Landlord insurance product launched by legal expense provider

Independent legal expenses provider, MSL, has launched a revised landlords insurance product that offers a higher level of standard cover plus a range of upgrades.

MSL Landlord, is intended to enable landlords of residential and now commercial properties to find good quality cover at competitive premiums with a range of enhancements.

The rebranded product (formerly called KeyLet) has been extended to include commercial landlords and provides cover for up to £50,000 of legal costs, plus access to legal helplines and advice from the company’s own nationwide panel of experts.

Nick Garner, managing director at MSL Legal Expenses said: “Rapid market contraction has made life very difficult for professional landlords and buy-to-let investors. In the current climate, they are looking very closely at their costs and the effect on rental yields.

"Our new product is designed not only to provide a high level of cover, but also offer a degree of flexibility for policyholders by offering upgrades and enhancements to meet their specific needs. For brokers, we have made quoting, issuing the policy and ordering stationery far easier through our online quotation system called MSL Connect.”

MSL’s Landlord policy is underwritten by Financial and Legal Insurance Company.

How can I get a quote for landlord insurance?

Landlords looking to get landlord insurance actually have a number of different ways they can obtain their quote for landlord insurance.

Most landlord insurance brokers are more than happy to run through a quote for landlord insurance over the phone.

I was also surprised to find out that many landlord insurance brokers are more than happy to receive an emailed pro-forma on a landlords property details. This is particulalrly useful for a landlord with a large portfolio of buy-to-let properties as going through the details of each property when trying to get a quote will be very time consuming.

Increasingly landlord insurance brokers provide an immediate online quote. Simply Business allow a landlord to compare quotes from a number of insurance companies providing landlord insurance.

landlord insurance leaseholders responsibilities

I came across this recent question from a landlord who owns a leasehold property posted on a property blog.

"I own a leasehold flat above a commercial property, which is owned by the freeholder of the premises. Under the lease's terms the freeholder must insure the property; I am responsible for 50 per cent of the premium. This year I asked to see the policy and was shocked at the extent to which the freeholder had apparently undervalued the premises. The cost of rebuilding my flat alone exceeds the sum insured. What can I do?"

There are methods for a landlord to require that they have adequate landlord block insurance. The best way is to take the freeholder to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunalwho will be able to adjudicate on such matters.

A full answer was featured in the Times

"Where it is the landlord's obligation to insure, the Schedule to the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 gives important rights to leaseholders. The leaseholder is entitled to ask for basic information about the insurance policy and the landlord must provide a summary of the policy within 21 days. Similarly, the leaseholder has the right to inspect the policy and any “associated documents” free of charge. If the landlord fails to comply, he commits a criminal offence and he can be fined up to £2,500. Where the leaseholder has to insure, there are even more extensive rights. The leaseholder is entitled to shop around for the most appropriate insurance policy. If the landlord insists on insurance being placed with a less appropriate insurer, the leaseholder can apply to the court or a Leasehold Valuation Tribunal requiring the landlord to nominate another insurer.

In your case, the obligation is on the landlord to insure, and you have a number of options. If the insurance policy does not satisfy the strict requirements of the lease, you can go to court for a declaration that the landlord has broken his obligations. A more practical option may be to apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to appoint a statutory manager of the property - and the manager can then be given the task of providing proper insurance cover. Failure to provide adequate insurance is specifically set out as a ground for the appointment of a statutory manager under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987, and there are even provisions in that legislation for an emergency appointment in urgent cases.

Finally, you can object to paying an insurance rent or service charge on the ground that the premiums were not “reasonably incurred” under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985."

The writer is a barrister at Tanfield Chambers. E-mail your questions to: brief.encounter@thetimes.co.uk

For further advise concerning residential leases a lanldord should contact the leasehold advisory service.

For more advice and the best rate on landlord block insurance landlords should get advice from suitably experience landlord insurance brokers.

Landlords advised to use a landlord insurance broker to obtain suitable landlord insurance cover

Some landlords make the mistake of thinking that they are covered by standard domestic buildings insurance for letting their property to tenants and that they do not need specialist landlord insurance.

Standard home insurance policy will often exclude cover for any property from which income is earned; and any claims made on such a policy will be rejected by the insurer. This means that many landlords and tenants are risking thousands of pounds of their personal possessions by not insuring themselves against accidents, bad weather or crime.

In the case of landlords who have a standard household policy, as well as not being covered for what they think they are, they may not be covered for accidental or malicious damage by tenants; loss of rent following an insured peril; landlord liability; or if their property is empty for more than 30 days.

Landlords are therefore advised to use a landlord insurance broker to ensure that they get the most suitable and cheapest landlord insurance for their property portfolio.

Landlords it pays to ask

Landlords if you ever needed any proof that its worth trying to negotiate with your landlord insurance broker, I've just found it.

My portfolio landlord insurance was up at the beginning of April. My existing landlord insurance broker Alan Boswell sent me my renewal quote. This was just under £1000 despite the discount of £104. Considerably more than last year which I managed to negotiate down to £850.

I thought I'd try a few insurance brokers before yielding to the inevitability of having to pay over the dosh.

Alternative quotes for one of my properties
I started by enquiring about the RIKY insurance scheme. This is because I remember seeing them quoting £1 per £1000 of cover. I thought if they could get near that I'd be well pleased. I phoned up and explained I wasn't a member of the scheme but wanted a quote. Eric of Cover Sure was very helpful. He took my details for just one of my properties. It always takes ages. A good 15 minutes. Then explained he was going to have to phone back with a quote as he was putting it out to the different brokers.

In the mean time I thought I'd try another landlord insurance broker to get the recommended 3 quotes before plumping for the best. Going to google I thought I go for one of the most popular landlord insurance websites. I elected for Endsleigh having recognised them from my student days. I proceeded to fill in their online form and was very impressed with it's simplicity and speed. From start to finish the quote for landlord insurance was not much more than 5 minutes and decidedly quicker than working through a quote with Eric on the phone.

The quote for my landlord insurance when it came back was not so good. £237 significantly more than my renewal quote of £154. They sent me an automatic email of the quote just in case they were able to tempt me.

Mean while Eric had come back with his quote. This was interesting. He had two figures one for non members of RIKY, the other was for members. The members quote was pretty attractive at £135 and below my renewal quote but at £1.31 per £1000 cover above their quoted headline rate. I didn't really want to splash out on membership of the RIKY scheme nor did I want to go through the laborious task of having to real of the property details of my portfolio to Eric.

Landlords it pays to ask
Instead, I thought I'd be cheeky. Lets try negotiating. So I phoned Alan Boswell with my pitch. I explained that I had received my renewal quote but had a lower quote from another landlord insurance broker which was kinda true. I put forward my scenario and explained that the alternative quote from cover sure was £910 (little bit of a white lie). Could they beat this? The very nice young woman at the other end didn't seem phased about this. You always worry that they are just about to interrogate you to test the validity of your story but no. Calmly she explained she was going to have to phone the landlord insurers to see what they could do but she would get back to me later that afternoon. I went off made a cup of tea and continued with my filing. Twenty minutes later, the call. The landlord insurers have said they can do it for £900. Great job done. I paid there and then with my card. Happy that I was covered for another year, saved myself £90 into the bargain and hadn't spent weeks filling in endless forms on the Internet or repeating my details to numerous landlord insurance brokers.

Landlords should get rent guarantee insurance

Landlords the latest figures from The NLA show that 74% of advice line calls are about tenants not paying their rent. Michael Thompson, Chief Executive of cheap landlord insurance, said: “Of course no landlord want to serve notice on a tenant, but the reality is that landlords are forced to do so when rental arrears become serious.: “Of course no landlord want to serve notice on a tenant, but the reality is that landlords are forced to do so when rental arrears become serious.

“We advise that before landlords act on signing tenancy agreements they consider all of the options for buy to let insurance.”

With rising unemployment an increasing number of tenants are failing to pay their rent, often leaving landlords unable to pay their mortgages. As soon as a tenancy agreement is signed landlord insurance becomes a legal obligation, and if your not properly covered when times get tough tenants may be able to negate their contractual agreements. Standard residential property insurance is not adequate when renting a property. This is why Cheap Landlord Insurance offers specialist cover for landlords and buy-to-let investors. With years of experience in souring the cheapest landlord insurance, Cheap Landlord Insurance are well placed to offer property owners a stress free way to stay within the law, as well as protection if things go wrong.

With policies underwritten by major insurance companies Cheap Landlord Insurance offer a range of protection which includes loss of rent cover, accidental damage, property owners’ liability and employers’ liability, as well as terrorism and subsidence cover. They endeavour to offer the cheapest possible price on policies so when seeking let property insurance owners can rest assured they are getting the best deal.

About Cheap-Landlord-Insurance: Cheap Landlord Insurance is an independently owned company which offers quality landlords' insurance at an amazing price. With a wealth of expertise Cheap Landlord Insurance are able to offer high-quality cover and peace of mind coupled with unbeatable customer service.