Landlord Insurance
Landlords have a touch enough job as it is, often holding down a nine to five career whilst, at the same time, doing their best to keep on top of their sometimes unruly tenants!
The last thing that any owner letting property needs is to have a problem with one of their properties that then requires expensive repairs or other remediation works.
This would only be made worse for them if they thought they had insurance in place to cover the risk but then found out that, due to a policy exclusion or similar wording, they were not covered!
It can be an expensive lesson to learn for some property owners!
Such a situation can be a hard and expensive lesson to learn for some Landlords so, to help them avoid an unsuccessful insurance claim in the future, we thought it would be prudent to share the major issues we know of, that may result in such a claim being denied!
So then, without further ado, here are our top five reasons that result in Landlords Insurance Claims not being settled.
- Your tenant sublets your property
In the case where your property is sub-let by your primary tenant renting out accommodation to sub-tenants your landlord insurance could be void. This means that you would not be covered if you were to make an insurance claim.
This means effectively that, in this type of case, even though you have been accepted for cover, the policy exclusions will mean that you are still not covered by your insurance provider.
- You have an unoccupied property
Another policy exclusion would be one that has a clause stating, for instance, that you are not covered if your property remains unoccupied for more than 45 days. This period of time can of course vary depending on the provider. If you have gaps between your properties tenancies due to your tenant not being able to move in for a month or two then you need to consider this important factor carefully.
- You have an unusual property
You will often find that when you first sign-up to purchase a policy, that you will often have to agree that your rental property is of standard construction. This refers to the fact that normally, it would be constructed from brick or stone walls under a standard tiled or slate roof.
In those unusual cases where you have a property that was built with a timber frame, pre-fabricated sections, or perhaps has a concrete construction, then you may not be able to agree to such a clause.
You must tread carefully because, should you not have a standard type of construction that you have already agreed to, then you will not be covered. Honesty is always the best policy when it comes to arranging cover.
- Be careful if you are performing major renovation work
Some insurance policies will have a limit on the amount of renovation work that you can perform whilst still maintaining your policy cover. Reputable companies policies will, for instance, cover a property that’s undergoing renovation work up to say a total of £250,000. Some may be higher than this figure and some may be lower, always be sure to check the small print to see what it includes and excludes.
- Do you let a flat-roofed property?
When you are arranging your cover, you may be asked if a certain amount, or percentage, of your roof, is flat. This can be a problem when obtaining insurance, particularly for those properties with a completely flat roof.
The other thing to bear in mind is that some roofs will have varying types of construction. If in any doubt you should discuss these matters with your insurance provider to help mitigate your own risk.
Make sure that you have got it all covered!
It is, as we said before, important to be as honest as possible disclosing anything that you think is pertinent to your cover policy. If you do not do this, this is when you may have trouble when you need to be getting a claim paid out.
We are always ready here at Just Quote Me, on hand to answer any of your Landlords Insurance related questions.
Compare Landlord Insurance:
Go to our online Quote System or call us on 0800 084 2325
