Landlord Insurance: What Standard Home Cover Won't Pay

This catches people who let out a former home rather than selling it, and people who take in a lodger without thinking of it as a change. Both usually need to tell the insurer, and frequently need a different policy.

What landlord cover adds

Property owners' liability is the most important addition. If a tenant or visitor is injured because of something wrong with the building — a loose stair rail, a faulty boiler, a collapsed ceiling — the claim comes to you as owner. Limits are typically substantial because injury claims can be.

Loss of rent cover pays the income you lose while the property is uninhabitable after an insured event. Without it, a fire means you are still paying the mortgage on a property generating nothing.

Malicious damage by tenants is generally excluded from standard cover and available as an option on landlord policies. It is worth understanding the distinction between this and accidental damage, which is separate again.

What is still not covered

Tenants' own possessions are their responsibility, not yours. Make this explicit in the tenancy agreement, because tenants routinely assume otherwise and are unpleasantly surprised.

Wear and tear is never covered by any policy. Neither is poor maintenance, and this is where disputes arise: if a leak developed slowly over months because a gutter was blocked, the insurer may argue the damage was gradual rather than sudden.

Rent arrears are not an insurance matter unless you specifically buy rent guarantee cover, which is a separate product with its own conditions — usually including referencing the tenant properly before the tenancy starts.

Conditions that void cover quietly

Most landlord policies impose conditions you must meet, and breaching them can invalidate a claim.

Unoccupancy clauses are the most common trap. If the property is empty beyond a stated period — often 30 or 45 days between tenancies — cover may lapse or reduce unless you notify the insurer and take specified precautions such as draining the system in winter.

Many policies require the property to be let on a formal tenancy agreement, and some restrict tenant types. Letting to a category the policy excludes, without telling the insurer, is a straightforward route to a declined claim.

Safety compliance is usually a condition too: gas safety certification, electrical inspection, working smoke alarms. These are legal obligations in most jurisdictions anyway, and the insurer will ask for evidence after a fire.

Multiple properties and the portfolio question

If you own several rentals, a portfolio policy covering all of them is usually cheaper and considerably easier to administer than separate policies with separate renewal dates.

It also avoids the situation where one property's claim affects only that policy's renewal while the others drift out of alignment.

Getting it right

Tell your insurer before the tenants move in, not after. Compare landlord-specific policies rather than adding an endorsement to a home policy, since the cover is usually broader and the price often similar.