We are now in peak months when it comes to residential property lettings as tenant enquiries typically increase during summer. With lockdown lifted, this also includes student lets with the academic year commencing next month.
With this in mind, if you are letting a property, now is a good time to ensure you are covered in all areas.
Here are some questions to ask yourself to guarantee you have cover that is fit for purpose:
- Are you insured for the right type of tenants at your property? Whether that be students, professional working tenants or a house under multiple occupancy (HMO), different types of tenancies are subject to different premium rates.
- Is your building sum insured adequate enough for reinstatement? Insurers will require that you have had a professional valuation carried out for rebuild purposes within the last three years, to ensure you are correctly insured. This is particularly true now with material and labour costs rapidly rising –read more about this here. The penalties for under insurance could be detrimental to you. Read more here about why it is vital to ensure you are insured for the correct amount.
- Have you included cover for rental income following a valid material damage claim on your policy? This can be covered so you don’t lose out on valuable income if your tenants have to move out of your property whilst a claim is being made.
- Is the rental income indemnity period sufficient? We are currently seeing evidence that many properties will take longer than 12 months to rebuild which often tends to be the standard insurance arrangement for residential properties. You may want to consider a 24 month or higher indemnity period. A reinstatement survey will also confirm how long it will take for full reinstatement to take place, which will give you peace of mind you’ll not lose out on income.
- Have you considered the relevance of other types of cover? This includes but is not limited to terrorism, employer’s liability and legal expenses cover.
- Property Owners Liability is likely to be included as standard but do you have this at the right limit?
The team at Quality Care can help you answer these questions to ensure your cover is fit for purpose.
We also cover commercial premises and mixed properties. If you have a property portfolio then why not consider arranging cover for all of your properties under one policy to save time and money? We can schedule your policy expiry dates on existing cover and do the leg work for you to get all cover amalgamated under one umbrella in a timely manner.
Get in touch with Jade Concannon at jade.concannon@qcaregroup.co.uk or call 01273 424 904 for more information.
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