If you have just purchased a buy to let property, then you may be keen to find the most suitable landlord insurance cover for your own particular situation.

Buy to let home insurance tends to be split into two main components:

• landlords buildings cover;
• landlords contents cover.

Buildings cover
While buy to let building insurance may not be obligatory in some situations, you may find that if you have a mortgage, your lender may require that you have buildings cover.

It typically provides financial protection in the event that your property is damaged or even destroyed completely. This may be as a result of accidental damage due to:

• storms and weather related events;
• flooding;
• fire and smoke damage;
• earthquakes, etc.

Buy to let buildings insurance typically may also provide a landlord with public liability cover.

So, if you are sued by someone claiming damages, which they say are attributable to your property, the landlord insurance policy may typically cover court awarded costs. It may be worth noting that legal expenses may also be covered whether or not you win the case.

Landlord insurance policies may also provide:

• financial protection for events such as subsidence – though not typically found in all policies these days, some providers, such as ourselves, do provide this as a standard feature;
• cover for damage caused maliciously by your tenants;
• protection if a tradesperson causes damage to your property while trying to fix something else – what’s known as trace and access cover may ensure that the costs of repairing this damage are covered
• compensation if your tenants have to move out of your property while repairs to damage caused by an insured event are carried out (known as loss of rental income cover);

Contents cover
Whether you need landlords buildings and contents insurance will depend largely on whether or not you intend to let out your property on a furnished or unfurnished basis (fittings and fixtures are typically included within a landlord buildings policy).

Landlords contents cover does not provide protection for contents belonging to tenants, who may need to provide their own insurance.

Accuracy
Where both landlord buildings and contents insurance are required, it typically pays to be as accurate as possible when working out the sums to be insured. Our specialists will be only too willing to provide you with any help you may need to come to a realistic figure.

Unoccupied property
A final point to bear in mind is that if your buy to let property is going to be empty for extended periods of time, typically 30 consecutive days or more, then unoccupied property insurance cover may be required.

This type of cover does not only apply to landlord insurance however. Owner- occupiers may also find that they need this form of cover too, if their home will be uninhabited for 30 consecutive days or more (for example, if you are working away on business or are on an extended holiday).