Does tenant’s pet damage insurance exist?

Position I've taken is to insist on the tenant lodging a insurance with pet coverage. To submit after the reference check but before the contract. One current tenant used Homelet.
I couldn't find a standalone landlord product, although atm I don't think you can charge for this. You could add it to the rent I guess. Maybe renter reform will allow it.
Adding to your landlord insurance I would suspect will really increase the premium. Also, are you really gong to claim for a small sum like soiled sofa.

Any standalone insurance for children too?

Reply to the comment left by Ian Narbeth at 22/01/2024 - 11:04
I wonder how I can add pet insurance to my flat which is one of 38 flats. Building insurance is a block policy taken out for the management company which obviously cannot be altered to include pet insurance for all flats when only a few flats are affected.
A policy taken out by the tenant seems the best, the cover and terms agreed jointly between landlord and tenant. Tenants will need to provide receipts or bank statements showing premium are being made. Also I would want to charge extra rent, at least £20 per month, perhaps as much as £50 per month to compensate for the likely unrecoverable losses which are going to occur from time to time.. Holidaymakers are already quite used to paying extra charges for holiday lets where people allow dogs, so why not extra charges on an AST?

Reply to the comment left by Ian Narbeth at 22/01/2024 - 09:48
Good luck recouping any money from a tenant my 25 years experience in prs is you have no chance.

Alan Boswell have standalone Pet Damage Insurance for £25pm https://www.alanboswell.com/landlord-insurance/landlord-pet-damage-insurance/

A landlord may feel they have more control if the landlord has the insurance. However I have made an insurance claim a couple of years ago (not for pet damage, it was for a exploding shower enclosure screen). The xcess was £350 and then when the policy was renewed 2 months later the cost of the insurance increased by £750. I did shop around but my insurer was still the lowest. I did find out that because my claim wasn't finalised at the time of renewal, the insurance company had set aside a certain amount of money for the claim which they shared with other insurer panels. The set aside amount was about 2K more than my actual claim. I did ask if my renewal would go down the next year because my claim was less than the set aside which was used to quote but they would not answer. When the policy renewal went through the year after the price increase was negligible however they then imposed bigger excesses of £1000 for accidental damage. My point is, I actually ended up paying 1K out of my pocket for my claim. My policy now has personal excess conditions imposed on it. In over 25 years we have only ever claimed twice on our insurance (first time was approx 20 years ago) as we believe it is only there for the "large" things that go wrong. We would never claim for silly small things like replacing a carpet etc but we are still being penalised for making a claim.

Reply to the comment left by Laura Delow at 27/01/2024 - 10:25Laura
Thank you for the link. £25 plus tax per month is excessive - it does not cost much more than that to insure a whole property. Is it £25 per year?
Also note the limitations:
It is important to note that our pet damage policy covers claims made for sudden, unintentional, and unexpected physical loss, breakage, or damage caused by a domestic pet to the fixtures, fittings, and contents provided by the landlords in rented accommodation.
It is not for damage caused by everyday wear and tear. For example, if a dog scratches at your door every day this is not covered, while if a pet pulls down curtains that causes damage to a wall this would be covered.

Reply to the comment left by Laura Delow at 27/01/2024 - 10:25following on from Ian's reply to you.....now you know why many say no pets from the offing. A pet is more likely to cause damage by repeated action over time, (scratching woodwork/peeing on carpets, infestation etc) not from a sudden/one off incident like just suddenly eating a carpet for example.
As a result cover (and a claim) would more than likely fail. So what's the point of insurance cover ultimately?
If you accept a pet and damage occurs over time, then that may well be termed as general wear and tear by a deposit company too, if you were to request money for such damage to be retained, so again you loose out.
IF you are determined to allow pets then the only option is to increase the rent to account for this. A good tenant would understand this. A pet is a luxury and as they will know already not welcome by all landlords. Pet ownership evokes responsibilities (just like having kids) so you make your choice and have to understand the consequences of that choice.
If you property was left absolutely spotless after the tenancy ends, there is absolutely nothing to stop you showing your appreciation by giving the tenant a gift back of any amount you feel is justified if you want to.

Reply to the comment left by Ian Narbeth at 29/01/2024 - 09:54
Apologies for my typo (too trigger happy) as it should read pa not pm