Playbook, estate agency
Insurance questions from landlords, and the line before advice
New landlords tend to discover this subject in the wrong order. The question arrives after the property is let, sometimes after something has happened, and the first thing they have not been told is that the policy that covered their home is generally not written for a property with tenants in it. Rent guarantee is the other half, and it is not bought on the landlord's standing at all: it depends on how the tenant references. The assistant can describe both. It cannot recommend either.
Why this is not the general answer
The handling pattern for insurance and coverage holds across every trade. What follows is the part that does not.
- The starting fact is a negative one, that an ordinary residential policy is generally not written for a let property, and it usually arrives too late because nothing in the process forces the landlord to confront it early.
- Rent guarantee is conditional on the referencing outcome rather than on the landlord, so whether it can be taken out is not known until an applicant has been assessed, which inverts the usual order of buying a product.
- None of this covers the tenant's own belongings, and a tenant asking whether the landlord's cover protects their things is asking about a policy that was never theirs and never will be.
- Arranging or advising on insurance is a regulated activity in a good many places, so the safe boundary here is narrower than for anything else an agency talks about, and the assistant has to stay on description and never reach recommendation.
How it arrives
- do i need different insurance to rent my house out
- does rent guarantee cover legal costs as well
- is my stuff covered by the landlord's policy
- what happens if the tenant stops paying
- do you insure the building or do i
- is rent guarantee part of full management
What has to be indexed for this to work
| The cover you offer or introduce, described as published | The products a landlord can take through you, what each is called, and what they are broadly for. Describe and link. Do not restate policy wording, because a summary of somebody else's policy becomes the version your client relied on. |
|---|---|
| The conditions attached to rent guarantee | That eligibility follows the referencing outcome, whether a guarantor changes it, what the excess or waiting period looks like in outline, and when it has to be taken out relative to the tenancy start. This is the part landlords get wrong by assuming it can be added later. |
| Who insures what under your tenancy agreement | Building and landlord contents on one side, the tenant's own contents on the other, and what your agreement says about each. Both parties ask this and each assumes the other has it covered, which is exactly how a claim gets refused. |
| What a landlord must have in place before marketing | The cover, certificates and compliance items you require before a property goes on. Landlords ask about insurance at the point they are trying to get let, so this is the moment the requirement is most likely to be read. |
The reply
The first thing worth checking is that a standard residential policy is generally not written for a let property, so most landlords need cover arranged specifically for letting [1]. Rent guarantee is a separate product and the important detail is that eligibility follows the referencing outcome rather than your own circumstances, so it is decided once an applicant has been assessed rather than beforehand [2]. What our own cover includes is on the landlord page. I am not able to advise on whether a policy suits you or whether a claim would be paid, so for anything specific leave your name and an email and the lettings manager will talk it through.
It leads with the negative fact, because that is the one costing landlords money and the one nobody volunteers. Explaining that rent guarantee depends on the tenant reframes the product before the landlord asks for a price for it. The refusal is drawn around advice and claims specifically, which is a narrower and more credible line than declining the whole subject.
Where it stops
The trigger. The visitor asks whether a policy would pay out, describes something that has already happened, or asks which cover they should buy.
I can tell you what the products are but not which one suits you or whether a claim would be met, and I would rather not guess at either. Leave your name and an email and the lettings manager will go through it with you properly.
It stops answering before it guesses, says who will pick it up, and asks for the one thing that makes a reply possible. Nothing about it reads as a dead end.
Never say this here
Out of bounds
- Never say a claim will be paid or is likely to be paid, because that is an insurer's decision on facts the assistant has not seen and the landlord will act on it.
- Never recommend a policy or describe one as adequate, since advising on insurance is a regulated activity in many places and a chat window is not where the agency should be doing it.
- Never tell a landlord rent guarantee is available before an applicant has referenced, as eligibility follows that outcome and the landlord may have already relied on the answer.
- Never tell a tenant the landlord's policy covers their belongings, because it will not, and the person who finds out is the one who has just been burgled.
Questions
- Should it discuss insurance at all?
- Descriptively, yes, and it is genuinely useful because new landlords do not know a let property needs different cover. The line is between describing a product and recommending one, and that line should be written into the material rather than left to judgement.
- Can it tell a landlord whether rent guarantee will be available?
- No. It depends on how the applicant references, and nobody knows that until the assessment is done. Saying so is more useful than a hedge, because it also explains why the product cannot simply be added afterwards.
- Tenants keep asking about contents cover. Is that our problem?
- It is your question to answer once, clearly, in the tenancy material. A tenant who assumes the landlord's policy covers their possessions has no cover at all, and the discovery happens at the worst possible moment for everybody including you.
Keep reading
- Everything for a estate agencyViewings, fees, referencing and deposit rules are answerable at any hour. Valuing a property or discussing an offer is not.
- Handling insurance and coverage in generalWhether something is covered turns on the policy wording, so the assistant explains process and never adjudicates. Claims have to reach a person fast.
- What an overnight reply is allowed to promiseEnquiries land long after the branch has locked up. What an overnight reply can honestly promise about Monday, and what cannot wait for it.
- Registering interest, and what it does not buy youBuyers and tenants ask to be told when something comes up. Registering confers no order, no priority and no promise of a match.
- Is it still available is the hardest easy question hereA listing stays up after an offer is accepted, so visibility proves nothing. Three truthful answers, and the branch may not know yet.
Try it on your own material
Upload a document or point it at your site, paste one line of HTML, then ask it something only your business could answer.