landlord's insurance, one of the most reputed companies in the UK by far. There is no hassle of dealing with brokers as you deal with them directly and their quotes are competitive as well. I am not sure if Direct Line do Rental Protection insurance though.

Hi

I dont usual reply to these things but i felt i had to as I have had nothing but good service from Rentguard and the complete opposite from Direct Line! Rentguard handled a claim I had very efficiently and bent over backwards to help me. A few years ago I had a policy with direct line and when I tried to claim I found out that nothing was covered!

barryls69

Note to landlords, look out if you are referred to AXA / Towergate for cheap insurance.

It is virtually impossible to claim these days, first there will be a delay of weeks while they lose your claim several times.
Then they will appoint a loss adjustor who will take 2 weeks to turn up and dismiss your claim.

Several thousand phone calls and weeks later, you are back where you started.

Paul_Southern

I've been with the same company for years now. I shop round every year and they offer the best policy at a very competitive price. I have buildings and contents insurance on all of my properties with rent guarantee on most apart from those with DSS clients.

I have tried Rentguard under their various names such as 'Discount landlord' etc and i don’t find them the lowest in price. Now i hear about the claims problems from various camps i will give them a wide birth in future.

I tried CIA as per the original post and found that they use Rentguard as their main provider. So it's goodbye to these guys also in the future.

I use Moneysupermarket as a starting point but i don’t seem to ever better the cover, service and price i get from my current broker. I pay about £80 for Rent guarantee insurance and £120 buildings and contents per property.

Worth a try - Peacock Insurance

mynameisanthony

Maybe could say – I bought a policy from Discount Landlord and they were fine, didn’t use Rentguard they just used Sterling Insurance. I have since had a claim (just last week) and it is settled already. Speedy efficient service. All insurance companies are bad sometimes and some are good sometimes.

G_M

Many LLs don't have rental protection insurance. Personal choice. Many rely on effective tenant vetting and/ or having sufficient financial reserves to cover voids/defaults etc. They save the premium.

Be careful to distinguish between true 'rent protection insurance' and loss of rental income on buildings insurance.

The former covers defaulting/vanishing tenents etc (and often any associated legal costs). The latter often only covers rent lost as a result of an insured buildings risk eg property uninhabitable after a fire.

Read the small print to be sure.

Geenie

G_M wrote: »

Many LLs don't have rental protection insurance. Personal choice. Many rely on effective tenant vetting and/ or having sufficient financial reserves to cover voids/defaults etc. They save the premium.

Be careful to distinguish between true 'rent protection insurance' and loss of rental income on buildings insurance.

The former covers defaulting/vanishing tenents etc (and often any associated legal costs). The latter often only covers rent lost as a result of an insured buildings risk eg property uninhabitable after a fire.

Read the small print to be sure.

Never taken out insurance for this and don't see the point. Try to vet tenants carefully, do referencing, take deposits etc. I have never had tenants not pay their rent. Leave the place in a mess for sure, but the deposit covers this.

I see no point in paying an Insurance Company for this service. If you decide to take on letting, then you may have to expect some dud times and a loss. If you cannot afford to lose even one months rent without financial problems, then I would suggest think carefully about doing it. Good luck OP.

jr7_2

I would not recommend CIA or Rentguard. The expertise they had when I asked them questions was negligible and I had the impression both were just a glorifed call centres.
They sold me a Rentguard policy and after reading it through, I found a clause that excluded all cover if the property was being used for illegal purposes. After some waffle, they said they would get back to me.(which they never did).
My question was that if my tenants were smoking pot, or underage drinking, would I not be covered? I phoned Rentguard and they said that would be the case.
How can you have your investment being totally lost if some person is smoking pot in your property. When I explained that I could not be watching the property for twenty four hours a day, they just said no cover would apply.
I have since changed to APC, who do not exclude this, through another broker. They know what insurance is all about and explained things properly.

alan_JBI

Hi, I have just found this thread whilst checking keyword results for my website and I noticed a comment regarding rent protection cover being included within a landlords buildings insurance policy...
I just wanted to comment on this issue as I know there can be a lot of confusion out there with the lesser experienced landlord, especially where cover has been purchased online or their broker has not explained this cover. The majority of landlord buildings policies include cover for 'Loss of Rent' usually with an indemnity limit of up to 20% of the rebuild sum insured, beware, this is not rent protection insurance and will not pay out in the event of a tenant defaulting on their rental payments. 'Loss of Rent' cover within a buildings insurance policy covers the missing rent that a landlord does not receive following an insured peril claim on their buildings insurance policy, i.e. the property is damaged by a Fire and a claim for repairs is made on the buildings insurance policy. As the property is not in a habitable state the tenants move on and the landlord in unable to rent the property for X months whilst repairs are underway, however, the landlord still has their own bills to pay. If the building was insured for £100K and the policy included 20% Loss of Rent, the insurer should pay the landlord the usual rent up to a maximum of £20K (other limits / restrictions may also apply) whilst the repairs are being made and the property remains uninhabitable. If you require cover for the tenant defaulting on their rent then this is rent protection / rent guarantee insurance which usually also includes legal cover to pursue eviction etc. It is very unusual for a landlords buildings and / or contents insurance policy to include rent protection / rent guarantee cover as most insurers require the tenants to be fully referenced from one of their approved tenant referencing companies before rent protection / rent guarantee insurance cover can be purchased. I hope this info helps ...

sandx

I have just read this post with interest. I'm currently looking to arrange my own cover (rental protection/legal expenses) as I thought my new letting agent's quotes is too high. (£22 per month with Aviva). My last agent charged me £50 per 6 month contact which I thought was ok.

But I haven't really found cheaper quotes despite looking on SimpleInsurance and Letsure.

Anyway I'll try some more insurance companies mentioned here. Thanks

Update:
I tried Direct Line - their quote was £165.
Then I tried Alan Boswell - their quote was £95 so I think I'll go with them.