Property insurance costs

Hi Barbara

It’s difficult to comment without knowing the details of the insurance you had in place. How they treat malicious damage and claims depends on the company and the circumstances.

I understand why the insurer says lifestyle choice and then puts it down to wear and tear. Have you tried holding the deposit?

If I took the above as malicious damage then in most cases, the cover will be capped at £10k. If uninhabitable then I would expect loss of rent to kick in until it is made right. However, in your case, the only malicious damage accepted was the boiler and therefore the majority of the delay may be for repairing the wear and tear.

It’s a terrible position to be in; and one I myself am currently in with a property I own myself. I didn’t see a claim personally and so far spent £6k repairing the property. It’s taught me more about agents and the importance of regular visits than anything else to this point.

I digress…your renewal price is high, happy to see if we can reduce that for you if you wish to get a quote and we will do what we can to help.

https://thehomeinsurer.co.uk/property-118-landlord-insurance/

Hi Barbara
Personally, I would take the insurer to court for malpractice – and make it as high profile as I can. I don’t know how I’d set about it, but I’d find a way. Treat it as providing a service to the entire landlord community…. Also which insurer was it? Perhaps landlords should be persuaded to boycott them en masse?

Yes I agree but I dont have the money to fight them! Landlords take the hit every time. Im going to the Ombudsman . The company is Covea . They have even refused to speak to the brokers I used to get the policy. And as an aside I have never made a claim in 25 years!

Reply to the comment left by Lucy Fryer at 14/09/2022 – 10:45
Surely you don’t know it’s “malpractice” without knowing what was covered, so you’d have to read the policy. A bit like insuring your car third party then trying to claim for damage you do to it yourself.

I’ve never known a standard policy pay for tenants’ damage, although you can buy more specialist policies to top up.

Reply to the comment left by Barbara at 14/09/2022 – 10:51I am dealing with Covea too – a bloody nightmare! Annual renewal just come up and I moved away from them completely as a result. They lost £10k in business overnight as a result..
Still have an existing claim with them for damage to a property by RTA and it has still not been resolved – repairs not made yet accident happened in March.
Try emailing the COE direct… [email protected] and copy in their media dept too…[email protected]
My Formal complaint is ongoing and Ombudsman next…

If you do make a claim for a bad tenant that doesn’t look after the property does anyone know by how much that will increase your insurance costs in order that you can work out by how much you need to increase rents?

Taking out an insurance policy is a lot easier than claiming on one. The first reaction of an insurance company on receipt of a claim is to try to wriggle out of it.

It is not your fault the tenant smashed up your property, so I don’t see why they should bump your premium up.

Reply to the comment left by Graham Bowcock at 14/09/2022 – 11:10
Yes, I agree that “malpractice” is an inflammatory word. However Covea paid for the boiler and Barbara also says she had £10,000 cover. So I read that to mean that she had £10,000 of “malicious damage by tenants” cover included in her policy. It was an assumption, but I believe an accurate one, since otherwise Covea would not have paid out for the boiler which they knew had been damaged by the tenant and clearly the building itself would have more than £10,000 cover…

Yes I have to question why they would pay for the boiler and nothing else. The electrics were ruined along with everything else. The police wouldnt get involved as they could not prove the tenants caused the damage as they left the front door open when they left (even though you need a key to get into the hallway to access their flat!).The insurers have accepted one act of malicious damage but not the rest! Hopefully the Ombudsman will see sense!

Just a thought, could it work out better in the end to appoint your own loss adjuster for these cases of destruction by tenant?

The insurance companies send out their own appointed loss adjuster with the purpose of minimising any claim and checking for under-insuredness as a reason to deny or reduce the claim. They are therefore anything but unbiased.

There needs to be another loss adjuster in the mix – one that’s batting on the side of the landlord.

Are there any helpful, independent loss adjusters following Property118.com? If so, tell us where you are, please.