Landlord Buildings Insurance Made Easy

From a variety of statistics you can find out very interesting facts, for example that some landlords only cover the bare minimum on their landlords building insurance. Many of them have been in the property business for quite a while and own a fair number of let properties, so the fact they have been hoping and counting on good luck is quite surprising.

Admittedly, buying the bare minimum of landlords building insurance did keep the insurance premiums low, but when we take a moment to really think about it, very different picture starts to emerge. Looks like some landlords misunderstand the purpose of the landlords building insurance seeing it as a pointless money drain rather than an essential safety net. It’s said that you get what you pay for, and this is particularly true with landlords building insurance. The bare minimum really is just that, and whatever savings landlords make going for the cheap option will be annihilated by high excesses and claims that are may not be covered. The story doesn’t just end with the claims hassle, as after an unsuccessful claim, the premium may in some cases be increased. Many people are stung in this fashion every year, and most end up in buying a more comprehensive landlords building insurance afterwards. While hindsight may save you some money in the future, it will never reimburse the money you lost in the past, so it makes sense to act pre-emptively and upgrade your landlords building insurance to a more comprehensive policy.

If you’re trusting luck to see you through, why buy a landlords building insurance policy at all? If you really want the certainty of cover a landlords building insurance policy is meant to grant, don’t just go with the cheapest option; make sure you’re getting the most cover for your money that protects your investment adequately.

Home insurance might cover buildings only, and it would be undoubtedly the cheapest option. Landlord buildings insurance might be definitely the best for landlords who are letting out unfurnished properties therefore they require building insurance only. But for those who are renting out fully furnished properties, recommended insurance would be the one which covers contents as well.

Ombudsman Publications highlight many cases when landlords’ claims were not successful as the insurance they had was not appropriate for them in particular cases. Landlord building insurance covers the structure of the building and its fittings only, which means it covers fitted kitchens, wardrobes or baths and other installations permanently fitted to the building. But whatever can be easily removed from one building and moved to another are contents.

As an example we can look into a claim made by Mr F against fire which destroyed the carpets in the house. This man bought the property with fitted carpets as they were included in the purchase price. He made a claim on his building insurance policy while carpets are covered under contents policies only. His claim was rejected.

Different example is showing the benefits of having a good level of cover, it’s about a couple, Mr and Mrs D, who bought a conservatory and stored it in the original package in the garage. Garage was covered under building insurance but when the roof collapsed damaging many of their personal belongings including conservatory which was not yet assembled, they made a claim on their contents-only policy as unassembled conservatory was part of the contents. This claim despite being quite difficult to judge whether it should be logged on contents or buildings insurance, had to be accepted and be paid.

As we can see from those examples it is extremely important to get relevant insurance as that might prevent you from huge losses in the future no matter what caused the claim. It is also imperative when buying insurance to understand how far it covers you in case of claims.