Can I use my normal home insurance if I rent out my property?

A standard home insurance policy is written for owner-occupiers, and many either exclude letting or require you to tell the insurer first. Letting on an owner-occupier policy without disclosing it risks a claim being refused or reduced.

What does landlord insurance cover?

It is a bundle of covers rather than a single product: buildings, landlord’s contents, property owners’ liability, loss of rent, rent guarantee and legal expenses. Each answers a different risk, and some are optional extras.

Does landlord insurance cover my tenants’ belongings?

No. Landlord’s contents cover protects furniture, white goods and carpets you supply, never the tenant’s own possessions. Tenants need their own policy, which is worth explaining at the start of the tenancy.

Is rent guarantee insurance worth it now that landlords in England need a legal ground to evict?

Regaining possession in England now always requires a legal ground, so rent guarantee and legal expenses cover are worth reviewing if lost rent would put your mortgage at risk. These policies usually require the tenant to have passed the insurer’s referencing before the tenancy began.

Do I need buildings insurance as a landlord of a leasehold flat?

Usually the freeholder or management company insures the building under a block policy and recharges it through the service charge. You may then need only contents, liability and income covers, but ask for a copy of the block policy to see what it excludes.

Landlord Insurance: What Cover You Actually Need

Letting a property turns your home, or an investment flat, into a business asset, and the insurance has to change with it. Landlord insurance is the umbrella term for a set of covers built around that change: the building, anything you supply inside it, your liability to the people who live in or visit it, and the income it produces. This guide goes through each layer, explains which ones are essential and which are optional, and shows how your legal duties as a landlord feed into what an insurer will pay.

Why Home Insurance Is Not Enough

A standard home insurance policy is designed for people who live in the property they insure. Most policies ask whether the home is let, and many either exclude letting or require you to tell the insurer before it starts. If you rent out a property on an owner-occupier policy without disclosing it, you risk a claim being refused or reduced at the moment you most need it.

The lender may also have a say. GOV.UK states that if you have a mortgage on the property you want to rent out, you must get permission from your mortgage lender, and lenders commonly set insurance conditions as part of that permission or of a buy-to-let mortgage. Check the mortgage offer before you choose a policy, because the lender's requirements come first.

Accidental landlords, such as people letting a former home after moving in with a partner or relocating for work, are the group most often caught out. The property feels the same, but the risk profile is not: someone else controls day-to-day use, you may not visit for months, and a problem can go unnoticed for longer.

The Core Covers

Landlord policies are usually sold as a core policy with optional extras. The table below sets out what each cover is for and the point that most often decides whether it pays out.

	What it protects	Point to check
Buildings	The structure and permanent fixtures against events such as fire, flood, storm and escape of water	Sum insured based on the rebuild cost, not the market value
Landlord's contents	Furniture, white goods and carpets you supply	Tenants' own belongings are not covered; they need their own policy
Property owners' liability	Claims from tenants or visitors injured or whose property is damaged because of the building	Whether the limit matches any lender or managing agent requirement
Loss of rent	Rent lost while the property is uninhabitable after an insured event	The maximum period and whether it covers alternative accommodation
Rent guarantee	Rent the tenant fails to pay	Referencing conditions and any excess period before payments start
Legal expenses	Legal costs of possession claims and some disputes	Whether costs must be approved in advance and the claim has reasonable prospects

Buildings cover is the foundation for anyone who owns a freehold house. If you own a leasehold flat, the freeholder or management company usually insures the building under a block policy and recharges the cost through the service charge. In that case you may need only contents, liability and income covers, but ask for a copy of the block policy to see what it excludes.

Landlord's contents matters more for furnished lets. For an unfurnished property it may cover only carpets, curtains and any appliances you leave behind. Either way, it never covers the tenant's own possessions, which is a point worth explaining to tenants at the start of the tenancy.

Many policies also offer malicious damage by tenants and accidental damage as extras. Read the definitions carefully: damage caused gradually, or wear and tear, is usually excluded, and some policies treat damage by a tenant differently from damage by a stranger.

Liability to Tenants and Visitors

Property owners' liability is the cover most often overlooked, yet the law gives landlords clear responsibilities. In a short residential lease, section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 implies a covenant by the landlord to keep in repair the structure and exterior, including drains, gutters and external pipes, and to keep the installations for water, gas, electricity, sanitation and heating in repair and proper working order.

That repairing obligation brings a wider duty with it. Under section 4 of the Defective Premises Act 1972, where a tenancy puts a repair obligation on the landlord, the landlord owes everyone who might reasonably be expected to be affected by defects a duty to take reasonable care that they are reasonably safe from personal injury or damage to their property. The duty is owed if the landlord knows of the defect, or ought in all the circumstances to have known of it. In practice, a loose stair rail you were told about, or a leaking gutter that damages a neighbour's wall, can become a claim against you personally.

If you employ anyone to work at the property, such as a caretaker or a cleaner on your payroll, employers' liability rules may also apply. Our guide to public liability vs employers' liability explains where the line falls between a self-employed contractor and an employee.

Rent Guarantee and Legal Expenses

For many landlords the rent is what pays the mortgage, so the income-protection side of landlord insurance deserves as much thought as the building. The rules in England changed significantly in 2026. GOV.UK explains that under the Renters' Rights Act, landlords can no longer evict tenants using the section 21 process and need a legal reason, called a ground for possession, served through a section 8 notice. The same guidance says the notice period in many cases is 4 months, although it is shorter for some grounds.

Arrears are one of those grounds, but they have a threshold. According to GOV.UK, the court only needs to give a possession order for rent arrears if the tenant owes 3 months' rent, and if a tenant owes less the court may decide the tenant can stay. That is the gap rent guarantee and legal expenses policies are designed to fill: they can pay the rent while a claim runs its course and meet the solicitor and court costs of recovering possession.

These policies have strict conditions. Most require the tenant to have passed referencing that meets the insurer's criteria before the tenancy started, require you to report arrears within a set time, and exclude disputes that began before the cover did. Buying rent guarantee after a tenant has already fallen behind will not help with that tenant.

Legal expenses cover can also matter if a tenant brings a claim against you. GOV.UK notes that the maximum amount a landlord can be ordered to pay under a rent repayment order has increased from 1 to 2 years' rent. Insurance will not pay a penalty for breaking the law, but some policies help with the cost of defending a claim you believe is unfounded. Check the wording rather than assuming.

Duties That Affect Claims

An insurer assesses a claim against what a reasonable landlord should have done. GOV.UK lists the core duties: keep rented properties safe and free from health hazards, make sure gas and electrical equipment is safely installed and maintained, provide an Energy Performance Certificate, protect the tenant's deposit in a government-approved scheme and, in England, check the tenant's right to rent. The same page makes landlords responsible for fitting and testing smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms.

Gas safety is the clearest example of a duty with a fixed timetable. Regulation 36 of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 requires a landlord to ensure that each relevant gas appliance and flue is checked for safety within 12 months of being installed and at intervals of not more than 12 months after the last check, and to keep a record. After a fire or an escape of gas, an adjuster is likely to ask for those records.

Honest disclosure matters just as much. Where a policy is non-consumer insurance, section 3 of the Insurance Act 2015 requires the insured to make a fair presentation of the risk before the contract is entered into, including disclosure of every material circumstance the insured knows or ought to know. For landlords, material facts typically include the type of tenant, whether the property is a house in multiple occupation, periods when it will be empty, and any planned building work. If something changes mid-policy, tell the insurer rather than waiting for renewal.

If you let more than one property, or own them through a limited company, ask whether a portfolio policy fits better than separate policies. Company ownership may also bring wider business insurance questions, such as cover for directors or for staff you employ.

Bottom Line

Start with the building: either your own buildings policy based on an accurate rebuild cost, or confirmation of what the freeholder's block policy covers. Add property owners' liability, because your repair duties can make you personally responsible for injuries and damage. Then decide how much of your rental income you can afford to lose: if one missed quarter would put your mortgage at risk, rent guarantee and legal expenses cover deserve serious consideration. Keep your safety records up to date, disclose every material fact, and read the unoccupancy and referencing conditions before you rely on the policy.