RESIDENTIALlettings
Ask the expert...
Is your cover complete?
asks resident
expert Brian Turney why the
correct landlord insurance cover
is an essential, not an option
Q In your experience do letting agents always inform Fires are sometimes caused by wiring having been ripped out
landlord clients of their need for specialist landlord and electricity meters being bypassed. On other occasions, fires are
insurance? a direct result of deliberate arson, with tenants trying to cover their
A Not always. Many residential letting agents operate with great tracks prior to police raids.
professionalism but unfortunately there are occasions when
landlords fail to receive the best advice. I have come across many Q How can agents protect landlords against this risk?
cases of landlords believing that standard home insurance will A A landlord needs to be aware of what’s going on in his or her
cover their property while it’s being rented. house but even with regular property inspections it can be a case
A special landlord household insurance policy is vital, not only of locking the stable door after the horse has bolted.
for its provision of buildings and contents cover, but also for its Vetting tenants is obviously a key weapon in a landlord’s
liability protection. armoury – and the more comprehensive the check, the better the
Should a tenant hurt himself due to a landlord’s unintended chances of a letting agent and/or landlord smelling a rat. A basic
negligence, they can claim tens of thousands of pounds in credit check report, as I pointed out in last month’s
damages. A property needn’t be in a poor state of repair for such a PROPERTYdrum, will only reveal so much. The failure to
claim to be made – an insurer reference a tenant can lead to an
wouldn’t take on the risk in the insurer refusing to pay out.
first place if this was the case.
A specialist landlord
Agents should also be aware that
A roof slate, for example, that missed inspection visits can, in
has not been correctly
household insurance
some cases, breach an insurance
maintained might fall off a roof policy’s terms and conditions.
and hit a tenant on the head.
policy is vital, not only for
The implications of such an Q What else should agents
incident could be enormous –
its buildings and contents
be alerting landlords to
if the tenant were a student for when they’re taking out
instance, his or her future
cover, but also for its
landlords household
earnings could be taken into insurance?
account in a legal settlement.
liability protection.’
A Most policies offer landlords
Property owners’ liability can optional extras, on top of the
cover the award for damages standard cover and these are
plus legal costs. Liability cover limits of £2,000,000 are fairly typical. worth giving serious consideration to for the additional peace of
Repair bills for property damage caused by tenants can, in some mind they bring. Landlords frequently succumb to the temptation
circumstances, be extremely costly. Cannabis production within of underinsuring to save a few pounds in the short term – but if
rented properties, for example, can have devastating consequences. disaster strikes, the financial implications can be considerable.
Accidental damage cover for buildings and/or contents, for
Q We can imagine, but is cannabis farming a common example, can be worth its weight in gold. Cover for theft by a
risk to landlords? tenant is also a valuable premium feature that most standard
A Cannabis farming is indeed a growing problem and insurance landlord policies exclude. The annals of buy-to-let are littered with
claims for damage resulting from cultivation runs in to millions of cases of tenants leaving landlords high and dry having stolen items
pounds a year. With police seizures of cannabis continuing to rise, and fixtures from their properties and then disappearing.
the problem shows no signs of abating.
According to Home Office statistics, seizures of cannabis plants LetSense is a specialist provider of residential lettings insurance and
increased by 47 per cent in 2007/2008 on the previous 12 months. tenant referencing services for letting agents
A typical landlord claim can be well in excess of £20,000.
Ceilings and walls are frequently knocked through to aid
www.propertydrum.com/articles/expertjuly
ventilation, while severe water and fire damage is commonplace.
Do you have any landlords insurance stories? Log on and tell us
PROPERTYdrum JULY-AUGUST 2009 63
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