Landlords building and Contents Insurance

[Matthew]

I am about to finish my current year-long insurance and would like some advice.

It was my first property and is somewhat of a Rolls Royce everything covered insurance costing about £550 a year for a 5 bed HMO. Value of property = 210,000, rebuild = about £100K, mid terrace.

I will look to get less cover (i.e. no cover if tenants don't pay etc) and expect to get cover for around £350, however a few months back a froum legend (mentioning no names) said they pay around £2.5K for about 35 properties.

Obviously I don't know the mix of properties etc, but that seems soooooooooo cheap. Any advice of the best way to go about getting cheap insurance and when to claim and when not to, to keep premiums low. It is HMO, so no Sainsbury's insurance before you mention it Trenners :-)

Thanks,

Mat.

[Trenners]

Hi Matthew,

Thanks for remembering my Sainsbury's recommendation.

I have also found Halifax Home insurance (who actually underwrite the Sainsbury's policies) to be very reasonable and much, much, much more flexible.

I'm not sure if they take HMO's or not - but it is worth a phone call ....

Best Wishes

Mark

[Simon Dewsberry]

hi matt

yep £2600 but not for 35 props ( quite a few of mine are lease held and ins sep) also some are on commercial (shops and flats )but guess the 2.6K covers around 3million market val -bit less on rebuild (buildings ins only NOT contents)

Did have fun with the premium as i had the bank and ins co battling each other down from 4.5K initially !!

Try

Jo Buffry (no one else!) on 01656 679702 - tell her simon(pine man) gave you the no !!

what have you got to lose?

Let us know how you get on ...

Simon

[Matthew]

Thanks all,

I'll do a bit of research on internet and see whats the best I can get and then call Jo.

Simon, how did you get them all on one agreement, it would save me money if I had all mine on one I guess, but all have one year insurance at different times. How do you get around that?

Also noticed you get buildings insurance only, I've often thought there isn't much point with contents insurance but got it just in case, what are your reasons?

Thanks again,

Mat.

[Simon Dewsberry]

Just add them to the "block" policy as they come up for renewal - you wont get a fantastic price on year one - but year two will be a lot better ....

I havent really spoken about it on here but you may note in my sig that my main business activity is supplying LL furniture and beds etc !! so i get it all at trade/import price ...

Unless a house burns down it does not cost much to replace the odd item here and there and any "damage" is usually down to the tenant so it comes out of the bond ..

I dont think it is worth the extra cost to have contents, if i did make a claim the premium would rocket so why bother???

However, i dont have the this attitude to taking a bond !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If a pine bed is broken then most LL would have to buy a complete new Bed .....I have plenty of spare parts ....this is true of most items of furniture for me ....Also as i deal with a lot of LL ........I can have a deal with most professions sparks, plumbers, wmachine eng, cheating, windows, carpets, builders, roofers, Landscapers, rubbish removals, skips,painters,decorators etc as well as having my own team!

You know all the things a good, professional, experienced management agent will have at the ready in order to be able to "manage" your property cost effectively ...NOT!!

With this in place it is only really a fire that is going to affect me badly !!

Or a cannabis factory - (cost around £600 to put that one right -£thousands let over ..!!)

Tenants should, and a lot do, get their own contents insurance ..

Simon

PS Insurance -stay away from High Street prices and get a Lloyds syndicated policy direct ...much cheaper...

[Matthew]

Thanks mate.

Question is can you beat Argos' prices. 130 quid for a double bed and matress....Sweeeet! The tenants always comment on how nice the bed is too!

I wish I had all the contacts too, this is why I prefer to have the call out services - less hassle as I don't know who to call when there's a problem....Ghost Busters?

Cheers - I'll let people know what I end up with.

Ciao!

[Simon Dewsberry]

Hi Matt

Yes, can beat the price and the quality !!

Picked the wrong week to ask me though, as i am having a nightmare with carriers throwing their dummies out of cots with del of bulky items, and i am in process of reorganising new deal !

Will pm you with details (for future reference!) next week with accurate costs as we in limbo this week !

Simon

[Matthew]

Cool, will be good for future as when I do buy another property (not sure when) I'm probably gonna need another 6 :-)

Ciao for now!

[CH1]

Just found this thread and it’s the first time I’m looking at getting Buildings (+/-contents) insurance thought I’d ask your advice, as other properties I own are leasehold with separate management co. charges.

The property is a 2-Bed terrace currently let to 3 students on an AST for 10 months.

The problem I am facing is finding insurance co.’s who cover students (sharing) and have no problems in that it’s a 2-Bed with one of the reception rooms being used as a bedroom. It is furnished with white goods.

What things should I be looking for in the insurance cover?

Do I opt for contents cover too? Or will that unnecessarily inflate the premium?

Is legal cover recommended? Property liability? Rent guarantee?

I contacted Sainsburys after reading on here -they don’t do shared houses -so they referred me to another co. who could only quote me if I get house registered as a 3-Bed.

Other quotes I ‘ve had are from Peacock insurance, Endsleigh which are in the £200+ region -Endsleigh’s quote includes Home Emergency Cover -cost around £49 -is this worth it, anyone any experience of this?

Look forward to any advice, thank you.

[CH1]

Just coming back to this thread for advice...I'm soon to be purchasing a terraced property built 1900 and wanted to ask if there are any must haves one should consider in landlords insurance.

Is accidental damage cover recommended on Building and/or contents?it seems to bump the premium up quite a bit.

Is Home emergency cover (about £50 extra) worth having? or a waste of time if they never come out quick enough...?rcontents up to £5000 (property has beds, wardrobe, desk, white goods and sofa) should this be enough?

The usual stuff is included, 20% loss of rent, 2M liability cover

anything else I should consider?

and what would be a reasonable premium for this?

any advice would be appreciated as I've never yet bought landlords insurance for a freehold property. TIA.

[adamptf]

Just coming back to this thread for advice...I'm soon to be purchasing a terraced property built 1900 and wanted to ask if there are any must haves one should consider in landlords insurance.

Is accidental damage cover recommended on Building and/or contents?it seems to bump the premium up quite a bit.

Is Home emergency cover (about £50 extra) worth having? or a waste of time if they never come out quick enough...?rcontents up to £5000 (property has beds, wardrobe, desk, white goods and sofa) should this be enough?

The usual stuff is included, 20% loss of rent, 2M liability cover

anything else I should consider?

and what would be a reasonable premium for this?

any advice would be appreciated as I've never yet bought landlords insurance for a freehold property. TIA.

[adamptf]

Just coming back to this thread for advice...I'm soon to be purchasing a terraced property built 1900 and wanted to ask if there are any must haves one should consider in landlords insurance.

Is accidental damage cover recommended on Building and/or contents?it seems to bump the premium up quite a bit.

Is Home emergency cover (about £50 extra) worth having? or a waste of time if they never come out quick enough...?rcontents up to £5000 (property has beds, wardrobe, desk, white goods and sofa) should this be enough?

The usual stuff is included, 20% loss of rent, 2M liability cover

anything else I should consider?

and what would be a reasonable premium for this?

any advice would be appreciated as I've never yet bought landlords insurance for a freehold property. TIA.

I have got a property let to students and for a sum insured of £100,000, I pay £166. This includes accidental damage as well as the 'usual stuff.'

This is with Lloyds and is a good policy. Be careful if you use a company called Commercial Express because they have all sorts of conditions and exclusions.

[CH1]

Thanks for that Lloyds quote sounds good esp. as it includes accidental damage too.

I contacted Lloyds and firstly 1) they don't accept foreign students (can't understand that...?)

2) they don't insure more than 2 students

I have 3 students one of whom is foreign. In my breif experience of looking at student properties I've

[CH1]

Thanks for that Lloyds quote sounds good esp. as it includes accidental damage too.

I contacted Lloyds and firstly

1) they don't accept foreign students (can't understand that...?) 2) they don't insure more than 2 students

As I have 3 students one of whom is foreign they couldn't quote me. In my brief experience of looking at student properties I've found the rooms and condition of foreign students quite reasonable I wouldn't personally consider them more of a risk.

Undecided on the home emergency cover

best quotes so far have been through Quoteline direct at £158 -no home emergency cover or legals, with legals and home emergency its £205 but doesn't include accidental damage. or HSBC (underwritten by Prestige Homes) at £203 but no home emergency cover.

Will carry on looking.

[Matthew]

Hi mate,

I think I ended up getting mine for about £250, for £130,000 of cover. I didn't get accidental damage as I was told by the insurance companies that it only covered accidents by me, not the tenants, so there wasn't a lot of point to it as I'm not planning on doing anything structural to it etc.

The Home Emergency cover sounds good value, but when I have asked on forums, nobody seems to have experience with this. Most say upto £500 or £1000 of work etc....... I am a just not convinced about it. Firstly if there is an emergency I would have to ring them up and arrange everything & probably be there to meet them, I'm 100 miles away, so not great. I can then see them charging inflated prices so as to easily breach the limit so you pay the difference. I don't know that this would happen, but I work on the basis everybody is out there to screw me. They are there to make a profit at the end of the day. Also sounded like alot of paperwork needed to make a claim.

I decided to stick with my British Gas Homecare 400 agreement. The main benefit is that the tenants can call them out as many times as required and no extra cost. For example the electricity went down, the tenants called BG as withn a few hours they came round and sorted the problem, they let me know that had happen, but no worries for me. Smae with a boiler problem. Would be interested to know if anybody else uses Homecare agreements with other providers as I wouldn't say BG' level of service isn't always the greatest and there is probably cheaper out there.

The only other things which BG don't cover emergency wise is really to do with the roof, leaking etc and the actual white goods as they are all still in warranty so no point.

Let us know how you get on,

Regards,

Mat.

[CH1]

Thanks for that Matthew.

Sounds good – I'm only looking for 102K building costs and 5K contents.

I've had quotes of £200 from Zurich through http://www.quotelinedirect.co.uk/house/landlords-insurance.asp?INZG including legal cover and home emergency without accidental damage. Excess is £100 and £250 excess for contents.

I did get a lower quote of £146 from www.homeletuk.com which included Home emergency cover worth £500 for only £10 cost and accidental damage. However, wasn't sure of the company its underwritten 50% by Groupama and 50% by Propgen. I also noted the buildings excess was £250 and £500 for accidental damage including malicious damage by tenant, there was an option to get this nil excess which would only cost another £10, so about £156 in total, just wasn't sure of how much rent guarantee was included. This seemed the cheapest insurance and a lot of cover..but just not sure of this Insurance company. Anyone heard of them any good/bad experiences?

EDITED to add the above quote of £146 was per month! not Annual as I originally thought, So won't be taking that up.

[adamptf]

Thanks for that Lloyds quote sounds good esp. as it includes accidental damage too.

I contacted Lloyds and firstly

1) they don't accept foreign students (can't understand that...?) 2) they don't insure more than 2 students

As I have 3 students one of whom is foreign they couldn't quote me. In my brief experience of looking at student properties I've found the rooms and condition of foreign students quite reasonable I wouldn't personally consider them more of a risk.

Undecided on the home emergency cover

best quotes so far have been through Quoteline direct at £158 -no home emergency cover or legals, with legals and home emergency its £205 but doesn't include accidental damage. or HSBC (underwritten by Prestige Homes) at £203 but no home emergency cover.

My policy does not have these exclusions, I think the maximum number is eight.

Ring C & R Insurance - 01275876714. They are a small company but always helpful.

Will carry on looking.

[CH1]

Thanks adamR contacted C & R Insurance very prompt an helpful offered me a couple of quotes witH AXA or Lloyds (which was suprising as when I called Lloyds directly they said they do not insure more than 2 students in a property).

They didn't include legal expenses in the cover, but the standard 2M public liability was included.

So far I think I have a choice with Zurich at either a higher voluntary excess of £250 including legal expenses, home emergency cover (19.95) for £208, or £219 with a lower £100 excess. Problem I had with Zurich is they want to quote for a 3-bed prop. although it is a 2-Bed let to 3 students using one of the ground floor reception rooms too. I was hoping to get a quote for less than £200.

The legal expenses is an extra add-on cost (£29.95) which is included in above quote, if I remove that then the quote will be below £200.

Question is do I need it? don't know ..time will tell or is the 2M liability cover sufficient.

Getting quotes for 2 -Bed property with 3 students is harder and more expensive than I thought.

[CH1]

[CH1]

The contents cover perhaps is a waste if the excess is £150 or £250 and most furniture costs the same anyway?

Any thoughts?

I've decided to scrap the contents cover and just go with Buildings and home emergency cover with Endsleigh through a cashback site so its probably the same price. Hope the Policy delivers when it has to!

Thanks for your thoughts.