What is Landlord Insurance?

Home insurance isn’t designed for rental properties, so getting the specialist cover you need to protect you from unexpected costs and damage to your buildings and contents is important.

Landlord Insurance covers you against the risks of renting or leasing a property, and letting to a third-party business.

Whether you're a commercial or residential landlord or considering renting out a property, you can get flexible cover to suit your needs and help keep your investment safe.

Landlord Insurance covers you for things like floods, fires, storms or burst pipes.

You can also choose to include extras like boiler cover, rent arrears cover (for residential properties only) and accidental damage cover to your policy.

Do I need Landlord Insurance?

If you’re a landlord or thinking about investing in a rental property, it's essential to have the right level of insurance in place.

Even though it isn’t a legal requirement, most buy-to-let lenders will want you to have Landlord Insurance in place before your tenants move in.

How can I get insured?

Churchill no longer offers Landlord Insurance but our friends at Direct Line do.

Go to

Direct Line and Churchill are both underwritten by U K Insurance Limited.

What is Buildings Insurance?

If your buy-to-let property is unfurnished and without contents, you can take out an insurance policy that covers buildings only.

Buildings Insurance covers the 'bricks and mortar' of your property.

It can help cover the cost of accidental damage, subsidence, and some of the other costly claims that landlords face.

Your Buildings Insurance policy covers you for damage to your building caused by things like:

• Fire
• Adverse weather
• Flooding
• Malicious damage
• Burst pipes

Buildings Insurance includes fixtures and fittings to outdoor areas such as swimming pools, tennis courts, walls, gates, fences, patios, terraces, drives, yards, car parks and ports, roads, pavements, and the underground pipes and cables you’re responsible for.

There are extra benefits to your Buildings Insurance, from the repair cost for a garden accessed by emergency services to the professional removal of a bee's nest. These benefits give you peace of mind when you're faced with unusual scenarios that could affect your property.

If you choose only Buildings Insurance, you can add contents cover at any time if you need to.

What is Contents Insurance cover?

Contents Insurance can cover you for damage to furniture, fixtures, and fittings that don’t form a permanent part of your property’s structure.

Contents Insurance is for residential landlords with a furnished or part-furnished property.

It covers you against the cost of repairing or replacing damaged furnishings and furniture. If you also want to cover accidents, you can add Accidental Damage Cover to your policy.

For example, Contents Insurance covers free-standing items like fridges, freezers, washing machines, tables, beds, sofas, and cookers. It also includes damage to floor coverings, including carpets, lino, and laminate floors.

If you already have Buildings Insurance, you can add contents cover to protect any furniture or household items you’ve left for your tenants to use.

You can only take out Contents Insurance on its own if you’re letting to residential tenants.

How can I get insured?

Churchill no longer offers Landlord Insurance but our friends at Direct Line do.

Go to

Direct Line and Churchill are both underwritten by U K Insurance Limited.

What types of Landlord Insurance are there?

Residential Landlord Insurance

Choose Residential Landlord Insurance if you rent out a property to residential tenants.

This will cover the buildings and contents you can insure together or separately and the cost of rehousing tenants if the property is damaged.

Commercial Landlord Insurance

Commercial Landlord Insurance covers you if you let out a property to a third-party business, for example an industrial unit or shop.

Commercial properties are often built differently from residential properties and face different risks that a residential landlord policy won’t cover, including heating systems.

Buildings Insurance is compulsory for commercial premises.

Multi-Property Landlord Insurance

Select Multi-Property Landlord Insurance if you own multiple properties, or have a mixed portfolio of residential and commercial buildings. 

What is Rent Guarantee Cover?

Rent Guarantee cover protects you if your tenants can’t afford to pay their rent.

Rent Arrears Cover gives you peace of mind if you’re losing rent, so you don’t have to worry about keeping up with your mortgage payments.

Rent Guarantee Cover is subject to satisfactory references for each tenant (and a guarantor where applicable) from a referencing service and that you keep up-to-date rental records.

It also depends on a claim for the repossession of the property being accepted.

Rent Guarantee cover is also commonly known as Rent Arrears or Tenant Default cover.

How can I get insured?

Churchill no longer offers Landlord Insurance but our friends at Direct Line do.

Go to

Direct Line and Churchill are both underwritten by U K Insurance Limited.