Lock-In: Protect My Let

Getting the right cover is hard. You would think that after having spent years running a chain of insurance brokers himself, LNPG’s Founder, Nick, would be able to get it right straight off the bat, but for years we struggled with finding a broker that came up to the standards we expect in the LNPG membership.

That was until we came across Protect My Let. Part of the Aston Lark group, Protect My Let have been an invaluable partner and supplier to our members over recent years and continue to go from strength-to-strength with their offering. We spoke to the man on the other end of the phone, their Senior Account Handler, Kevin Meek, about Protect My Let’s latest developments to add value to the LNPG membership.

You can view the webinar in full above, or if you’ve only got a few minutes, you can scroll down to read some of the key talking points.

Necessary Evil

Whether you like it or not, you need to insure your properties so it’s best to do it properly. It’s easy to think that it’ll never happen to you and go for the cheapest on the market, but the fact of the matter is, you don’t know how good your policy is until you need to make a claim.

It’s fine to be price-sensitive, but don’t make the mistake of assuming a more cost-effective cover is going to deliver you the world when it comes round to making a claim. A rental property is one of the most expensive things you’ll ever buy, so try not to skimp on the insurance to protect it, lest you have to find out how much that cover is really worth when something goes wrong.

Going Off-Script

You may not get a cuddly toy when you purchase an insurance policy through a broker, like you might from some comparison sites, but you do get a much more personalised service – so who’s really winning? Protect My Let is all about going ‘off-script’. And this is the true advantage of using a broker to provide the most-suited insurance policies for you, rather than providing a ready made ‘off-the-shelf’ policy like a comparison site would.

Using a broker means that they do all the legwork and admin for you, all you need to do is send across your current policy documents. In contrast to a comparison site where you would be left to fend for yourself, Protect My Let can advise you on what you need, what you don’t, all in line with current and upcoming legislation changes. Their recent introduction of a panel system of insurers (including Aviva, Allianz, Amlin, Plum, and Zurich) gives Protect My Let has the scope to source the perfect policy for your properties.

Myth Busting

Insurance brokers are suffering from a severe reputational hangover from their heady days in the eighties. But over the last thirty years, it’s more than just the suits that have changed. The sector is now rightly and heavily regulated, meaning that the value each customer extracts from the business is now top priority.

Protect My Let’s advice to customers therefore is to supply them with as much information about your situation, wants and needs as possible. This is to ensure you are both singing from the same hymn sheet, and the service can be tailored for what you are looking for in your cover. LNPG members will be pleased to know there’s a little something extra for them as well, starting with 90-day empty property cover as standard, and an additional level of flexibility where possible.

A Rental Income Guarantee is Hard to Find

It wasn’t so long ago that a rent guarantee was a major selling point to the landlord market. In the current climate, anything approaching this is almost certain to be too good to be true. Protect My Let have written a post of their own about just this subject but the upshot is that you need to be certain of the implications of your ‘guarantee’ before trying to make a claim on it.

Kevin mentioned a case where an LNPG member faced just this situation. As it stood in this instance, the current six-month notice period for serving section 21 notices would mean that if they were to take this policy out immediately and attempt to make a claim, the claim wouldn’t start until 6 months in the future.

Sherlock Homes

If your property is left unchecked for too long, all sorts of mischief can occur, particularly of the agricultural variety. In fact, cannabis farms actually account for a third of malicious damage claims in rental properties. A member shared their own experience on the webinar, having had to fork out £2,500 on a loss assessor after their insurer refused to pay out.

It can be something of a grey area, some insurance policies cover illegal activity, but others don’t, and situations like this are often dealt with on a case-by-case basis. To ensure the best chance of a claim being accepted, you need to ensure your property is actively managed and inspected in accordance to your policy smallprint, whether that’s by yourself or by an associated management agency. It’s all about reducing the risk of this happening in the first place.

And that’s your lot! You can learn more about Protect My Let here