Landlords are exposing themselves to unecessary risk according to Landlord Insurance Company.

Residential landlords are leaving themselves at risk by failing to take out adequate landlord insurance cover for their letting business according to research from Redbrick Landlords Insurance.

Redbrick, a division of The Paragon Group of Companies, found that only 67% of landlords have specialist buildings cover for their buy-to-let investments, while only 12% have combined legal expenses and rent guarantee insurance, even though 71% of landlords expect tenant arrears to increase in 2009.

Tony Armitage, Redbrick Landlords Insurance’s director, said: “Landlords need to carefully consider their insurance needs and ensure that they are properly protected. It is amazing that only two thirds of landlords have specialist buildings insurance, with the other third presumably having a standard household policy or, worryingly, no insurance at all.

“In addition, tenant arrears are on the increase and landlords can easily cover themselves for rent arrears through a rent guarantee insurance product, which also includes the legal expenses involved in evicting the tenant. There appears to be a lack of awareness about the availability of these products and in the current environment landlords should be doing all they can to protect themselves.

“Buy-to-let landlords have sophisticated insurance requirements for which a typical household policy is often unsuitable. The biggest irony is that some landlords are actually paying through the nose for potentially unsuitable cover.”