What you need to know about Landlords Insurance

As a landlord, sorting out your insurance policy is probably not the most appealing thing on your to-do list. Nevertheless it is essential to protect your business, so let us help with a few essential pointers on what you need to know when it comes to landlords insurance.

What is a Landlord?
The first thing to make clear is the definition of a landlord, because there’s often misinterpretation. A landlord is someone who rents out their property or part of their property to generate income. Some people think they are not classed as landlords if they let out their property over the summer months as a holiday-let, or if they are renting out a single-room in their home to a student during term time, or even if a relative is paying them to live in a vacant flat while they are away.

The definition of a landlord is important when it comes to insurance, because once you have established you are one, your position fundamentally changes. In the insurance world, you are no longer an owner-occupier, and you require a specialized Landlords Insurance policy.

What is Landlords Insurance?

landlords insurance

landlords insurance is vital

Now you have established you are indeed a landlord, the next thing to consider is Landlords Insurance. As a landlord, your insurance responsibilities change as well as your risk profile. This is because insurers deem rented properties as higher risk than owner-occupied ones. Landlords Insurance specifically covers these additional risks.

You must also be aware standard owner-occupier buildings and contents insurance policies typically do not extend to rented properties. You will need a Landlords Insurance quote and a landlords insurance policy.

Are the risks higher?
Yes, the risks for landlords are higher. This is mainly because a rented property is open to additional risks of threat, damage and third party claims simply because there are tenants involved. Risk is also increased because a rented property is more likely to be left vacant more frequently that an owner-occupied one.

Although you may be looking at a higher insurance premium, Landlords Insurance should never be compromised. For instance, if you try and make a claim relating to a rented property on a standard home insurance policy, it is more than likely to be automatically invalidated.

Since the risks involved in renting property are much greater, it does pay to get landlords insurance.

Is Renters Insurance Or Landlord Insurance What You Are Looking For?

landlords insurance

landlords insurance can protect your investment

As property prices in Australia rise to be some of the most expensive in the world, more and more people are renting instead of taking the plunge and buying a house of their own. The opposite side of this is that there are also more landlords in Australia. Because of this, renters insurance and landlord insurance have become vital policies to many Australians and competition among insurance companies has meant better prices for everyone.

If you are a Landlord then it can be a worrying thing, especially if your investment property means everything to you financially. You have to choose the right real estate agent and then you have to make sure they pick suitable tenants to live in your house. If you are a first time landlord then it is also very important to get insurance to cover you for any financial loss that to your investment property (rental property). There is a higher chance as a first time landlord that you make a claim on your insurance as a result of your tenants.

Why are first time landlords more likely to make an insurance claim?

Simply, the poorer you are, the more likely you are to rent where you live rather than own it yourself. It is also a known fact that higher crime rates and landlord policy claims come from areas of lower wealth. In additions, many investment properties are in suburbs or estates where the residents are poorer because that is where you can get a house that is not too expensive. For most people buying their first investment property, they usually can’t afford an expensive place and as it is their first investment they usually go with something small and less expensive. This means that getting the right landlord cover is super important for those who have rental properties in these areas.

If you rent a house then you are likely to have things that are worth money to you such as a TV, computer or furniture. If you get robbed then you could lose it all. Your landlord will almost never insure you against robbery and if you have no cover yourself then you could be out of pocket thousands of dollars. Insurance companies have clued onto this and now there are loads of Australian insurance companies offering insurance to renters. This is a good thing to all renters as the more companies vying for your business then the better the products and prices will be.

If you rent a house or have an investment properly that you lease out then renters insurance or landlord insurance could be just the thing you need. Don’t let unforeseen circumstances cause you financial pain; mitigate your risk with insurance.

Buildings Landlords Insurance

As a landlord, you ultimately assume responsibility over all aspects of the properties which you rent out. Even though contracts may include specific clauses, which hand certain degrees of accountability over to the tenants themselves, tenancies often don’t go to plan. As you can never quite predict how smoothly a tenancy will pan out, it comes of great benefit to invest in landlord insurance. These insurance specialists can offer comprehensive insurance which provides ultimate ease and peace of mind should anything not quite go to plan.

As a specialist insurance broker, these experts attribute their success to a combination of their excellent policies and quick and accessible online quote system. People no longer have time to shop around for competitive quotes, and they eliminate the need for this by allowing you to receive and purchase a policy swiftly and easily through their website, in three simple steps. This will allow you to concentrate on the things which matter, such as your business and property management.

They offer both residential let property cover and commercial property owner insurance, so that you can receive the cover you need for all situations which may be encountered. Their residential let cover includes protection for buildings, landlords’ contents, liability cover and importantly, loss of rent. As a landlord, it may prove disastrous if you are faced with a situation where you are unable to recover any rent owed to you, and it is best to have a back-up plan, in the form of insurance, to account for this should such an issue arise.

The Property Investors Protection Plan offers full protection, whether you’re an individual who owns a few properties, or a large organisation including multiple properties, such as blocks of flats. Whichever size or type of property you wish to insure, you’ll be able to receive fundamental cover to protect you against potentially costly liability claims.

Whatever your landlord insurance requirements, these experts can tailor a quote around your specifications, so you can receive essential cover which is relevant to your needs, within seconds of completing their online quote form.

Landlords insurance from Simple

As a landlord you’ll no doubt have your work cut out already maintaining and managing your properties. So it’s good to know that when you have to take care of your landlords insurance there’s someone there to offer expert help.

At Simple we specialise in providing landlords property insurance and make it easy for you to choose the cover, reliability and service you need, by providing protection underwritten by UK Underwriting Limited on behalf of Fortis Insurance Limited.

And because Simple are experts in landlords insurance, you’re in excellent hands. Whatever your requirements, we understand completely and provide hassle-free protection through a choice of insurance options to meet your individual requirements – all specifically designed with the needs of buy-to-let property owners in mind.

And it’s not only specialist landlords insurance protection – it’s landlords insurance protection made easy, and it’s cheap landlords insurance protection.
Insurance to help you and your tenants

Just like every homeowner, buy-to-let-landlords need to know that their insurance will be there to help with most problems, but their problems can be very different from the needs of the normal homeowner.

In the event of localised flooding, as an example, the long-term problems suffered by homeowners hardly bear thinking about. Find out more about flood cover here. Yet for buy-to-let landlords with more than one property (more about multi-property insurance), the disastrous consequences can be multiplied – and there are the needs of their tenants to take into account. They too need to be back in their homes as quickly as possible. With Simple you and your tenants can rest assured that our standard and speed of customer service will help in a crisis, whatever happens. Find out more about buy to let insurance from Simple Landlords Insurance.

Floods and other such unusual events aside, even in normal circumstances, things don’t always remain as normal as we’d like. Nobody can predict what might lie ahead and accidents happen, and the plain fact is that no landlords insurance can afford to take the risk of having inadequate landlords insurance.


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