Making sure that your buy to let property is adequately insured is something that you may understandably be keen to accomplish. This may only be possible though if you are able to answer the question: what does landlord insurance cover?

There may be no such thing as a standard landlord insurance policy. Each policy may provide cover at varying levels with some being more in line with your requirements and situation than others.

That means that to find the answer to the question, what does landlord insurance cover? you may just need to read through the policy detail in each case.

All buy to let house insurance may cover basic elements and offer financial protection:

• for the property itself and its fixtures and fittings – covering accidental damage from storms, fires, smoke, floods, earthquakes and the like;

• for landlords contents if any –  contents insurance may be available as an option for those landlords who rent furnished or part-furnished properties;

• against having to pay court awarded damages for injury to a third party or damage to their property, attributable to your negligence as a landlord – this is known as public liability insurance for landlords.

Where you may find significant differences in these three categories may relate to:

• the maximum amounts payable for damage to certain items in the event of a claim;
• whether some events, like subsidence or malicious damage by tenants, are covered at all;
• the maximum amount available to cover court awards may be unrealistically low in some policies;
• the availability of reimbursement of legal costs even if you do not win your case (some legal proceedings like recovery of rent arrears or tenant evictions may not be covered).

In addition, you may find that there are some policies which may be able to add a couple of other features to the what does landlord insurance cover? list:

• trace and access cover, which may provide for repairs for damage caused by a tradesperson while trying to locate the source of another problem;
• compensation for a loss of rental income, if your  tenants have to vacate your property  while action is taken to effect repairs on damage resulting from an insured risk;
• cover for all types of tenants, including those which some policies may not cover (e.g. students and DSS).

You may wish to bear in mind that special circumstances may apply in situations where your buy to let property is empty and without tenants for a period of 30 days or longer, when unoccupied property insurance cover may be required.

If you are still unsure about the answers to the question: what does landlord insurance cover? we would be only too happy to clarify these for you.