Landlord building insurance holders are being advised this week that there are 10 key risks their landlords insurance should be protecting against.

And financial analysis firm Defaqto has assessed the cover offered by buy to let insurance policies.

The company reminds landlords there are a number of features in particular that they should be looking for within a policy.

Defaqto’s analysis of the 87 buy to let insurance policies on the market has identified ten key areas of cover that landlords should consider when comparing policies.

These range from unoccupancy period protection to rent guarantee insurance – the full list of which is available on the Defaqto website.

Mike Powell is Insight Analyst for General Insurance for the company.

He says: “Landlords need to understand the level of cover actually offered by a policy - as although the risk may be covered, the level of cover provided varies widely between policies.”

According to the independent research company, it’s very important for amateur landlords to arrange specialist buy to let insurance cover of some kind to protect their portfolio.

However, Defaqto data also shows that the nature of the cover available for these key risks varies between buy to let policies, highlighting how important it is for people to understand and focus on policy features when comparing insurance options.

The analysis goes over the features of Unoccupancy period, Loss of Rent cover, Malicious damage by tenants, Lock replacement following theft of keys, Employers’ liability, Unauthorised use of utilities, Theft damage by tenants, Squatters cover, Theft damage by tenants,

Landlords’ contents cover, Rent guarantee.
Mike Powell, Defaqto’s Insight Analyst for General Insurance, says:
“It is important for amateur landlords to consider specialist insurance for their property portfolio as there are a number of key risks that are specific to rental situations.

“In general, buy to let insurance provides cover over and above regular home insurance policies when it comes to rental situations, and it would be dangerous for someone to assume that their home insurance would provide adequate cover for their buy to let property.

“As ever, people need to focus first and foremost on the features and cover offered by policies when comparing options and not be driven by price.

After all, this would be taking a major risk with their assets.”

Defaqto’s Star Ratings for buy to let insurance aim to help people understand the overall level of features and benefits that different policies offer. Defaqto has given each policy on the market a rating from 1 to 5 depending on how comprehensive they are.