Landlords Insurance - Get to Grips with it

    SURREY, ENGLAND, June 18, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- With more people letting out their homes these days, Commercial Plan Insurance has responded with easy to manage landlords insurance packages offering full protection and peace-of-mind landlords insurance to landlords and their tenants. Commercial Plan has noticed a rise in the number of customers taking out landlords insurance, and the company's landlords insurance specialist, Nick Cole, puts it down to a number of factors. "A lot of homeowners are preferring to rent out their homes rather than sell them in this current climate and make a loss, so we've seen a significant rise in customers looking for high-quality, good value landlords insurance."

The increase in new landlords has meant that Commercial Plan's specialist landlords insurance team has had the privilege of guiding new customers through the features of a landlords insurance policy. "We're helping our new customers do their homework," says Nick. "Many are unfamiliar with the features of a landlords insurance policy - terms like 'landlords liability' and 'trace and access' are, for obvious reasons, alien terms to many, so we take our customers through our landlords insurance policies step-by-step."

Just like ordinary home insurance, landlords insurance can cover landlord's contents. "If landlords are planning on furnishing the rental with furniture, white goods or TV's, then they'll need to get 'Landlords Contents Cover'," says Nick. "But if they aren't furnishing the property, landlords building insurance will cover their kitchens, flooring and sanitary ware, and so contents isn't necessary."

As well as offering standard features, like contents cover, Commercial Plan's landlord insurance offer a number of features which are difficult to find elsewhere. "Our 'Unoccupied Property Cover' is second-to-none," says Nick. "A lot of insurers don't like to insure unoccupied properties because they are more likely to be burgled, and if a pipe leaks, there's often nobody there to report it and so the damage can be extensive. But at Commercial Plan, we offer Unoccupied Property Cover at exceptionally good rates, and this cover is 'warranty free', which means that the cover isn't subject to the landlord draining the central heating pipes, for example, or visiting the property on a weekly basis."

Another landlords insurance term which new landlords might not be familiar with is 'Day One Uplift'. Nick explains: "We insure properties on the basis of their re-build cost. So if a property costs GBP200,000 to re-build, a customer will take a landlords insurance policy out to cover that amount. However, should something happen to the property a nine months later and it requires rebuilding, the costs of labour and materials might have gone up in that time frame, so it could cost perhaps GBP250,000 to rebuild. Our cover provides a 50% uplift, which means a GBP200,000 property would covered up to a re-build value of GBP300,000." In fact, most other landlords insurance companies only offer 10-20% uplift, and Commercial Plan's 50% limit is one of the most competitive on the market.

Another feature of landlords insurance which customers may consider is 'Trace & Access Cover'. "This offers landlords cover should there be a problem with, for example, a water leak underground," says Nick. "If a pipe is cracked on your property, the waterboard could say it's not their responsibility, and a landlord could be required to foot the cost of not only tracing the leak, but also repairing it. With Trace & Access Cover, the insurance company would pay the bill, so this is a really important feature for landlords to consider."

Some other features to consider when taking out landlords insurance include 'Landlords liability insurance', which covers a landlord should a tenant harm themselves due to something dangerous in the property, like a faulty light switch. "The landlord liability insurance will pay for any damages that are awarded to a tenant, as well as any legal costs," says Nick.

For people unfamiliar with the various features of landlords insurance, it's worth speaking to an expert like Nick. "Prospective landlords can give us a call and we'll recommend the best landlord insurance policies for their needs," says Nick. "Landlords are an extremely discerning type of customer and demand good landlords insurance cover along with rock bottom premiums. At Commercial Plan, we can offer just that!" Commercial Plan Insurance can provide a range of landlord insurance policies, tailor-made to customers requirements.

Source: The Plan Group Ltd
Website: http://www.planinsurance.co.uk

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