Available as an optional extra. Additional premium applies.
Malicious damage cover for landlords is an insurance option that protects property owners from intentional damage inflicted on their rental properties. This damage can be caused by individuals unlawfully on the premises, such as burglars or vandals, or by tenants and their guests.
The Malicious Damage Act 1964 defines malicious damage as the intentional destruction or harm caused to property, whereas wear and tear is the natural, inevitable deterioration of a property over time and use. This act provides a legal framework that landlords can reference if they experience intentional damage to their rental property.
Having malicious damage helps ensure landlords are not solely responsible for costly repairs resulting from tenant vandalism or deliberate damage, providing security and peace of mind.
Malicious damage is a type of property damage and refers to intentional damage inflicted on a rented property by individuals unlawfully present. For example, a burglar breaking into your home and deliberately damaging your property. Malicious Damage by Tenants refers to the intentional damage caused by tenants or their invited guests. Examples include vandalism, such as pouring paint over furniture in a room or ripping out kitchen units.
Accidental damage, on the other hand, refers to the unintentional damage caused by tenants. This might involve incidents like spilling red wine on to a carpet or accidentally breaking a window without malicious intent.
It's every landlord's nightmare - your rental property has been broken into and deliberately damaged by vandals. The repairs and the replacement of broken items such as furniture and fittings could run into thousands of pounds.
| Our Landlord Insurance provides this policy feature depending on who carried out the damage: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Malicious Damage | as standard | Burglars, vandals or anyone unlawfully on the property. |
| Malicious Damage by Tenants | as an optional extra (additional premiums apply) | Tenants, family or anyone lawfully on the property. |
If you choose buildings/and or contents cover as part of our landlord insurance, we'll insure you for damage deliberately carried out by people unlawfully on your property. For example, your rental property could be broken into by vandals who spray graffiti all over the walls.
This feature won't cover damage caused by your employees, tenants, or anyone else lawfully on the premises. If you want to cover damage intentionally caused by tenants, you'll need Malicious Damage by Tenants cover.
As an optional extra, you can include damage carried out by the tenants on purpose by taking out Malicious Damage by Tenants cover. This will cover you up to the sum insured of the Buildings and Contents cover you've chosen.
For instance, some landlords are unlucky enough to have tenants who vandalise the property. This can happen at any time, but is more likely to happen at the end of a tenancy if things end badly, perhaps in eviction. For example, tenants could rip up a sofa with a sharp object.
If you've chosen buildings cover with Direct Line, and taken the Malicious Damage by Tenants option, we'll pay the cost up to the sum insured of repairing the structure of the building, and fixed kitchen and bathroom units, providing they have been damaged as a result of a single incident.
For contents cover with Malicious Damage by Tenants, we'll pay the cost up to the sum insured of repairing or replacing landlords' contents, such as furniture or televisions, providing the damage has been caused during a single incident.
There's a £500 excess for Malicious Damage by Tenants claims.
Both Malicious Damage and Malicious Damage by Tenants cover are designed to get your rental property back to the way it was before the damage occurred, so you can get back to renting out your property.
Yes, in general, marks on walls are considered normal wear and tear in a rented property, especially if they result from everyday activities. We do not cover general wear and tear under malicious damage, so you wouldn't be covered for any marks on walls.
This depends on the tenancy agreement, but landlords can get insurance for accidental damage cover.
Yes, a landlord can evict a tenant for vandalism, as intentional damage to a property typically breaches the tenancy agreement. In the UK, vandalism by a tenant is considered malicious damage and may qualify as grounds for eviction under a Section 8 notice, specifically citing a breach of tenancy terms.
A Section 8 notice is a formal notice used by landlords in England and Wales to begin the process of evicting a tenant before the end of their tenancy agreement. Issued under Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988, this notice allows landlords to seek possession of a property when a tenant has breached specific terms of the tenancy.
Common grounds for issuing a Section 8 notice include rent arrears, damage to the property, anti-social behaviour, and other violations of the tenancy agreement.
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