Buy-to-Let Insurance - Direct Line for Business

We're proud of our What Mortgage award. Here's what customers say about our landlord insurance.

What is buy-to-let insurance?

Buy-to-let insurance covers your legal liabilities and protects your investment from the risks you face when letting or leasing a property that standard home insurance may not cover.

Our insurance is designed specifically for buy-to-let owners, with more than 250,000 landlords choosing to insure their property investment with us.

Cover to help keep your rental income coming in

When you've bought a property as an investment, the last thing you want to do is shell out for unexpected costs. Our buy-to-let insurance provides customised cover for landlords and can help to make sure your investment properties continue to provide rental income even if the unexpected happens.

Our alternative accommodation cover pays for the alternative accommodation costs, but your tenants may not be able to continue to pay the rent or all the rent if it costs them more to get to work. If the alternative accommodation is far away, consider reducing their rent so they can cover the extra travel costs. If you don't, your tenants may terminate the agreement and look for an alternative property.

The optional cover of Loss of Rent covers lost income if your property becomes uninhabitable following an insured event, such as a fire or flood, and your tenants have to move out.

If a piece of stair carpet came loose and one of your tenants slipped and injured themselves, you could be sued. The same could happen if a tile fell off the roof of your property and damaged the neighbour's car. Our insurance provides up to £2m of public liability cover so you're insured if they decide to make a claim against you for any injury or damage to their property.

And with our buildings cover, which comes as part of our buy-to-let buildings insurance, if your rental property's boiler breaks down - and it isn't due to wear and tear - we'll make sure you're not paying a hefty, unexpected bill to repair or replace it.

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What does buy-to-let insurance cover?

Landlord buy-to-let insurance covers you for property owner's liability and damage to the buildings or to your contents against a range of risks such as flood, fire, burst pipes or storm.

Our buy-to-let insurance offers high levels of standard cover, options to increase limits, and extend your cover if you need to. You can also add properties to an existing policy any time, giving you one renewal date. You won't be charged any administration fees for making changes to your policy mid-term or renewal, such as adding or removing a property. Additional or return premiums may apply depending on the changes you make.

Remember that home insurance won't insure you against many of the risks of a buy-to-let property, so you'll need specialist insurance to make sure you're covered.

Standard cover

The following cover types are included in our buy-to-let landlord insurance, as standard:

Buildings Insurance
Residential properties - choose buildings cover, contents cover, or both.
Mixed commercial properties - buildings cover as standard, with the option to include contents insurance.
New-for-old contents cover
Landlord contents such as free-standing ovens, washing machines or fridges, beds, sofas, and other general furniture.
We'll repair or replace your boiler if it breaks down
With buildings cover, excludes wear and tear.
0% interest if you wish to pay by instalments in the first year to help spread the cost
0.0% APR representative subject to eligibility, over 18's only.
No admin fees to pay
Access to our legal documents service, business guides and 24/7 legal advice helpline as standard via DAS Businesslaw. For niche legal advice and some jurisdictions, the 24/7 helpline will refer you to specialist advisers, available Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm, excl. bank holidays.
Public Liability cover of £2m, with the option to increase
Why all landlords need public liability cover.
We'll pay to re-house your tenants following an insured event such as a flood or fire
Subject to policy limits.

Glass and sanitary ware replacement following breakage
Replacement locks and keys
Covers the cost of changing locks following theft of keys from the property with contents cover. Covers the cost for replacing the locks and keys for doors and windows necessary to maintain security of the property as a result of accidental loss of the keys with buildings cover.
Damage to flooring that covers entire floor areas such as carpets, lino and laminate
Standard cover up to £5,000 with an option to increase.

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Optional cover

For an additional premium, you can add any of these covers to your buy-to-let landlord insurance policy:

Landlord Emergency - 24-hour access to assistance in the event of an insured emergency at your residential rented property.
Legal Expenses - covers the cost of defending your legal rights. Includes repossession cover, nuisance and evictions of squatters cover, and tax protection.
Rent Guarantee - As part of Legal Expenses, add Rent Guarantee to cover unpaid rent if your tenant or ex-tenant is still in your residential property.
Loss of Rent - this covers lost income if your property becomes uninhabitable following an insured event, such as a fire or a flood.
Accidental Damage for buildings and/or contents when you've insured them.
Employers' Liability - protection if one of your employees is injured or becomes ill due to the work they do for you and decides to make a claim against you.
Malicious Damage by Tenants.
Theft by Tenant Cover.
Subsidence - covers you in the event the buildings suffer from subsidence, heave or landslip. Subject to acceptance criteria and no previous Subsidence claim.
Terrorism - you can extend your policy to help protect your rental property against damage caused by acts of terrorism. We'll cover you up to the maximum sum insured on your policy for buildings, contents and/or loss of rental income. Acts of terrorism are defined as damage caused by someone acting on behalf of, or in connection with, any organisation which uses force or violence to overthrow or influence the UK government.

Terrorism cover is not available for properties that are located in the Channel Islands, Isle of Man or Northern Ireland.

Terrorism insurance is an optional cover so an additional premium will apply.

You can include Terrorism cover to your policy by either processing this online or calling us on
0345 301 5066 when you take out your policy with us or at renewal as it cannot be added to your policy mid-term.
Personal Accident - cover pays up to a maximum benefit of £50,000 in respect of death or a weekly benefit of £250 if temporary disabled to insured persons between the ages of 16 -75 if they are unable to work because they've been injured in an accident, whether in a business or personal capacity.

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Do I need buy-to-let insurance?

There's no legal obligation, but most buy-to-let mortgage lenders will require you to have the appropriate insurance in place. Having buy-to-let buildings insurance can help cover your property investments, which could save you from eating into your profits should things go wrong.

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Find out if you need a landlord insurance policy and get the answers to common questions.