Being a landlord with multiple tenants can make for an excellent source of income, but the money doesn’t come without its own set of problems either. If you don’t have landlord insurance, all that rent money you see initially could disappear in repairs and fixes faster than most newcomers realise. Landlord insurance is supposed to protect the landlord from such incidents in both the short and the long term. Read on as we discuss the topic further.
Understanding Landlord’s Insurance
Landlord’s insurance can be described as any policy that covers repairing/remodelling/renovation expenses in a rented property. Now, the terms and prices of the policies can vary quite widely, depending on the particulars of the property, the insurer, the plan, coverages included/opted for, etc. However, the principle idea is to provide coverage against damages caused to the property or financial damages caused to the landlord on account of a lawsuit, so that the landlord doesn’t have to spend money out of their own pocket to pay for repairs or in rare cases, compensation.
What Exactly Can Landlord Insurance Protect the Landlord From?
As already mentioned, there are various parameters, based on which the coverages are decided. Nevertheless, a good insurer can be expected to provide all or some of the following insurance coverages:
Building Insurance – This covers the whole building against damages from natural and/or manmade disasters such as earthquakes, storms, fires, gas explosions, etc. Depending on the terms, this could be the one stop policy a landlord needs, as these often include nearly everything else, but not always.
Liability Insurance – If the landlord is sued for providing an unsafe property to the tenant, where they got injured/killed because of the landlord’s alleged neglect, then liability insurance covers the resulting compensation.
Malicious Damage Insurance – If the tenant or someone who entered the property in connection with the tenant damages the property in question with malicious intent, this is the coverage that pays for the repairs.
Accidental Damage Insurance – Same as above, but in this case, the damage is caused without malicious intent to do so, but accidentally.
Rent Loss Insurance – In case the landlord is unable to rent out a property anymore due to severe damages caused to it, the resulting loss of income could be covered partially or completely by rent loss insurance.
How Can You Get the Best and the Cheapest Landlord Insurance Quotes?
Before purchasing a landlord insurance policy from any insurer, do compare your options first. You can find a range of platforms to search on in the UK, but if you’re in Northern Ireland you should visit a local site to find specific policies for landlord insurance NI. These platforms have been designed to help landlords get the best quotes possible from insurance providers, as the open platform encourages competitive pricing and quoting.
Being a landlord isn’t as easy as it used to be anymore, and not having insurance in place is usually a bad idea that further puts you at the mercy of factors beyond your control. Landlord insurance could just turn out to be the key difference between earning a hefty profit at the end of a year, and spending all your profits on repairs.
