Landlord Insurance Explained

Many people would concur that renting our their property is a good way to make some extra income. But before you decide to rent out your property, you should be aware of the risks involved. For instance, accidents and disasters may damage your property, and other than coping with the losses and damages, you may not be able to collect rent for that period of time. So, to protect your precious asset, you will need to get your property insured. However, do not settle for normal building insurance, as what you need is the special house insurance for landlords.

The landlord house insurance will provide coverage for your building for various losses and incidents. These include accidental damages to your property, vandalism by tenants, robbery or theft, and other catastrophes such as fire, storm, earthquakes, lightning and so on. However, depending on your landlord insurance policy, there are certain events that are not covered. These exclusions include damages following war, insect damages, and damages caused by failure of landlord to properly maintain the property.

Home insurance for landlords is basically divided into four main parts – building insurance, contents insurance, liability cover, and loss of rent cover. Since the cost of the insurance premium depends on many factors, you have the option to lower the cost by taking certain measures. For example, you can install safety features like smoke detectors, fire alarms, fire extinguishers, burglar alarms and so on. You can also choose to do without certain coverage or insure less on certain aspects.

If you do not have valuable items in your property, you do not have to worry about the loss or damages to valuable items. Hence, you do not need coverage on your building contents, or make do with cheap contents insurance. You can also opt for additional cover for certain aspects such as loss of rent unpaid by your tenants, legal liability and so on. Most insurance providers are flexible, and allow you to purchase additional coverage to include in your policy. If you are not sure about the coverage that is needed for your property, do consult the insurance agents for their inputs and suggestions.