Landlord Indemnity Insurance

Hi Raj,

I will get our P118 insurance expert Jason to make his observations for you as well, but this is exactly why everyone needs Landlords Insurance.

I have seen many people say they don't need it because they self insure or that they still have normal home insurance (this will not cover rented property).

If a tenant or someone visiting does injure themselves it is only responsible to make sure you are covered. Plus if you have a BTL mortgage you are in breach of contract without the correct insurance.

Please see our insurance page >> http://www.property118.com/landlords-insurance-landlords-buying-group-2/

It is so cheap to buy these days you can't afford not to have it.

I have to say I was quite shocked by the judge's decision in the Edwards v Kumarasamy case. Obviously if you own a property where it is in the landlord's power to do so then it is the landlord's responsibility to keep outside and common areas under repair, but in a block of flats where service charges are payable then surely it is the freeholders' responsibility.

Some of my properties are ex-local flats, and whilst I can report concerns about the condition of the common areas, one of the London boroughs I deal with in particular is very lax indeed in taking action no matter how many times I draw the particular concern to their attention.

This is especially true if the issue is emanating from someone else's property and that renter/owner has not reported/acknowledged it. An example that comes to mind is when the boiler of a neighbours' flat was constantly dripping and, over time, caused a patch of green slime on the external gangway that my tenants used for access to my flat. This became very slippy when wet and my tenants were concerned. Despite reporting this over and over, nothing was done for almost a year because my neighbour, a social housing tenant, wouldn't accept there was a problem and the council refused to send someone to fix the boiler until that tenant reported it..

So am I correct in my understanding of this that although I have no power whatsoever to make the repair to, say for example, a cracked paving stone,. were my tenants to trip over that paving stone it would be me that is in the firing line rather than the council despite the fact that I might have reported that cracked paving stone over and over again?

Ditto, if my tenants trip because the managing agents have failed to get round to replacing a light bulb in the communal hall of a block despite repeated requests, would that be deemed my responsibility too?

Well on blocks of flats the Freeholder or RTM or RMC insures the block and communal grounds. I remember Mark on a post many months or even years ago saying to take out a miminal contents insurance on flats to get a public liability insurance. So then the two insurance companies have to fight it out to see
who pays up.

Hi Raj

Good landlords insurance will have public liability insurance attached to it so if someone injures themselves while on your property you can claim from the policy, providing you have not been negligent.

Agreed, if it is not your freehold, then the freeholder should have the insurance and responsibility. For in your own property though, you can still get liability cover if you buy a landlord contents insurance policy if you wish.

We will all be asked to check every property daily or hourly soon, otherwise it'll be our fault if anything goes wrong. Makes me wonder how theses decisions can flaunt logic and reasonable common sense so much...

I have Landlords Insurance for all my rentals. I actually phoned my insurance company over the weekend to double check the scenarios that were highlighted in the article. They confirmed what you said Jason.