Tips on choosing your landlord property insurance

Read the terms and conditions carefully, make sure that you are happy with the level of cover provided and make sure that you understand the terms and conditions.

Choosing your landlord property insurance is not a five minute job! Give yourself time to make the right decision. Start about two weeks before your current policy is due to expire and obtain a few quotes. Most of the providers listed on this site give you an online, instant landlord property insurance quote, but some of them quote half an hour later by email and some ask you to fill out the form, then phone them. (You then quote the unique reference given to you on the website and they have all of your info to hand - beats spelling out your sirname all of the time!)

If you take two quotes and there is a huge difference in price, there is usually a reason. The more expensive one may include cover for risks that you do not wish to pay for and conversely, the cheaper quote may not cover something that you feel is vital.

Be honest!!! Be truthful about your home, there is no point putting your future insurance claim in jeopardy!!

If you have just bought your house, or you're still paying a mortgage, you will probably find that you're mortgage lender will insist you have adequate cover should anything happen to the house. The mortgage lenders will normally only insist you have buildings cover so if the house was damaged beyond repair or destroyed your insurance will cover the cost of rebuilding.

Always remember you are not tied to any one insurance company, it is always cheap online to shop around. Just because an insurance company has given you a well-priced policy in the past it doesn't mean their current policy offer is competitive.

Some sales people will tell you it is compulsory to have both contents and buildings insurance. Strictly speaking, both building and contents insurance are optional, but your mortgage lender will normally insist that you have buildings cover so if the house was damaged beyond repair or destroyed your financially covered. If you have brought a house for £90,000 and you are a millionaire then its fine as you can afford the rebuild cost. But if you are like me and can only just afford the mortgage payment then you will need to have buildings cover. Contents cover is not essential, but remember that you've worked hard for the possessions in your home and if you lost it all it could take you a lifetime to replace it.