Why Every Good Landlord Needs A Landlord Insurance Policy
I can't stress how important it is that you should have landlords insurance if you rent out your property.
I learnt this lesson the hard way.
I hope my experiences will alert some people to exactly how important landlords insurance is, and the reasons why you should have it.
My situation arose basically because I didn't know what I was doing when it came to letting out property.
I got a job at the other end of the country, but the contract was only for a year.
The money was good, so I wanted to take the job, but I didn't want to sell my house and relocate.
I decided the best thing to do would be to rent out my own home, then rent a small flat near the new job for the year.
That way, at the end of the year, I could simply move back into the property I owned.
It seemed like a foolproof plan.
I put an advert in the window of the local newsagent.
I didn't want to pay agency fees.
I advertised the house at a good rate and thought I'd get some interest, and I did.
I let the property to a young family.
Both parents worked so I didn't see any problems with them affording the rent.
I moved out, and they moved in.
Everything was going well.
The rent was paid into my bank account on time every month, and I had no cause for concern, until one day I got a call at work from my tenant.
He told me that there had been a fire in the house! Well I asked if they were all okay, and they were, so I said I'd come back down South the next day to see the damage and to sort things out with the insurers.
When I arrived it was obvious that the damage was very extensive.
I was told it had been caused by a fault with the wiring.
The tenants luckily had relatives nearby that they could stay with.
They told me they had already started a claim for their possessions on their home contents policy, so all that was left was for me to inform my insurers.
That's when it all got so much worse.
I had continued to pay the insurance premiums after I moved out, but what I didn't realise was that my ordinary home insurance was actually invalid as I had let the property out! I was not eligible to receive a penny in compensation.
It was a nightmare.
In the end I had no choice but to sell the burnt out house as I had no money to put right the damage.
As you can imagine I lost a lot of money on that transaction, and I still had the mortgage to pay off as the amount raised did not cover it.
In the end I stayed in my rented property near my job and I hope one day to be able to buy another house of my own.
It was a very valuable lesson learnt the hard way.
If you let out your property then you simply must have landlords insurance.
I learnt this lesson the hard way.
I hope my experiences will alert some people to exactly how important landlords insurance is, and the reasons why you should have it.
My situation arose basically because I didn't know what I was doing when it came to letting out property.
I got a job at the other end of the country, but the contract was only for a year.
The money was good, so I wanted to take the job, but I didn't want to sell my house and relocate.
I decided the best thing to do would be to rent out my own home, then rent a small flat near the new job for the year.
That way, at the end of the year, I could simply move back into the property I owned.
It seemed like a foolproof plan.
I put an advert in the window of the local newsagent.
I didn't want to pay agency fees.
I advertised the house at a good rate and thought I'd get some interest, and I did.
I let the property to a young family.
Both parents worked so I didn't see any problems with them affording the rent.
I moved out, and they moved in.
Everything was going well.
The rent was paid into my bank account on time every month, and I had no cause for concern, until one day I got a call at work from my tenant.
He told me that there had been a fire in the house! Well I asked if they were all okay, and they were, so I said I'd come back down South the next day to see the damage and to sort things out with the insurers.
When I arrived it was obvious that the damage was very extensive.
I was told it had been caused by a fault with the wiring.
The tenants luckily had relatives nearby that they could stay with.
They told me they had already started a claim for their possessions on their home contents policy, so all that was left was for me to inform my insurers.
That's when it all got so much worse.
I had continued to pay the insurance premiums after I moved out, but what I didn't realise was that my ordinary home insurance was actually invalid as I had let the property out! I was not eligible to receive a penny in compensation.
It was a nightmare.
In the end I had no choice but to sell the burnt out house as I had no money to put right the damage.
As you can imagine I lost a lot of money on that transaction, and I still had the mortgage to pay off as the amount raised did not cover it.
In the end I stayed in my rented property near my job and I hope one day to be able to buy another house of my own.
It was a very valuable lesson learnt the hard way.
If you let out your property then you simply must have landlords insurance.