Landlords Insurance - Finding the Right Tenants

The number of claims you make on your landlords insurance in part comes down to finding the right tenants.

Whether you're a new landlord or have been doing it for years, choosing the most suitable tenants is critical to making money.

Here we'll take a look at five steps you can take to reduce the risks when finding tenants and the chances of having to make a landlords insurance claim.

Make your advert as specific as possible

If you want to protect your landlords insurance no claims discount by getting in responsible tenants, make sure you advertise your rental property in the right places.

For example if you only want professionals, you could advertise in a local business magazine. You should also make the wording of your advert completely clear in order to only attract the type of tenants you really want.

Meet the prospective tenants yourself

Many landlords hand over responsibility for finding tenants to a letting agency. If you're able to you should meet any tenants yourself as your agent may only be interested in their commission rather than the safety and security of your property and contents.

If you do have problem tenants, your landlords insurance will cover things such as malicious or accidental damage, but any claims will push your future premiums up.

Pay for credit checks to be done

Paying for credit checks to be done on any potential tenants makes sense. It might cost you a little more but will provide peace of mind.

Of course, people's circumstances can change so if you do have to evict tenants for non-payment of rent, you should get landlords insurance that covers you for any periods your property is not being rented out.

Get references from two previous landlords if possible

Most landlords would think to seek a reference from a tenant's previous landlord but there could be a number of reasons for them giving a good reference such as looking to get rid of them because they've been a problem.

Contacting two previous landlords will give you more information on your new tenants such as their ability to pay on time and any damage they've caused that resulted in a landlords insurance claim.

Look for long term tenants

As a landlord, having to re-advertise your property every six months to find new tenants can be a hassle, especially if you don't have landlords insurance to protect any times your place is lying empty.

If you look for long term tenants, they're probably more likely to treat your house or flat as a home and with more respect rather than tenants with a history of flat-hopping every six months.


The Co-operative insurance provides landlords insurance for thousands of buy to let property owners and companies in the UK.