Frequently asked questions

About Landlord Insurance

• QWhat does Rent Guarantee cover me for?

  Rent Guarantee covers unpaid rent while your tenant or ex-tenant is still in your residential property in the UK. You can make a claim once the rent has been overdue for at least one calendar month. It covers you for up to £250,000 per claim and there’s also no excess and no limit to the number of claims you can make per year.

  Once you get your property back, you may find it needs repairs for it to be let out again. The cover will pay 50% of the rent you had previously received whilst letting it out while the repairs are happening for up to three months or until the property is let, whichever happens first.

  To get this cover feature, you need to have a landlord insurance policy with us. You'll also need to take out our Legal Expenses cover to be able to add Rent Guarantee.

• QWhat is the Insurance Act 2015?

  The Insurance Act 2015 is a new piece of UK government legislation that becomes effective on the 12th August 2016. The purpose of this Act is to update the law in certain areas in line with best practise in the modern UK insurance market. To find out more and how it could affect you please go here: www.directlineforbusiness.co.uk/insurance-act-2015-overview

• QDo you cover boilers?

  If you select our Buildings cover, you’ll automatically get Equipment Breakdown cover. This pays to repair or replace your boiler, irrespective of its age, if it breaks down, but excludes wear and tear. Read more about our boiler insurance cover.

  To make a claim, you need to arrange for a boiler engineer to visit your property and assess the boiler. They need to submit their report to us, so we can assess whether the claim is covered. If it is, we’ll reimburse you for the repair/replacement costs, including parts, labour and call out charges, less the £200 excess.

  This cover is not a maintenance contract – it doesn’t cover servicing or Gas Safety Certificates (CP12).

• QWhat’s my rebuild cost and where can I find it?

  The rebuild cost is the total cost of the work needed to completely rebuild your property and put it back to the condition it was in before if it was destroyed beyond repair. It’s not the same as the market or resale value of the property.

  If you’re not sure of the rebuild cost, a calculator is available when you get a quote with us. It uses data from the Building Cost Information Service (BCIS) provided by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

  The BCIS can’t provide rebuild costs for all properties – in particular it can't provide the value for a flat - so the calculator button might not appear, or you might not see any values when you click on the button.

  If the BCIS can’t provide you with a value, you can get your rebuild cost from a qualified surveyor, your mortgage adviser or letting agent, or if you’ve recently had a property survey.

• QWhat do Legal Expenses cover me for?

  Legal Expenses are optional, and cover you for legal costs incurred in connection with:

  • Legal defence
  • Eviction of squatters
  • Property damage
  • Contract disputes
  • Rent recovery

  If you wish, you can extend the cover to include legal expenses related to Repossessions.
• QDo you cover properties that have DSS tenants?

  No, we don’t currently cover properties where all of the tenants are unemployed and claiming benefits. If the tenant(s) are claiming disability benefits we might be able to offer you cover.

  We can offer cover if at least one tenant in the property, who has signed the rental agreement with you, is employed, retired, in full-time education or on disability benefits (subject to you also meeting our other acceptance criteria).

• QDo you cover HMOs (Houses in Multiple Occupation)?

  We don’t specifically exclude HMOs. We can accept some HMOs, for example, some student rental properties, whereas we can’t accept others, such as bedsits. Please call us on 0345 303 1763 to find out whether we could cover your property.

• QAre carpets and floor coverings included in your Landlord policy?

  Yes, we automatically include £5000 of cover for floor coverings, such as linos and carpets, in our Landlord Contents cover. You can choose to increase this limit if you wish.

• Q What if I don't have an email address?

  To get a quote online you’ll need to enter a valid email address. If you'd like help getting a quote, call us on 0345 303 1763.

• QWhat does Malicious Damage by Tenants cover me for?

  Malicious Damage by Tenants covers you for damage to your property inflicted deliberately by people lawfully on the premises, such as tenants and their invited visitors. Examples of malicious damage are vandalism and cannabis farms. (Click here for advice on how to prevent your property being used as a cannabis farm).