Many new landlords often question why they need specific landlords insurance, or why they need it at all if they are going through a letting agent.
Many landlords assume that agents will vet every applicant and make sure they end up with great tenants who will look after the house and leave it in the same condition as they first find it. This isn’t always the case.
Why do I need it?
Unfortunately, while there are vetting processes if you do go through a letting agent, there are some bad tenants out there so it is best to take out landlords insurance in case they damage your home or even refuse to pay rent.
While you may end up with perfect tenants, there are also disasters that can occur which landlords insurance will cover you against.
For example, if you are without landlords insurance and your property floods or is damaged by fire, you will have to pay for the repairs yourself, as well as missing out on the rent you would receive if you had tenants in the property.
However, if you have landlords insurance the insurance company will pay for all the repairs, the builders and decorators costs – in fact, everything it would cost to make the property habitable again. On top of this your landlords insurance will also cover any lost rent in the time period it would take to make your property habitable again.
Let’s take another example: you are having problems with your tenants as they are refusing to pay rent and refusing to leave the property. We all know that it takes a long time to get squatters out through the courts and this means a lot of legal costs on top of the lost rent. If you opt to have legal cover in with your landlords insurance package the insurance company will pay for any legal costs accrued and certain companies will even pay for the lost rent during the time the legal proceedings take place.