What does Rent Guarantee Insurance actually cover?

A landlord asked us this week: "My tenant's just stopped paying, will my rent guarantee actually cover me?" Here's exactly what you're covered for, and what you need to have in place before you can claim a penny of it.

Your tenant stops paying. Rent guarantee keeps the rent landing in your account, covers your legal cost of evicting them, and can keep paying you for months after they've gone while you find someone new.

What you're actually covered for

Beyond the headline cover, good policies now also include locksmith costs after a legal eviction, storage of a former tenant's belongings for a few weeks, and even the legal costs of removing squatters using an interim possession order, extensions most landlords don't know exist until they need them.

The rule that catches people out

You must notify the insurer within 90 days of rent first falling into arrears. Wait past 60 days and a month's rent gets deducted from your payout, no exceptions. If you're hoping a tenant "sorts itself out" before you pick up the phone to your insurer, you're the one who loses part of your own claim. Report it early, even while you're still trying to work things out directly with them.

What you have to get right first

Your cover depends on you doing the basics properly before the tenancy even starts: proper referencing or right to rent checks, a signed and dated check-in inventory, the deposit protected correctly, gas and energy certificates issued and evidenced. Skip any of these and your claim can be reduced or refused entirely. Insurers check the exact same paperwork that protects you in a deposit dispute, get it right once and it protects you twice.

The bottom line

Get the paperwork right, and rent guarantee does exactly what you're paying it for.

Limited time offer – till end of September: we offer rent guarantee for just 5% plus VAT, with your first three months free.

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