Defining The Most Competitive Landlord Insurance

Although it may be somewhat easy to say that you are looking for the cheapest landlord insurance, it might be rather more difficult to define exactly what that sentiment means.

To some landlords it may stand out like a sore thumb. Surely the cheapest landlord insurance is simply that which comes with the lowest premium price?

However you may wish to look deeper.

For example:

• some policies may offer opportunities for a choice of forms of discount (e.g. for accepting a higher voluntary excess) than others, and this may significantly change the final price you may have to pay;
• some insurance policies may not provide all the benefits you require in insurance – that may have a very marked effect on your perceptions of how cheap the policy actually was, should you need to try and make a claim only to find that the circumstances are not covered.
There appear to be two obvious conclusions arising from this:
• that the true potential cost of a policy may not be ascertained simply by looking at its headline advertised price;
• that what may appear to be cheap to one landlord may not turn out to be cheap for another.

In a sense, if you are researching for cost-effective cover, then this is bad news because it means you may need to do a little more work to ascertain the true cost and suitability of a policy than merely being guided by the headline price.

Landlords may also be able to control their own insurance solutions.

To give an example, if you have a number of properties that you let out then you may find that treating them as a group may allow you to obtain economies of scale benefits if you find an insurance provider who is able to offer you property portfolio insurance.

The elements of cover provided may also play a significant part in other components of your business costs and financial activities. An illustration of this may be those policies that will not cover certain categories of tenants, very likely including DSS and students etc. If those categories play a significant role in your business income, then lower cost insurance, which excludes them, may not be doing you any favours.

In the final analysis, thinking solely in terms of the cheapest landlord insurance may prove to be misleading or at best a serious distraction.