If you let a property, home insurance will not cover it. Landlord insurance, also called buy-to-let insurance, is the policy written for a rented building: the structure, the contents you supply, and the claim if someone is hurt there.
Meshed is an FCA-regulated UK broker. We place landlord buildings, contents, and property owners’ liability for UK limited companies, partnerships, and sole traders, from a panel of insurers. Broker fee is a flat 10%, with no admin add-ons.
If you manage property for other people, that is professional services. Start on Professional Indemnity Insurance UK. If you want the wider list of covers a UK company usually needs, that sits on What insurance does a UK business need. This page is landlord cover.
Who this is for
UK limited companies, partnerships, and sole traders that own or let property, including:
Single-purpose vehicles holding one buy-to-let
Portfolio companies with several residential addresses
Companies letting commercial or mixed-use buildings
Property businesses that employ staff to look after the lets
Sole traders and landlords insuring in a personal name
We work with limited companies, partnerships, and sole traders.
We cover landlords, agents, and property managers who look after commercial or residential buildings. If the risk is an HMO, a short-let, or a holiday book, that is a specialist market. We will say whether we can place it before you spend a week on forms.
Who we have helped
We place landlord cover for UK limited companies, partnerships, and sole traders: SPVs whose lender wants buildings and liability on the certificate, portfolio companies that want one programme instead of a policy per address, and landlords who have been running a home-insurance wording on a let and need it corrected.
Buildings, contents, and liability
Those are the three parts that matter. Everything else is an add-on.
Buildings is the structure: walls, roof, floors, fitted kitchen and bathroom, permanent fixtures, and usually the outbuildings and underground pipes you are responsible for. It pays to repair or rebuild after an insured event, fire, storm, flood, escape of water, theft, vandalism, often subsidence. You insure the rebuild cost, not the purchase price and not the market value. Underinsure the rebuild and the insurer can average the claim.
Landlord contents is what you put in the property and can pick up and take out: sofas, beds, curtains, carpets, freestanding white goods. It does not cover the tenant’s belongings. An unfurnished let still often has carpets, curtains, and a cooker. Check the single-item limit if you have supplied anything expensive.
Property owners’ liability is the claim if a tenant, visitor, or neighbour is injured, or their property is damaged, because of the building. A broken handrail, a loose tile, a leak into the flat below. The UK market usually writes this at £2 million or £5 million. It is not the same as public liability for a contracting business, and it is not professional indemnity.
Fixtures that are fixed to the building sit on buildings. Moveable items you own sit on contents. If you are a leaseholder in a block, the freeholder’s buildings policy often excludes the kitchen and bathroom you fitted. That gap is leasehold fixtures and fittings, not a second buildings policy.
What else sits on a landlord policy
A residential landlord wording will usually let you add:
Loss of rent or alternative accommodation, if an insured event makes the property uninhabitable. That is not rent guarantee. Rent guarantee is unpaid rent while the tenant is still in occupation.
Legal expenses, for possession, disputes, and related legal costs.
Accidental damage and malicious damage by tenants. Some wordings include one or both; others make them extras. Damage by someone lawfully on the premises is the clause people miss.
Unoccupancy. Most policies restrict or drop cover after 30 to 90 empty days. A void between tenancies is the usual way landlords go uninsured without noticing.
Employers’ liability, if you employ anyone. That is a legal duty, not an optional extra, once you are an employer. The certificate has to be for at least £5 million, from an authorised insurer. A self-employed cleaner or contractor is a different test. Tell us who actually works on the property.
Wear and tear, poor maintenance, and gradual deterioration are not insured events. Neither is the tenant’s own contents. Flood from a river or the sea is often a separate question from escape of water. We show you the gaps before you bind.
If you let shops, offices, or a house used as business premises, you need a commercial property-owners wording, not a residential landlord policy. Say how the building is used.
Is landlord insurance required by law?
No. There is no statute that says a UK landlord must hold landlord insurance.
Three things still bite:
A buy-to-let mortgage. Almost every lender makes landlord buildings insurance a condition of the loan. Let the policy lapse and you are in breach.
A lease. If you are a leaseholder, the freeholder usually insures the building and recharges you. If you are the freeholder of a block, the buildings policy for the block is yours.
Employers’ liability. If the company employs staff, you must hold EL. That is the Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act, not landlord law.
Home insurance is written for a house you live in. Once a tenant is in, that policy is usually off risk. Using it on a let is how claims get declined.
Tenants do not insure the building. They need their own contents for their belongings. You cannot pass the buildings duty to them.
How much cover do I need?
Buildings: the full rebuild, including debris, professional fees, and outbuildings. Not the price you paid, not the current sale value. If you do not have a recent rebuild assessment, say so. We will not guess a number that leaves you averaged.
Contents: the replacement cost of what you actually supply. Unfurnished is not the same as empty of your items.
Liability: enough for a serious injury claim. £2 million is common. £5 million is safer if you have several units, communal areas, or a block. We size it to the property, not to a comparison-site default.
A portfolio can sit on one programme with one renewal. That is an administration choice, not a discount we will invent on this page.
What it costs
Premium follows the building and the let: rebuild, construction, location, flood and subsidence, tenancy type, unoccupancy, claims, limit, and excess. A two-bed terrace and an HMO in the same postcode will not price the same.
We will not publish a “from £X a month” figure that only exists for the cheapest buildings-and-liability quote on a comparison site.
What you can control: an accurate rebuild, a current gas and electrical record, telling the insurer how the property is really let, and not leaving it empty past the unoccupancy clause.
How Meshed works
You tell us the company, the properties, how they are let, rebuild figures, headcount, and current cover.
We review the documents and flag gaps in rebuild, liability, unoccupancy, tenant type, and whether the wording is residential, commercial, or specialist.
We go to our panel and come back with options.
You bind. We stay on for mid-term changes and renewal.
Straightforward SME risks are often quoted in minutes. Portfolios, HMOs, short-lets, and mixed commercial-residential programmes can take longer. We will say that up front.
FAQs
What is landlord insurance?
Cover for a property you let. It is built around buildings, the contents you supply, and property owners’ liability. Buy-to-let insurance is the same product under another name.
Do I need landlord insurance in the UK?
Not as a blanket legal duty. You need it if a lender or a lease requires buildings cover, if you employ staff, or if a fire, flood, or injury claim would land on the company. For a limited company that lets property, that is a yes.
What is the difference between buildings and contents?
Buildings is the structure and what is fixed to it. Contents is what you own inside and can move. The tenant’s belongings are neither.
What is property owners’ liability?
Cover if someone is injured, or their property is damaged, because of your building. Typical UK limits are £2 million or £5 million.
Will my home insurance cover a rental property?
Almost never, once it is let. Home insurance assumes you live there.
Do tenants need buildings insurance?
No. The owner insures the building. Tenants need contents for their own things.
I own a leasehold flat. Do I still need landlord insurance?
The freeholder usually holds the buildings policy for the block. You may still need contents, leasehold fixtures and fittings, and liability for what you control inside the flat. Check the lease and the block schedule before you buy a second buildings policy.
Can you cover an HMO or an Airbnb?
Sometimes. Those are specialist wordings. A standard residential landlord policy often excludes them. Tell us the licence and the booking pattern. We will say if we can place it.
I am a sole trader landlord. Can you help?
Yes. We place cover for limited companies, partnerships, and sole traders, including landlords insuring in a personal name.
Are you an insurer?
No. Meshed is a broker. Mesh'd Limited trading as Meshed is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under firm reference number 1033248.
How fast can we bind?
Clean renewals and a standard company buy-to-let can be same-week. New SPVs, missing rebuild figures, claims histories, or specialist lets take longer.
Vincent Liu
Co-founder & CTO
