FAQ

Homes let out on occasional basis - landlord's insurance

On Paymentshield's Landlord Insurance products, they cannot cover homes let out on an occasional basis.

Unoccupied at start date - landlord's insurance

You, as the landlord must have tenants moving into the property within 90 days of the policy start date.

Paymentshield will accept a new application for a landlord's policy where the property will not be occupied immediately by tenant's, but they must move in within 90 days.

If, after 90 days, the property is still unoccupied, you must inform Paymentshield, and the policy will be cancelled.

There must be a tenancy agreement in place from the date that the tenants move into the property.

The excess may increase for the following risks after the property has been unoccupied for 45 days. You should check your policy booklet which will confirm cover that is affected. This may include:

Malicious damage or vandalism
Riots, civil commotion, labour and political disturbances or strikes
Escape of water or oil
Theft or attempted theft
Accidental damage

If you aren't confident that tenants will be occupying the property within 90 days, cover will be declined.

If any form of renovation work is being carried out, cover will not start until tenants are occupying the property and a tenancy agreement is in place.

Landlord's contents stored at risk address

You may have a landlord's policy covering both buildings and contents and store some of your contents in part of the property (e.g. the garage) that they let to tenant's.

Provided that the items fall under the policy definition of 'contents', the items would be covered by the policy.

If the garage doesn't form part of the tenancy agreement, i.e. the tenant doesn't have access to it, this doesn’t affect the building insurance which still covers the garage as it belongs to your client and forms part of the risk address.

Home emergency and legal advice helplines for landlord's insurance

Paymentshield's landlord insurance policies include 24 hour Home Emergency and Legal Advice helplines which a landlord can use:

Home Emergency Helpline:

If an emergency such as a burst pipe or a break-in threatens the safety of the insured property, the landlord can call the helpline for assistance. The insurer will arrange for one of their approved tradesman to get in touch with them. The landlord will have to pay the tradesman's bill. However, if the loss or damage is subsequently covered under their landlord's Buildings and Contents policy, then they may be able to claim the cost back from their insurer (subject to the policy excess).

Legal Advice Helpline:

For problems with personal legal or tax matters, the legal helpline gives the landlord access to a professional legal advisor for confidential and free advice. All they'll need to initially pay for is the phone call. The customer can ask to be referred to a legal professional to deal with their issue, however any legal work undertaken will be at the customers expense.

Note: These helplines are not available for policies on RSA/PS/004 or Ageas/PS/006 terms.

Landlord's emergency.

Landlord's Home Emergency insurance provides cover for an approved contractors call out charge, parts, materials and labour following a sudden and unexpected event which, if not dealt with quickly would in the reasonable opinion of the helpline: render the property unsafe or unsecure, damage or cause further damage to the property, cause personal risk to you or cause a health and safety risk to others.

Some examples of what's covered include:

Blockage, collapse or leakage of the water supply pipe
Sudden and unexpected failure of or damage to the internal plumbing system, including escapes of water and fixed heating systems
Sudden and unexpected failure of or damage to the drainage system
Sudden and unexpected failure of your domestic central heating system due to mechanical or electrical failure or malfunction

If your property becomes uninhabitable for more than 48 hours as a result of an emergency, we will pay up to £250 (including VAT) for the cost of suitable alternative accommodation for your tenants.

If our approved engineer deems the cost of repair to exceed the cost of replacement, thus making the boiler beyond economic repair. We will contribute up to £500 towards replacing the boiler, based on the age of the boiler as follows: -

In the event of a claim, there is no excess to pay and your no claims discount will not be affected.

You can claim up to £1000 (including VAT) for an approved contractor call out charge, materials and labour.

Some examples of what isn't covered in Landlords Home Emergency include:

Claims where the property has been left unoccupied for more than 30 consecutive days
Any boiler or system that has not been serviced in line with manufacturer’s recommendations
Where an appliance has caused a circuit to fail or trip
Cracked or broken toilets or cisterns

Further information regarding Landlords Home Emergency is available in your client's policy booklet. The policy booklet is available to view and download from our website, Landlord Insurance Policy Booklets

Landlord's legal expenses

Legal Expenses for Landlord's covers the company, firm, partnership, management agent, association or individual which owns or is responsible for the property noted on the policy certificate which is let solely for domestic residential purposes.

The policy provides legal expenses protection for the events listed below. The insurer will cover your client's legal costs in relation to:

Property legal disputes
Repair and renovation disputes
Health and safety prosecution
HM Revenue and Customs investigations in relation to their tax affairs
Rent recovery

This policy also provides:

Cover for attendance expenses up to £100 per person per day, up to a maximum of £1000.00 for any one claim.
Tenant Eviction cover, for legal costs incurred in evicting a tenant from the property, including any costs incurred in defending the client against a counter claim from the tenant claiming that they haven't met their obligations as per the tenancy agreement.

Some examples of what isn't covered include:

Any dispute (excluding HMRC investigations as outlined below) arising within the first 60 days of the period of insurance if the tenancy agreement commenced before the inception date of the policy, unless it can be evidenced that they previously held comparable cover with another insurer immediately prior to inception of this policy.
Any claim not notified to us within 45 days of the date of the event and within the period of insurance.
Claims for legal costs in relation to contracts of employment.
Claims for legal costs relating to any HMRC Investigations arising within the first 30 days of the first period of insurance unless it can be evidenced that they had previously held comparable legal expenses cover with another insurer immediately prior to the inception date of this policy.
The payment or non-payment of service charges as defined within the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.
Any claim where the client has not obtained a satisfactory tenant reference in respect of each tenant or guarantor.

There must be a 51% or greater chance that your client will recover losses or damages (or obtain any other legal remedy that we've agreed to, including an enforcement of judgement), make successful defence or make a successful appeal or defence of any appeal in their pursuit of civil proceedings.

Further information regarding Landlord Legal Expenses is available in your client's policy booklet. The policy booklet is available to view and download from our website, Landlord Insurance Policy Booklets.

Renovations & alterations.

For new or existing Landlord's Insurance policies, if you are having renovations or alterations done to the property you've insured with Paymentshield please check the information below to make sure they can provide the cover you require.

Please note that for any renovation work is being carried out, cover must not start until tenant's are occupying the property and the tenancy agreement is in place.

Building Work:

We can provide cover as normal providing the insured property will not be unoccupied for more than 45 days by the tenant whilst the work is taking place.

If the insured property is going to be unoccupied for more than 45 days, please be aware there are exclusions and limitations that will apply.

Remember to ensure that the Buildings Sum Insured amount is still sufficient to cover the rebuild cost of the property.

Maximum number of landlord's insurance policies

Paymentshield can provide cover for landlords who own up to a maximum of 10 properties in both their own name and their limited business name combined.

For example, if you own 10 properties as an individual and 5 in your limited company name, we cannot cover them as they have exceeded the maximum number combined.