Cover for millions of properties could be compromised after June 2012 as the government and the insurance industry struggle to agree a new strategy for paying for flood protection.

The existing agreement whereby insurers pay for homes at risk runs out on July 1st 2013 and millions has been cut from the budgets to improve sea walls and river banks.

Insurers argue that that this is a national concern and agreement needs to be reached soon to protect thousands of homeowners. Premiums are already high in these areas and the concern is that no other insurers would offer this protection.

We await the next moves in this ongoing saga.

Regards

Mike

Here are some of these questions and associated responses.

Does it make sense to look for a cheap landlord insurance quote?

The answer to this question must be a qualified yes.

Prices may vary between insurance providers and therefore looking around only makes commonsense.

The qualification, however, relates to the fact that this does not mean that it may make sense to look for the cheapest quote you can find and put price above all other considerations.

What proves to be cheap for another person may not prove to be cheap for you in the longer term, if you end up with buy to let house insurance that is not suitable for your purposes – something that may prove to be a very expensive realisation if discovered only at the time you are trying to make claim.

So while price is inevitably important and a factor that you may be unlikely to overlook, remember to keep in mind that it may be more sensible to look for cost-effective landlords insurance rather than exclusively a cheap landlord insurance quote.

Does cost-effective cover imply a compromise in the quality of protection?

No, not necessarily.

There are a large number of factors (too many to discuss here) that may influence the premium a buy to let insurance provider associates with a given policy and the situations that they will take on cover.

It may be perfectly possible to find excellent cover that is also cost-attractive – and that is where our services may be able to help.

My property is unoccupied at the present time – does that make a difference?

It may do.

Landlords insurance policies typically cover unoccupied properties up to a maximum of 30 consecutive days without occupation.  After that period of time, your standard insurance may become invalid and you may need to consider getting an unoccupied property insurance quote.

If your property is unoccupied and covered by this form of unoccupied property insurance, you may find that certain additional conditions apply such as needing to keep your property in good external appearance and ensuring that it is visited regularly.

You may also be obliged to drain down all water and heating systems – something that may be particularly important at this time of year when the risk of frosts and burst pipes is particularly prevalent.

A standard cheap landlord insurance quote typically will not include unoccupied property cover.

Landlords completing their tax returns can breathe a brief sigh of relief as the Government have extended the deadline until February 2nd, 2012.

The move comes as a result of striking civil servants whom are taking to the streets on the initial date of January 31st. The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) are embroiled in a long running dispute with ministers and are taking action which will cause mass disruption to the tax man.

The returns are still due even if you do not profit from being a landlord, which is an area that confuses many.

Regards

Mike

• malicious damage by tenants cover – some policies may contain this whereas others may not and it may prove to be something that is important to you one day;

• third party liability protection – although such cover may be relatively commonplace with home insurance for landlords, nevertheless, the maximum amount of cover provided may vary from one policy to another and it might pay to keep in mind just how high a court award may be against you if you are successfully sued for damages or injuries caused to another person by your property;

• trace and access cover – this applies in situations where a trades person has been forced to cause damage to your property as part of their searching for the origin of the problem (e.g. a leak) and not all policies will cover the restitution costs involved;

• landlords loss of rental income protection – if you are unable to continue letting your property to tenants due to the fact it has been damaged by an insured event, you might consider the best let property insurance to be that which offers you some compensation for your loss of income (and not all policies may do so);

• tenant flexibility – some policies may not offer full cover for tenants in categories such as DSS or students, so if you wish to have complete freedom in terms of who you let your property to, you may need to search for a policy that covers all tenant types;

• variable excess -you may find that, for you, the best let property insurance is that which offers you the greatest scope for discounts and some policies may offer reductions of up to 40 percent in premium if you accept higher levels of voluntary excess (the excess is the sum of money that you agree to pay as your contribution to the cost of any future claims).

In this case, this does not involve tenants as such but instead a group that have occupied an empty office building and who are refusing to leave.

As a report indicates, the landlords have issued an eviction notice and the all-too-familiar long drawn out legal proceedings are now underway.

Of course, in the absence of the full facts, it is impossible to make any judgments or even to state firm opinions as to the respective rights and wrongs of this individual situation.  What it is possible to predict with a degree of certainty, is that this is unlikely to be quickly resolved and perhaps even less likely to be inexpensive for the landlords concerned (directly and indirectly).

In the case of legal disputes between landlords and tenants or as in this case, occupying parties, the position with regard to landlord insurance may be complicated and worthy of serious consideration.

Some landlord insurance policies may offer assistance towards legal costs in situations where they arise due to an otherwise insured risk.  Perhaps one such example may be where you have become embroiled in a legal claim against you arising under the auspices of third party liability protection cover.

By contrast, in situations where the legal costs are being incurred due to a dispute between you and your tenants over unpaid rent or eviction proceedings, an individual policy may or may not cover the legal costs involved.

Given the sums that may be involved in a typical court case, this may be something worth checking in advance.

Some landlords may believe that the law is too inclined towards the rights of tenants and squatters and insufficient attention is paid to the serious financial effects that disputes and occupation of property may involve for the landlords concerned.

Some may also argue that the legal processes involved are too slow, too cumbersome and far too expensive and given the apparent simplicity and straightforward nature of many such cases.

There is, of course, a counterargument and a detailed discussion is clearly beyond the scope of a simple article of this nature.

In summary, this position may highlight just how an important subject legal expenses cover for landlords may be as well as the importance of knowing what the landlords insurance typically entails.

*Source

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-16284883

• what may be the best let property insurance for somebody else may not be best for you and the only way to evaluate an option is to consider it in detail against your own requirements – that presumes that you have thought through your own requirements in advance;

• not only are the requirements of any two individual landlords unlikely to be identical, but your own requirements may change over time – for example, you may currently the letting regularly to DSS or student tenants whereas in the past you may not have been (meaning that let house insurance policies, which exclude these types of tenants, may not be suitable for you any longer);

• there may not be any natural relationship between the best let property insurance and the ticket price of an individual policy – a policy that is a good match for your requirements may prove to be one of the lower cost options but remember that if you need to make a claim, the historic cost of your policy will no longer be of interest to you and your full focus will be on the cover provided by the policy;

• some elements of landlords cover may be rather less common, as standard, yet they may prove to be very important to you, so policies which offer them may be particularly attractive – examples might include trace and access cover (the costs you may incur if a tradesperson needs to damage your property in order to find the source of the problem) or a loss of rental income protection (where this arises as a result of an insured risk);

• if you are successfully sued for damages arising from third party public liability, a court may award truly staggering costs against you – that is why it may be advisable to consider the best let property cover insurance to include, amongst other things, significant cover against this type of risk;

• keep in mind also that subsidence cover, once something that it may have been relatively safe to assume would be included as standard in most policies, now may no longer be automatically covered – once again, given the size of the potential financial risks in this area, it may be worthwhile looking for a policy that does provide this cover;

• finding the best let property insurance for you may take a little time and it may be advisable to consider a number of options before starting to feel confident that you have identified a particularly suitable one.

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) are making a new concerted effort to target landlords who are commiting fraud by not declaring this income.

The tax man is demanding lists of property clients from letting agents with addresses and property details to check them against declared tax returns. This is part of a major campaign to tackle the growing issue in tax evasion and has led to dedicated teams being set up in the Department to focus on this clampdown.

Other plans include crosschecking housing benefit payments with their colleagues at the Land Registry and with the electoral role to check if there are undeclared HMO’s (Houses of Multiple Occupation).

There are genuine landlords whom have not declared this income as they believed it was only reportable if they made an income, but this is not the case.

It is suggested that landlords take legal advice on the subject if they have concerns.

Mike

What type of landlords insurance is available online?

Potentially, any insurance you may need may be available online.

Classic types of cover include landlords buildings and contents cover, landlords contents cover alone and third party public liability protection (this may be included as standard with some landlords buildings cover).

If you believe you have any form of specialist letting insurance requirements, we would be only too pleased to offer our services in helping you understand the options available.

Do I need landlords insurance online if I only let my own owner-occupied property during the holiday season?

Although it may be necessary to read the detail of any owner-occupier home buildings and contents insurance you may have in place, typically such policies will cease to offer cover the moment you start letting out your property.

That may apply even in situations where you are letting out your property infrequently or if you are only doing so for a room or two in a house you otherwise occupy as your own normal place of residence.

Is there any point in shopping around?

There is typically a very strong case to be made for comparing a number of opportunities side-by-side or asking someone to do that for you.

In spite of the sometimes cynical view of insurance that exists, the reality is that landlords policies may differ significantly in several respects including things such as price and cover provided.

What happens if I let my property on an unfurnished basis?

You may be able to seek landlords insurance online that covers only buildings, fixtures and fittings.

You should make sure though, that things you consider to be fittings in your property are actually also considered to be fittings by the provider of your buildings insurance.

What is unoccupied property insurance?

Insurance providers may typically regard an unoccupied property as being at higher risk (in certain risk categories) than property which is occupied.

Some policies may cover an unoccupied property for up to 30 consecutive days (there may be some variations on this between policies) after which time your insurance may cease to be valid in full or part.

If you wish to make sure that you have continuity of cover, you may need to seek what is called unoccupied property insurance.

Is this cover also available online?

Yes, you may typically be able to find both landlords insurance online and unoccupied property insurance cover through the same sources.

The Insurance industry are again looking at the rising cost of fraud, with surveys showing that 64% of the public believing that it is acceptable to exaggerate their claim.

The costs of fraud run into millions of pounds and have seen premiums rise to accomodate for these issues.Many Insurance professionals belive that not enough is being done to tackle the problem, particularly low cost, suspicious claims.

These smaller claims have proven a thorn in the side of the industry and these are now being looked at with the view of cutting out the “gaping hole” in the market.

Mike

Following on from the recent wild weather, insurers are preparing themselves for a new influx of claims and landlords are being advised to report any incidents as soon as possible to ensure a swift conclusion.

The storms that battered Britain are evidence of why adequate landlords protection is essential in modern times, with the cost of repairs increasing all the time.

Insurers have promised to deal with these claims as swiftly as possible and all good landlords insurances should cover these perils.

If you have any questions about storm damage please call our helpful Team on freephone 0800 9707172.

Mike