Whether you’re a homeowner, tenant or landlord, insurance for your home and belongings is important.
But what’s the difference between home insurance and landlord insurance, and which kind of cover is right for you?
What is home insurance?
Home insurance is for homeowners who live in a property they own and don’t rent it out to anyone.
Home insurance is usually split into two categories: buildings cover and contents cover.
Buildings insurance generally covers the structure of your home, including the pipes, walls and roofing. Contents insurance covers personal belongings like TVs and furniture.
Most insurers offer buildings, contents or buildings and contents insurance. We offer either type separately or both together, which is known as combined home insurance.
What is landlord insurance?
Landlord insurance is only for landlords, so people who own homes that they rent out to tenants.
Like home insurance, a lot of providers split landlord insurance into buildings and contents cover.
Buildings cover generally protects the structure of the property itself (like roofing, walls and pipes) while contents covers the items inside the home (like kitchen appliances and furniture).
Do I need home insurance or landlord insurance?
If you’re a private homeowner (i.e. you own the home that you live in), home insurance is the right kind of cover for you.
If you’re a landlord, you can take out landlord insurance for any properties you own and rent out to tenants. You can’t get landlord insurance for a property you own and live in.
Do I have to have home or landlord insurance?
At the moment, the only kind of insurance that’s legally required in the UK is motor insurance (including car, motorcycle and van insurance).
As a private homeowner or landlord, you don’t legally have to take out insurance on your home or rented properties. However, some mortgage providers require you to take out home insurance on the property you’re buying.
But having insurance can help with the cost of repairs and replacements in your home or rented properties.
I’m a landlord but my rented property is currently unoccupied. Can I get insurance?
Periods of unoccupancy for landlord properties are more common than mortgaged or out-right owned homes, especially if the property is in between lets due to a change in tenants.
While specialist unoccupancy landlord insurance does exist, it may not be required if your property is going to be occupied by a tenant within a certain time period specified by your insurer.
If you’ve got landlord insurance with us, check your policy book and policy documents to see if you’re covered for unoccupied properties and to see what conditions are in place whilst unoccupied.
Can I get home insurance as a tenant?
As a tenant, it’s your landlord who should take care of all buildings-related issues.
Because you don’t own the property, any structural issues like burst pipes or broken windows aren’t your responsibility to fix.
But you can take out contents insurance as a tenant to protect your personal belongings, such as electronics and jewellery, in events like flooding or home robbery.
Check out our contents insurance page to learn more about what we offer.
Does home insurance cover emergencies?
Home insurance is there to provide permanent repairs or support for issues with your home.
This often does not include incidents that need immediate attention, like broken boilers, leaking pipes or blocked drains.
Home emergency and home emergency extra cover are optional extras that can be added to your policy if they do not come as standard. Home emergency cover is standard on Gold level policies and Home emergency extra cover is standard on Platinum level policies. You can add home emergency or home emergency extra cover to your Admiral level policy, and can add home emergency extra cover to your Gold level policy.
This provides you with a 24-hour emergency helpline and temporary repairs for urgent issues in your home.
Please head to our home emergency and home emergency extra page to learn more about what we offer and any limits or exclusions that apply.
If you’re already a customer with us, please check your policy book to see what kind of cover you have.
Does landlord insurance cover emergencies?
Landlord insurance is there to provide permanent repairs or support for non-urgent issues.
For urgent incidents, we offer landlord emergency cover. This covers unexpected incidents like plumbing issues with your pipes or radiators, or when your boiler breaks down completely. It covers the cost of the callout, and for a tradesperson to temporarily sort out the problem.
Landlord emergency cover is an optional extra that you can add to Admiral or Gold level landlord policies or comes as standard on Platinum landlord policies.
This provides you with a 24-hour emergency helpline and temporary repairs for urgent issues in your rented properties.
Please head to our landlord emergency cover page to learn more about what we offer and any limits or exclusions that apply.
If you’re already a customer with us, please check your policy book to see what kind of cover you have.
