The best let property insurance for another landlord may not prove to be the best for you. There may be, however, some characteristics that may be worth looking out for if you are searching for suitable and cost-effective cover:

• 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).