Insurance for landlords and property owners.
Residential lets, commercial units and mixed portfolios, from a single buy-to-let to a portfolio held through a company. Buildings, your liability as owner and the rent you would lose, placed by a broker who knows how tenancy type, tenant trade and lease structure change the risk.
Property owners insurance
Usually includes
Buildings
Property owners’ liability
Loss of rent
Contents & communal areas
Legal expenses
Empty periods
Know your cover
It insures the owner, not the occupier.
Property owners insurance protects the building, your liability as owner, and the rent you would lose if a covered event stopped the property being usable. It doesn’t extend to a tenant’s own belongings, which is the assumption that catches both sides out.
Rebuild cost, not market value
The figure that matters is what it costs to reconstruct the building, including demolition, site clearance and professional fees. Under-insuring it can cut every claim you make, not just the big one.
Occupancy changes the risk
Who occupies a property and how it’s let are rated differently to how it’s built. A student HMO (a house in multiple occupation) and a family buy-to-let aren’t the same risk, and neither are two commercial units in different trades.
Cover narrows once it’s empty
Most policies restrict cover once a property has stood empty beyond a set period, adding conditions such as regular inspections and isolated services.
What we cover
What each cover does, and where it stops.
The cover, the conditions attached to it, and the things it typically won’t reach, set out side by side rather than three clicks apart.
Cover
What comes with it
Commonly excluded
Buildings
The structure, landlord’s fixtures, communal areas, yards and car parks.
Rated on rebuild cost, not market value, and should include demolition, site clearance and professional fees. Under-insuring the building can cut every claim you make.
Gradual damage and wear. Damage while the property stands empty beyond a stated period, unless the insurer’s conditions are met.
Property owners’ liability
Your liability as owner where a tenant, visitor or contractor is injured because of the building.
Roof, structure, communal stairs and car park surfaces are typically included. Under a full repairing and insuring (FRI) lease the repairs may be the tenant’s; the liability isn’t.
Injury arising from the tenant’s own business operations. Liability the tenant has taken on directly under the lease.
Loss of rent
Pays the rent you would have received while a covered loss makes the property unusable.
Usually a percentage of the buildings sum insured, running for an indemnity period you choose. Commercial reinstatement typically runs longer than residential.
Anything beyond the indemnity period you set. Rent lost for reasons unconnected to a covered loss, such as a tenant simply leaving.
Contents & communal areas
Landlord’s fixtures, fittings and plant, anything in the shared parts, and furnishings in a furnished let.
Carpets, curtains and white goods where a let is furnished, plus contents in communal areas you’re responsible for.
The occupier’s own contents, stock and equipment. Where the lease is silent on the split, that’s what causes arguments after a loss.
Legal expenses
Possession proceedings, tenancy and lease disputes, forfeiture, and recovering unpaid rent or service charge.
Usually optional rather than automatic, and it needs the insurer’s consent before you instruct anyone. It covers costs, not the sums in dispute.
Rent guarantee, which pays the rent itself rather than the cost of chasing it, is a separate cover and not always included.
Empty periods
Between tenancies, during refurbishment, or while a property is being relet or sold.
Cover continues once notified, subject to conditions such as regular inspections and services being isolated.
Once a property has stood empty beyond a set period, insurers narrow the perils covered and add further conditions.
Terrorism
Standalone cover for terrorism damage, which standard property policies exclude.
Often required by lenders on blocks of flats and commercial units.
Cover under the standard buildings section, which excludes terrorism entirely without this extension.
Engineering inspection
Lifts, hoists, boilers and pressure plant carry statutory examination duties.
Arranges the competent-person inspections and covers the plant against sudden damage.
Where the plant sits in a part you don’t control, the inspection duty may sit with someone else, such as a managing agent.
Cyber & data
Tenant records, deposit and rent payments, and the diverted transfer that follows a convincing email.
A modest extension sized for a property book, rather than a full cyber policy.
The fuller response services, forensics, legal and notification, that a dedicated cyber policy provides. Arranged separately if you need them.
The repairs sit with the tenant. The insurance obligation doesn’t.
Under an FRI lease, day-to-day repairs are commonly the tenant’s responsibility, but the duty
to insure the building usually stays with the owner regardless of what the lease says about
repairs. Reading the lease, rather than assuming from the acronym, is what avoids the gap.
Words you’ll see
Six terms that decide whether a claim is paid in full.
Rebuild cost
What it costs to reconstruct the building from scratch, including demolition, site clearance and professional fees. Not market value, and not what you paid for it.
Indemnity period
How long loss of rent keeps paying while the property is put right. Commercial reinstatement usually takes longer than residential, so the length has to match.
Unoccupancy period
The point at which insurers narrow cover and add conditions once a property stands empty. It varies by insurer rather than being a fixed number of days.
FRI lease
Full repairing and insuring. Repairs may sit with the tenant under the lease, but the obligation to insure the building usually stays with the owner regardless.
Excess
The first part of a claim you pay yourself. Accidental damage and glass often carry a different excess to the rest of the policy.
Aggregate
A ceiling on everything the policy pays across the year, sitting alongside, and sometimes instead of, a limit for any one claim.
Why Vara
Bespoke service for you & your business,
without the big-firm minimum.
01
We ask how it’s let first
Rebuild values, tenancy types, tenant trades, lease structures, voids, statutory inspections. We go through all of it before we quote.
02
One conversation, whole portfolio
Every property in a single chat, residential and commercial together, on one policy and one renewal date.
03
Certificates when you need them
Lenders, tenants and managing agents want proof of cover before they’ll proceed. We turn it around quickly.
04
We flag the gaps others skip
Under-insurance, unoccupancy limits, missing terrorism or engineering cover. The traps that quietly void a claim.
You talk to a person. The machines do the typing.
Alongside this policy
The three that sit next to it.
Management liability
Claims against you personally as a director, where the property is held through a company. A separate contract from the property policy.
Commercial combined
For a business run from a unit you own or occupy. This policy covers the building; it doesn’t reach the business trading inside it.
Commercial motor & fleet
Vehicles used to manage or maintain your properties, arranged alongside this policy rather than inside it.
Free review of your property owners cover and costs.
Leave your details and we’ll call you straight back. One conversation covers what you own, how it’s let and what would happen if a property stood empty.
What the review covers
We go through the policy you have now, so you can see what it does and doesn’t cover against the building, your liability as owner and the rent you’d lose if it stood empty.
We point out the terms that catch property owners out most often, rebuild cost and unoccupancy limits among them, so you can check yours.
We approach insurers on our panel who write property owners cover, and come back with what they’ll offer.
We explain each option in plain English, including what it doesn’t cover.
If it’s not a risk we can place, we’ll tell you straight away rather than leave you waiting.
No obligation to switch. You decide what fits.
Rather not wait? Call us on 0333 091 3663
Good to know
Property owner questions, answered straight.
What insurance do property owners need?
Buildings cover. Market value or rebuild cost?
Does who occupies the property affect my premium?
Are my tenants' belongings covered?
Who insures the building under an FRI lease?
What is engineering inspection cover, and do I need it?
What happens when a property or unit sits empty?
My property is held through a limited company. Does the policy cover me as a director?
My property is held through a limited company. Does the policy cover me as a director?
Vara Commercial Insurance · 0333 091 3663
Vara is a trading name of Koral AI Operating Company Limited. Vara is an appointed representative of Innovative Risk Labs Ltd, under Firm Reference Number 1060955. Innovative Risk Labs Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, under FRN 609155. We are registered in England and Wales under Registered Company Number 17256222. Registered office: 167-169 Great Portland Street, 5th Floor, London, W1W 5PF.