If you’re in the process of becoming a landlord, one thing that it would be advisable to keep in mind is letting property insurance.

Letting and owner-occupier occupier policies

Just as the insurance requirements for private and commercial vehicles differs, so does that for commercial versus residential properties.

It’s also worth noting that in this context, the term commercial property here means property that you obtain income from. It does not mean a shop or warehouse.

The moment that you earn income through renting out all or even a part of your property – and even if on a short-term basis – then you have a commercial renting business and you’re a landlord.

That means it would be prudent to start thinking about letting property insurance (also known as landlord insurance).

The dangers of not doing so

If you apply for vehicle insurance and intentionally mis-describe your vehicle, then in the event of a claim you may expect your policy to be invalidated, the claim refused and possibly to be at risk of being asked to account for your actions.

The same thing applies to landlords insurance.

Typically there is no way that you can somehow make do with owner-occupier home buildings and contents cover and still expect to have claims honoured.

Not only that, but trying to make a claim for a rented-out property on an owner-occupied policy may leave you liable for various forms of further action and make it difficult for you to obtain insurance in future.

Remember the tenants

One area that is worthy of particular consideration is that of your tenants.

Once you have tenants in your property and they in turn have visitors etc, your liability risks increase.

It only takes somebody to have a split-second accident that is attributable to your property and you may find yourself staring into the face of a public liability claim.

Having insurance that protects you against the financial implications of such claims is another reason why having specialised landlords insurance may be important.

The responsible landlord

As a landlord, you may think that it makes sense to have insurance to protect:

• your financial interests and
• potentially those of your tenants.

Finding an appropriate form of letting property insurance might be exactly the way to achieve that.