Rent Guarantee Insurance

[Chestnut]

Reading recent threads I was prompted to check whether my (English) landlord policy cover includes RGI.

Being no expert of 33 pages of small print, it appears:

A. It includes Loss of Rent - but only for 'damage' events.

B. It includes Legal Costs for undisputed(?) rent recovery of unpaid rent - but not rent itself?

Is this typical? Or do some policies include RGI?

[Richlist]

I have never had a Landlord Insurance policy.......am I missing out or just saving money ?

[Chestnut]

RL, It's a 'Residential Property Owner' buildings (and contents if required) insurance policy, specifically for landlords.

I assume this is the kind of policy landlords have to insure their let properties.

Back to my question please!

[Richlist]

RL, It's a 'Residential Property Owner' buildings (and contents if required) insurance policy, specifically for landlords.

Never heard of it !

Although Sarah Beeny has been trying to sell me something called 'Landlords Insurance' on TV at around 9.00pm for the last few months.........but I had no iidea what it was.......only that it was going to cost me money.

I'm a residential property owner & a landlord and have managed for over 10 years without it so I'm not gonna rush to get it.

Perhaps they are specifically designed for freehold properties ?

I assume this is the kind of policy landlords have to insure their let properties.

Yes perhaps they are.

[Geezah]

Chestnut, I've copied my post from another thread, parts of which I feel is relevant to your enquiry.

By Block policy I was referring to the individual properties contained within a landlords portfolio rather than a physical block of flats.

E.g. I have all my properties under one Landlords Buildings insurance block policy, the obvious advantage is that all the renewal dates coincide so it reduces the risk of forgetting to insure any of them. Also 'bulk buy' discounts are normal.

Landlords policies offer safeguards particular to landlords needs as opposed to ordinary householder policies. E.g. Typically they include continual rental payment should the tenanted property be uninhabitable due to an insured risk. So if the property caught fire and took say 6 months to bring back on line, the insurer will pay the monthly rent up to a maximum of 20% of the insured property value. This is often confused with Rental Guarantee Insurance which can be purchased as a bolt-on extra and is not 'named tenant' specific. It's designed to cover all the properties for the duration of the policy, 1 year. this is available for any type of property, not just Scotland.

In Scotland, arrangements are a little more complicated and insurance obligations are detailed in the Tenements ( Scotland) Act 2004 (Yawn!!). We effectively have freehold flats where the owners are responsible for insuring their flats and have a shared responsibility for common areas, rooves, stairwells, etc. Some blocks of flats have managing agents or Factors and they will be resposible for the insurance needs of the physical block as a whole as well as the individual flats. Similar to the usual arrangement in England. In this circumstance I would advise you to obtain a copy of the Key Facts of the policy that they have put in place together with a copy of the certificate of insurance each year to ensure that they are actually insuring the property and that the chosen policy protects your rental income as a landlord in the scenario described above if the property became uninhabitable.

[Geezah]

Just another important point I forgot to mention, seeing as we are talking about Landlord insurance.

I have come across a case where a landlord has approached me to see if I could help him with a dispute he is having with his Landlord Building Insurance provider.

In a nutshell, He took on a working tenant who subsequently lost his job and was now on housing benefit. there was a fire in the flat. Landlord made a claim on his insurance policy but the claim was refused on the grounds that the landlord did not inform the insurer of the' Material Change' in that his policy specified no students, asylum seekers or people on Housing Benefit.

After speaking to the landlord, I beleive that this was an innocent oversight on his part but he is going through a world of stress to try to get a payout agreed.

I recommend that you ensure that yourselves or your agents ensure that you keep close tabs on your tenants' status and notify your insurers by 'phone and in writing of any changes.

Better to learn by the mistakes of others than your own! (in an ideal world).

[Chestnut]

My topic question was referring to buildings and contents insurance policies for freehold (or leasehold) properties owned by landlords that are rented to tenants and asking whether any included RGI. (I hope that's clearer!)

Geezah, thanks for response!

I am aware of block (multiple property) policies. My management company offers this alternative for its owner members who then pay premium within their management charge. Like yours, it also covers costs of common amenity maintenance and insurance etc. The policy wording for block policy alternative I have been offered looks very similar to mine, which (A in OP) does protect loss of rent if uninhabitable.

I will check whether either offers RGI as bolt-on option.

[Richlist]

Its difficult to understand how any existing insurer for buildings, contents or 3rd party claims could offer a ready made/ off the shelf RGI for any tenant that the landlord might decide is suitable. Most RGI policies are very selective and tenant focused and if the tenant doesn't meet the selection criteria they don't qualify for the insurance. Each RGI policy/ cover is specific to a particular tenant and tenancy period.