"Landlord insurance" sounds like a product you buy. It is closer to a shopping list. A landlord policy is assembled from parts, you choose which ones you need, and what each part includes varies between policies — so the names below are a starting point rather than a specification.
Why an ordinary home policy does not simply carry over
A home insurance policy is written for a property the policyholder lives in. A let property is a different situation: different occupancy, different risks, a different relationship between the owner and the person in the building.
Letting is what insurers call a material change — something that alters the risk and that they expect to be told about. If you let a property insured on an ordinary residential policy without telling the insurer, cover may not respond when you come to claim.
The timing matters more than the paperwork. Tell the insurer before the tenants move in, not at the next renewal. This catches people who move in with a partner and let their old home rather than selling it: the house has not changed, so it does not feel like an insurance event, but the situation has changed completely.
The parts
Buildings
The structure and what is fixed to it, set to the rebuild cost rather than the market value — exactly as it would be on a home you lived in. If there is a mortgage on the property, the lender will have a requirement about this.
Contents, meaning yours and not theirs
This is the part that gets misread. Landlord contents cover is for what you provide: the white goods, the furniture in a furnished let, the carpets and curtains. It is not for your tenant's possessions, which are the tenant's own business and the reason tenants need their own contents policy.
For an unfurnished let it may amount to very little. For a furnished one it can be the difference between a workable claim and an argument.
Loss of rent
If the property becomes uninhabitable after an insured event — a fire, a flood — this covers the rent you would have received while it is put right.
Read what it does not do. It is tied to an insured event, so it is not cover for a tenant who stops paying, and not cover for a void between tenancies. Rent guarantee is a different product with its own conditions, usually including a referencing requirement before the tenancy starts.
Property owner's liability
Cover for claims brought against you for injury or damage connected with the property — a tenant or a visitor hurt by something about its condition.
Legal expenses
Cover for the cost of disputes: possession proceedings, rent recovery, arguments about deposits or damage. Again, what is included varies, and the limits and conditions are where the detail sits.
Malicious damage by tenants
Some policies offer this as an option. It is worth looking at what it defines as malicious, and how it separates that from wear and tear, which policies generally don't cover.
The conditions that catch landlords out
Empty periods. Policies set a limit on how long a property can stand empty before cover changes, and after that point some causes of loss may no longer be covered. Between tenancies, during a refurbishment, while a sale goes through — these are the moments it bites. If you know the property will be empty, say so in advance. It is usually possible to arrange, and much harder to put right afterwards.
Who the tenants are. Some policies ask about tenant type, and the answer can change the terms. It is a question to answer accurately rather than approximately.
The property's condition. Liability cover is not a substitute for the safety obligations a landlord already has. The two sit alongside each other.
A property that changes use
The clearest way to see how the parts fit is to watch one property change.
Someone buys a freehold house to live in. They arrange buildings cover set to the rebuild cost, because the lender requires buildings insurance, and contents cover for their own possessions. One item — an inherited ring — is worth more than the policy's single-item limit, so it is listed separately.
Three years later they move in with a partner and let the house out. The building has not changed. Everything else has. The insurer is told before the tenants arrive. Buildings cover continues. Contents cover narrows to what the landlord provides rather than what the occupier owns, and the ring leaves with its owner. Loss of rent and property owner's liability are added, because there is now rental income to lose and a tenant on the premises.
The policy had to follow the situation, not the bricks.
Where the mortgage sits
Your lender will usually require buildings insurance, but you're free to choose any insurer. You don't have to arrange it through us. Contents and landlord cover are your choice.
On a buy-to-let the lender's interest is the same — the building is its security — and the requirement will be set out in the mortgage offer.
The short version
- Landlord insurance is parts, not a product. You choose which you need. - Letting is a material change. Tell the insurer before the tenants move in. - Landlord contents means what you provide. Tenants insure their own. - Loss of rent follows an insured event; it is not a rent guarantee. - Empty periods have limits. Say so in advance.
If you take out a policy and change your mind, you can cancel within 14 days, without penalty and without giving a reason. The period runs from the day the contract is concluded, or from the day you receive the policy terms and the pre-contractual information, whichever is later. FCA Handbook ICOBS 7.1.1R and 7.1.5R — checked October 2026.
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Read next: do I need landlord insurance for a buy-to-let? and what does landlord insurance cover? on our buildings and contents insurance page, where the "I let a property" switch filters the questions to the landlord ones. If you are building a portfolio, buy-to-let and portfolio mortgages covers the lending side.
There is no fee for the advice. We are paid by commission from the insurer.