Property Owners Liability

[lily]

I was applying for buildings insurance without contents as my property is unfurnished with exception of carpets and blinds. I was told by the insurance company (Homelet) that I need Contents insurance to cover for tenants' claims against injury received as a result of any contents of the property (eg tripped on the carpet). I thought that this was covered within the Property Owners Liability which forms part of the Buildings cover but they advised it isn't. I would also have thought that many landlords only purchase buildings insurance with unfurnished lets. Can anyone please clarify or help on this point as it will add another £72 to my policy (property is in Northants).

Thanks.

[Poppy]

My building is insured with AUA Insurance. The policy booklet states: "property owners liability £2,000,000".

I did not specifically ask my broker to quote for public liability - the policy seems to include it anyway.

Call my broker: Ember JD Insurance Brokers, 020 8941 2204 / 020 8979 9797.

[LandlordInsuranceDirect]

Lily,

Many landlords insure both furnished and unfurnished properties without insuring the contents because of cost and yes they still get the full Liability insurance! sound like a bit of a try on to me! but you'd have to check their document wordings etc.

you can have a contents only policy and still get the neccesary landlord liability insurance, a few of our clients have done this, they insure say £1000 worth of contents and get £2m liability, cheaper than most places can get you liability only for!

the primary reason for damage to contents is through mal treatment by tenants and you should always take a deposit to cover this, if you are concerned that this is not enough then you can, as a number of clients do, insist that the tenants have a insurance policy in place which covers accidental damage to YOUR contents, this is a great idea as you don't have to find a policy which covers you for acc damage to contents (these are more expensive as it's where a lot of the fraudulent claims come from) and for the tenant they are effectivley insuring their bond!

hope that helps a bit

[lily]

Thanks to you both for your help. Just to clarify over what Property Owners Liability is supposed to cover, am I right to say that it covers for claims made by any person who has sustained an injury in or at the property, regardless of how they sustained the injury? Sorry if I sound confused...

[tomnico]

Does anyone have the situation where they are letting out a flat that is in a block and thus as the landlord you already pay buildings insurance via the management charge? If this is the case and I let the properties unfurnished, what is the best way to go for liability cover? should I be looking for this on it's own or try to get the most basic contents cover that includes public liability?

thanks
Tom

[Gazza]

Tomnico

I have a number of flats within larger blocks of flats and have encountered the same problem. I used lanldordinsurancedirect from a previous post. They can provide liability cover of £2,000,000 for around £50 per annum and that includes contents cover too. Give them a call on 01379 783960, they will be able to help you out.

Hope this helps.