Buy-to-Let Landlord Insurance

One lender’s published buy-to-let criteria require buildings insurance in place by exchange on a purchase or completion on a remortgage, with the insurer told the property is let and the lender’s interest noted; the rebuild value comes from the valuation. A home policy that does not know about the tenant does not meet it, and three documents read note a mortgagee’s interest on the policy.

No statute requires it. The mortgage offer does, and if you employ anyone at the property, employers’ liability is compulsory. What the law does require of a landlord is repair under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, an annual gas safety check, an electrical inspection at least every five years in England, alarms, deposit protection within 30 days, Right to Rent checks in England and an EPC of at least E in England and Wales.

In England every assured shorthold tenancy became an assured periodic tenancy, section 21 notices ended, rental bidding was banned and rent in advance was capped at one month, under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025. Possession runs on the statutory grounds. For a landlord policy the section that changes is rent guarantee or legal expenses, which now has to pursue possession through those grounds rather than a section 21 notice.

No. On every document read that carries it, loss of rent pays only after insured damage makes the home unfit to live in, as a share of the buildings sum insured for up to 24 months on two, or a stated figure or the actual rent on the others. Arrears and a tenant who leaves owing money need rent guarantee, a separate product that none of the seven offers as such; legal expenses is optional on three, one of them pursuing unpaid rent.

Where a broker offers it, the rent a tenant fails to pay, to a monthly limit and an overall limit, usually after an excess period and with legal expenses to recover possession, often less the deposit. It depends on the tenant having been referenced as the product requires and the notices having been served correctly. From 1 May 2026 in England that means the statutory grounds, so the wording of the section matters more than it did.

It is the most variable section on the documents read. Included on two, one of them only where the tenant checks were done; optional on one at £5,000 a period with credit checks, identity and three-monthly inspection logs; £5,000 less the deposit on another; a £500 excess on a fifth; and theft by tenants excluded outright on one. Where it is optional and not bought, the deposit is the only recourse.

On three documents read, yes in some form. One makes written references from an employer, former landlord or guarantor, photo identity and a credit check a general condition of the whole policy. Another makes credit checks, identity and inspection logs the condition of its tenant damage option. A third requires identity, employer references and bank details with quarterly inspections. Keep the file; it is what a claims handler asks for first.

Cover narrows after 30 consecutive days on one document read, 45 on three, 60 on one and 90 on one. Theft, escape of water, malicious and accidental damage typically drop out unless the home is inspected every seven days on three of them, and over winter the water is drained or the heating kept on, on two. A student let empty from June to September runs into every one of those counts.

Under the Renters’ Rights Act a landlord in England cannot unreasonably refuse a request to keep a pet and has 28 days to respond. The power to require the tenant to hold pet damage insurance was removed before Royal Assent, and the deposit cap under the Tenant Fees Act 2019 was not raised. Pet damage therefore comes out of the deposit, an accidental damage section if you bought one, or your own pocket.

Yes, on conditions. Student lets are rated as their own tenant type, and insurers commonly ask for referencing and a guarantor; check the wording. One direct insurer accepts benefits tenants where at least one tenant in the property is employed, retired, in full-time education or on disability benefits. Declare the tenant type accurately; a policy rated on a family and claimed on five sharers is disputed.

A different product. One document read gives no cover where the tenancy agreement is for 90 days or less, and two others require a written tenancy agreement. A home let by the night or the week needs a wording written for it, on our Airbnb and short-let landlord insurance page.

Usually not on your own policy, because the freeholder or management company insures the block and recovers the premium through the service charge. Your buy-to-let policy is then landlord’s contents, liability, loss of rent and the tenant sections. Check that the block policy notes your lender, because the mortgage condition does not go away.

The insurer records the mortgagee on the policy and, on one document read, promises not to invalidate the buildings section against the lender because of something you did or failed to do without its knowledge. It gives the lender a claim on the proceeds and notice of cancellation. It does not protect you from your own breach of a tenant condition.

The tenancy is. Scotland has had the open-ended private residential tenancy since 1 December 2017 with 18 grounds for eviction; Wales has occupation contracts under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 since 1 December 2022; Northern Ireland has the Private Tenancies Act 2022. The policy is the same UK-wide wording, and one document read names the Scottish equivalent of an AST as an acceptable agreement.

Landlord insurance is ordinarily an allowable expense against rental income. Mortgage interest is not deducted in the same way: since 6 April 2020 finance costs on a residential let attract a basic-rate tax credit instead. From 6 April 2026 landlords with qualifying income over £50,000 report through Making Tax Digital. None of this is tax advice; an accountant is.

We make no claim about which costs more, because they are not the same product. Home insurance is written for an owner-occupier and is usually silent on tenants, loss of rent and tenant damage. A landlord policy rates the tenancy as well as the building and adds those sections. The comparison is on our landlord or home insurance guide.

The property, with construction, year, roof and a rebuild value; the lender to be noted; the tenant type, the agreement and how the tenants were referenced; the rent and the deposit; five years of claims; and any period the home stood empty. The property type starts the form; the tenancy is what the broker turns into the schedule.

Because no figure would be true for you. A let home is priced on its rebuild value, construction, postcode, tenant type, the optional sections you add and the claims record, in combinations no average captures. If we publish data of our own one day, it will carry a sample size and a date.