Insurance

Buildings insurance covers the risk of damage to the structure and permanent fixtures and fittings of a building, for example, due to a fire. If the property is leasehold, the freeholder will typically arrange the building's insurance and re-charge the cost to lessees.

Tenants are usually responsible for providing their own contents insurance to cover their personal belongings, which is a matter for the tenants. It is not possible to require them to do this.

The landlord should take out contents insurance to cover loss or damage to household goods they have supplied, e.g. white and grey goods, carpets, curtains and, in the case of furnished lets, other furniture and fittings.

Insurance for rented property is usually more expensive than for owner-occupied accommodation, and ordinary home insurance will not necessarily be suitable. The insurer should be told that the property is let, the broad nature of the occupation, and any material features such as HMO use, furnished letting or periods when the property may be empty. If the insurer is not given accurate information, a claim may be refused or reduced. Insurance cover, like a mortgage or headlease, may also contain conditions about the type of letting, use of the property, notification duties or consent requirements.

Landlord policies can cover risks that ordinary household policies may not, including loss of rent, temporary accommodation following an insured event, liability if someone is injured at the property, legal expenses and, where separately arranged, rent guarantee cover. The scope, exclusions and limits vary significantly, so landlords should check the policy wording rather than relying on the policy name.

Under Schedule 6 Part 2 of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, a pre-commencement contract of insurance for residential premises in England is generally treated as allowing a “relevant assured tenancy” where, immediately before commencement, the policy allowed an assured shorthold tenancy or another assured tenancy but did not allow that new tenancy type. In broad terms, this protects landlords where older insurance wording only referred to ASTs and the property is now let on a monthly assured periodic tenancy.

The same read-across rules also apply to some older leases, and mortgage arrangements. However, they only address tenancy-type restrictions resulting from the abolition of ASTs. They do not remove other policy conditions, consent requirements, notification duties, use restrictions or risk exclusions. Leasehold landlords should still check any headlease or freeholder requirements, especially where the freeholder arranges the building insurance.

The insurance market is competitive, but price should not be the only comparison. Check the excess, exclusions, unoccupied-property limits, liability cover, loss-of-rent wording, alternative-accommodation limits and any conditions that must be met before cover applies.

The tenancy agreement should take into account the implications of the type of insurance cover: for example, if the insurance places an upper limit on the cost of temporary accommodation, it may be worth, within the tenancy, limiting liability to the insured amount.