5 Star Landlord Insurance

Before you turn off thinking "oh yeah it’s another plug for  landlord insurance,"  I would explain that I would like to share some useful information that I came across last week.

Alan Boswell

I was speaking the other day to Richard Hartley at Alan Boswell insurance about our affiliate relationship.  He explained much to my surprise that two of the landlord insurance companies they use have a 5 star rating from Defaqto, the independent industry body who are apparently the insurance industries equivalent of Which the consumer association.

Both Aviva and MMA who are on their panel have secured a 5 start rating, this compares to only 3 stars achieved by Direct Lines landlord insurance.

Reading about the star system from their website , Defaqto assess each of the landlord insurance policies against 57 separate criteria.

These include:
•    Buildings accidental damage: Cover is usually provided on a ‘specified perils’ basis. ‘Specified Perils’ can include cover against fire, earthquake, explosion, lightning, theft or attempted theft, malicious damage and flood, amongst others. Accidental damage cover caused to the building is also available, usually as an optional extra.
•    Loss of rent: Insures against loss of rent as a result of loss or damage caused to your buildings, which means that the property cannot be lived in.
•    Malicious damage by tenants: Cover is provided against malicious acts or vandalism caused to your property by your tenants.
•    Landlord's contents: Covers contents that belong to you which are kept at the property.
•    White goods: Covers ‘white goods’ kept at the property. These usually include washing machines, fridges and freezers.

Property owners liability: Cover is provided against any accidents which cause bodily injury or death, or damage to property for which you are legally responsible as owner of the property.
To check our the quality of your landlord insurance just go to their website.

Not assessed on cost

The one thing that Defaqto don’t assess is price, that’s down to the consumer, so happy searching.

The full intricacies of landlord insurance are complex and for most landlords probably not that interesting, but  I hope the star rating gives landlords some basic assurance of the actual quality of cover provided.

Remember I said this article was not about trying to sell landlord insurance, well maybe it was a little. One thing I would ask landlords using this site is which ever landlord insurer you do buy then please could you buy it through our website. It's what pays the bills and keep all our services to landlords free, which leads me on to ..........

PM 3.0 taking shape

After providing free software to landlords for over 5 years, we have now embarled on developing the 3 generation of the Property Manager software.

Just to let you know that the ‘Stig’, aka Jonathan has the bonnet up and is bashing away at our Property Management Software engine.  The new version will be a totally new interface, with all new programming behind the scenes.

I’ve been looking at version 3.0 of Property Manager and it's looking great, a lot faster, a lot friendlier and a lot more pleasing to the eye.

Please let us have any ideas of what extra features or ideas for the new version. 
Happy landlording!
Chris Horne
Editor

Discounted landlord insurance with Alan Boswell