Being a landlord is a great way of investing in property and earning a regular income but you need to take out buildings and contents insurance as your most basic type of protection.

Whether you rent out one property or have a whole portfolio, you need to keep up to speed with all the regulations and laws and compliance’s expected of you.

But when you own a property which you rent out to tenants, you need to have certain extra insurances in place.

As you’re the owner of the property, you are still liable for the building, and as such you need to have the right landlord insurance in place. This is to cover the rebuild cost in the event of, for example, a fire. You don’t need to worry about contents insurance as your tenants will need to take out their own insurance to cover the necessary amount to protect their belongings.

However, if you are renting the property out with any furnishings or other items you’ve paid for yourself, you might want to take out your own contents insurance to cover for any accidental or malicious damage caused by your tenants.

You’ll need to take out something called public liability cover too. Essentially, this is to protect you in the event of a tenant taking you to court for an accident they sustained while on the property.

It’s a good idea to include rehousing protection in your cover. If your property becomes uninhabitable due to flooding or fire, for example, you will still be responsible for housing your tenants, so this cover will pay for accommodation fees while you refurbish your property.

Loss of rent is another area you can protect via the right insurance. If your tenants have to move out for a while for unexpected reasons out of your control, such as flooding, then you need to make sure you still have an income, especially if you’re paying a mortgage on the property.

Make sure your insurance also covers replacement locks and windows. If you need to change the locks following a burglary, you have to make sure this is done swiftly but in a cost-effective way.

Many places offer inclusive landlord services insurance, so you don’t have to take out separate policies for each and every aspect. Just make sure that you read the small print and that you have every type of cover you need — then you can relax knowing that you’re fully covered.

Before investing in buy to let property you will want to know the costs involved to becoming a landlord. For more information check out our landlord expenses checklist.

For more help and advice about being a landlord, call Keywest on 0116 254 4555 or email sales@keywest-estateagents.co.uk.