Buy-to-let insurance or landlords insurance is completely different to standard home insurance as there are many more things to consider. As a landlord you will have many responsibilities, one of which being to provide your tenants with a safe and secure property. A suitable buy to let insurance policy is able to protect you against the threats of being a responsible landlord, and provides you with cover in the event that your investment is put into jeopardy.

There certain things that you should look for to be included in any buy to let insurance policy in order to ensure you are fully protected.

Buildings insurance
This is the same as buildings insurance for your home, it provides you with cover against any damage to your property caused natural events such as fire, flooding and storm damage. There are some events called “Acts of God” that your policy probably won’t cover, so it is important to check the policy terms. As part of your buy to let insurance, this cover will cover the cost of rebuilding your property should you suffer total loss.

Contents insurance
Although you won’t be living in the property yourself, it is likely that you will still have some items inside such as carpets, light fittings, kitchen units and so on. You might not consider ever having to replace these items, but you might end up with a rather careless or unthoughtful tenant. In the event that you do have to, it is nice to have the comfort of falling back on contents insurance.

Liability insurance
This is where buy to let insurance starts to differ significantly to standard home insurance. Should any of your tenants or visitors to the property suffer an injury or damage to their possessions, they may file a claim against you. The cost of compensation and other legal costs can start to spiral out of control, and without liability insurance, would be coming from your back pocket.

Unoccupied property insurance
Standard home insurance only provides cover for vacant properties for a fixed period of time, often a maximum of 30 days. As a landlord, you may have properties unoccupied for much longer timeframes.

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