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What is Buy to Let Insurance?   Buy to let insurance refers to a variety of insurance covers arranged in the United Kingdom to cover landlords that have purchased property for rental or letting purposes. The types of property vary, but they can be either residential or commercial, buildings. The most common form of landlords insurance policy is a building contract, purchased for property that has been acquired on a investment home loan basis. Mainly these cover residential properties but now commercial buildings are finding favour as well. Below you will find a list of policies than can fall under the heading of landlords insurance. 1.Landlords Building Contents Insurance 2.Landlords Emergency Assistance Cover 3.Landlords Legal Expenses 4.Landlords Rent guarantee Easily the most common type of policy is the buy to let insurance uk - it is a requirement of a mortgage and as most property is acquired by accepting a loan from a mortgage provider, landlord building insurance is a requirement of the loan. In simple terms, no building insurance, no loan. Polices can either be issued for residential properties or for commercial properties. Commercial properties tend to vary considerably and are defined as much by their occupation as by their construction., The premiums for landlords commercial insurance, depend to a certain extent on the occupation of the building and the degree of risk involved. As with your standard home insurance, the construction and age of the property as well as the postcode have a bearing on the actual premium charged. With residential landlords insurance, how the building is tenanted can have an effect on the amount of insurance premium you will have to pay. Insurers tend to class tenants in to type groups.... Types of Tenants - A landlord with a working tenant is seen as the best type of risk and DSS2 as not so favourable. Retired persons tens to be classed as working/professional. DSS tenants tend to be classed on who actually holds the assured short hold tenancy agreement. If the contract for letting is between the tenant and the landlord then the insured will class this as DSS1, this enables the landlord to vet and keep a check on the type of tenant that is occupying the property. DSS2 risks tend to relates to situations where the contract for letting is not between the landlord and tenant but between a third party and the tenant. The third party could be a housing association or a local authority. Insurers tend not to offer such competitive landlord insurance rates for this scenario as the landlord has no control over who is occupying his building. What ever the tenant type chosen by the landlord, insurance must be effected to satisfy the council of mortgage lenders handbook. This document specifies a broad range of perils that a building must be insured against to protect the lenders interest. Lenders do not tend to mind which insurance company a landlord chooses but they usually insist on a copy of the policy document being sent to them for record purposes. Buy to Let Insurance Optional Extras - The following are additional covers that are available to landlord although they are not as popular as the normal landlord policy:- Terrorism Insurance - The landlords building policy will not cover terrorism cover although cover is available as a stand alone product. Premiums are not expensive but do depend on the location of the property. Often this extra cover is considered by landlords with buildings situated in inner city areas and the rates are calculated accordingly. Landlords Emergency Assistance cover - Many Landlords do not wish to become involved in the day to day running of their properties and will thus appoint a letting agent to help them with the management. However, those landlords that do run their own properties often consider an emergency assistance contract as a means of assisting their tenants. This type of policy can be useful to cover domestic emergencies at the home such as bust pipe or a broken boiler and can save the landlord considerable time. If you are a working landlord, one of the worst problems is receiving a call from a tenant with a problem and having to interrupt your work to try to source a plumber or heating engineer etc. This can cost you money if you are self employed and wont impress your boss if you are employed. Usually all it takes is one call to the landlord helpline and the insurers representative will take over matters for you. This type of policy can be quite valuable but not all emergencies are covered and you really do need to study the policy document carefully. Legal Expenses Insurance - This is fast becoming a popular product for any landlord that takes property ownership seriously. Whilst many do not think they will ever be victim to a fire or flood for example, most landlords we asked could envisage having to deal with a problem tenant or themselves being on the receiving end of a legal action. The types of landlord legal expenses policy vary greatly but most will cover disputes with the tenant, eviction cover and prosecution defence for the landlord. Landlords Rent guarantee insurance - Not a particularly popular form of landlord contract as premiums can be a little expensive and there is usually a one months excess before any payments are made. The premium is calculated on the actual rent received and references have to be taken on the tenant before cover can commence. This type of landlord policy will pay out if your tenant defaults on their payments. Usually, the policy has to commence at the same time as the tenancy agreement.   Protecting Your Property Investment  - here are some helpful tips.... Minimise the risk of rental voids -  you may wisely adopt seek landlord protection insurance sometimes known as 'rent guarantee' insurance. This is an optional insurance that protects against loss of rental income. There are usually caveats and limiting conditions attached to these generic policies. This is for the conservative investor. Typically if you use a Letting Agent, part of their service package might include guaranteeing three months rental income in the event of not finding tenants. In practice, an agent should normally be able to find new tenants very quickly (within 3 months) anyway. Make sure this insurance is paid for and set up before the tenants enter property.   As this is a letting expense you can offset it against tax as well... Sitting Tenants - the worst-case financial impact of actually solving the problem of non-paying tenants/ squatters is the cost of employing legal professionals; The Housing Act provides certain legal grounds under which a landlord can regain possession of the property. This is the one aspect of the recent legislation that has done more for expanding the letting market than any other. It is now far easier to regain possession of your property than it ever was in the past. For example, the landlord now has a right to possession if at least 2 months (or 8 weeks rent) is owed rather than the 3 months (or 13 weeks) previously. Legal Expenses - In order to minimise this risk, look for 'Legal Protection' insurance; this  provides cover for any legal costs incurred in pursuing the tenant for any breach of the tenancy agreement. This is a relatively cheap way to eliminate the financial impact of the risk occurring as legal costs would be covered. Tenant Damage - another common fear (and genuine risk) is 'what if my tenants have wild parties and wreck all the furniture and property interior-' How realistic is this- Certainly most people who rent are not emotionally attached to the property in the same way as if it were their own property. However, you or your agent will have credit checked them, obtained a deposit and rent in advance before letting them access the property, so the tenants should be motivated to care for the property/ protect their deposit.    In order to minimise this risk it is worth investing in Legal Expenses Cover; this insurance cost pays for legal expenses (in the event of accidental or deliberate damage caused by the tenants), which needs to be resolved through legal means. This is a situation where the cost of repair exceeds the deposit. The use of legal process should be a last resort but if that worst case did arise, this insurance covers the potentially large cost of using a solicitor. This is an optional insurance but very worthwhile. back to top