Landlord Insurance and Why It’s Important

If you’re planning on renting out your home, or are buying a property to use as a rental, it is important to consider the type of insurance you need to buy and why it is different than regular home owner’s insurance.  If you are going to be a landlord, you essentially need landlord insurance, which is a combination of several different insurance policies to meet your needs.

Liability

The first thing you need to consider when being a landlord is that your liability (i.e. the risk you take with your property) is different than if you owned the home.  This is because you will have strangers living in the home, and there is really no telling what they will do.   And, if anyone gets hurt, since you’re the property owner, you could now be liable for his or her injuries.

That is why it is important to have good liability coverage when you’re a landlord.  You can find the coverage you need at sites like http://www.totallandlordinsurance.co.uk/.  This will let you compare your options.

A Different Type of Home Insurance

The other thing you have to remember is that you don’t get just a traditional home owners insurance policy – you don’t need it.  Traditional home owners insurance includes a lot of provisions for your contents and valuables, which doesn’t matter if you’re a landlord.  As such, you want to make sure that you get a fire policy, which is just a slimmed down versus of home insurance designed for landlords.  It basically covers just the structure of the property, and nothing more.  That does provide some savings, but it is important that you do get the right value policy for you.

Insurance is a Must

The bottom line is that insurance is a must for any landlord because you want to make sure that your assets are safe should anything happen.  Tenants are known to do just about anything, and you can’t predict it.  As such, you want to make sure that you have enough insurance to cover your own personal liability, as well as any possible damage to your property.  Since this is a business venture, you don’t want to be putting more into it than you get out, and major damage can easily make a good investment go sour.  So, if you’re thinking about becoming a landlord, make sure you fully research the amount of insurance that you will need.