Insurance Checker

How to Protect Your Student Buy To Let Investment

The buy-to-let market has undergone something of a renaissance in recent years (because first-time-buyers now have to find significant deposits in order to get on the housing ladder). However, over the longer term, letting to students in university towns has often been considered a safe option for landlords. Evidence from the Halifax also suggests that letting in university towns is very profitable as house price rises in these towns has out performed those in other areas.

Some landlords might react adversely, based on the fear that student tenants can be irresponsible and thus unreliable as tenants, but in practice this need not be the case, particularly where a landlord can become known to the university accommodation office as a good landlord. This is actually one of the best ways to find tenants, because the university can act as a central clearing house for first years and others who are not necessarily familiar with the area.

In fact, students can be good tenants because you know they are with you for a fixed period, usually early September to June, although some may reserve accommodation as early as August, if they are “freshers” (first year students). A landlord will need to provide basic furnishing including: a bed and desk (and hopefully a chair) but other than that there are few restrictions.

Things for a landlord to understand There are several factors that need to be considered. In particular, landlords cannot expect a full twelve-month let, so you need to calculate your rent on the basis of nine months of the year. Conversely, this will leave a landlord the summer to do any repairs and re-decoration and you might even be able to do a deal with the University to provide summer school accommodation.

Landlords also need to be aware that students, away from home for the first time, are likely to be as untidy and disrespectful of other people’s property as they were at home, so a higher degree of dilapidation than in other letting situations may be possible. This could impact on relationships with neighbours; unless they are also letting to students. One other issue; is that while the “sign-up” period might be relatively short at the start of each academic year, there can be a “move round” after a few months as some find it difficult to mix with their house- or flat-mates and form new friendships. So it could be worthwhile keeping your listing current with the university and on any websites you use, to “sweep up” any swaps. Landlords that do decide to let to students should ensure that they get a guarantor for the letting this will protect the landlord from what ever the tenant hordes throw at them.

Finding the right property owners’ insurance Finally, there is also the issue of landlords insurance. Not all insurance companies are keen on student tenants and they may impose higher excesses or charge higher premiums where students are involved. It is absolutely essential to ensure that a landlords property insurer is fully aware of the position if you let to students. This is because many insurers consider that the type of tenant to be a “material fact”. This means that if there is a claim and you have not disclosed this, they can quite legitimately seek to repudiate a claim.

Alternative lettings If a landlord is interested in this area of letting, because of the availability of large numbers of potential tenants but are not fully committed to having your property full of undergraduates, a landlord might consider the alternative of having post graduate tenants, student nurses or junior doctors as tenants. They tend to be slightly older and may well be for the longer term because the training can take quite a long time. Also, they may be less inclined to keep moving each year, as student tenants.

Professional advice for all your property owners’ insurance needs Ensuring that you have the right landlord’s insurance is essential if you are to be properly protected. Always ask your insurance advisers what experience they have of dealing in this specialised sector.

Fundamentals of Renters Insurance

Many people who live in rental apartments or houses ignores the necessity of renters insurance. They dont realize that their landlords insurance covers only the building where they live, but not their possessions. In such conditions, Rental insurance can cover your personal belongings from many perils such as, fire, theft, and floods. When compared with the regular home insurance the renters insurance is much inexpensive.

Fundamental of Renters Insurance

As landlords require home insurance to protect their home property, renters require renters insurance to protect their possessions. The following are some of fundamentals of renters insurance.

Landlords insurance doesnt cover renters belongings: The rental insurance can only cover your rental apartment or home. Many people believe that their landlords insurance can cover their possessions, which actually doesnt do it. So to protect your rental home and belongings, it is essential to buy a renters insurance. It even claims for the injuries caused to the people who visit your home.

Renters insurance is inexpensive: When compared with any other regular home insurance, it is less expensive. You have to make sure of obtaining good rates for your rental insurance. There are many online insurance website where you get various quotes from various insurance companies. This even enables you to speak with professionals online and get feedback to your queries.

Possessions that can be claimed: Renters insurance costs only a couple of hundred dollars per annum. When you record a list of all your possessions, you can realize that it costs more to buy than replacing them. The renters insurance claims your possessions for the causes stated in the policy, which include such things as, electronic appliances, furniture, musical instruments, jewelries and tools.

Insurance regarding the region: The policy doesnt claim for the causes of earthquakes and floods. Therefore, if you live in prone regions where such affects are frequently occurred, you have to buy a separate insurance policy that covers your home.

Ensure about valuable items to agent: You have to ensure the agent about any specific precious items having with you such as, jewelry, electronics and antiques. However they are claimed only for certain amount and unusually for certain expensive things like diamond rings, you have to take a separate policy. If your agent is unaware of such expensive things, it is not possible to recover the losses.

Policy Pays for living expenses: If your apartment becomes unlivable due to any viable reason, which can be covered by the renters insurance can pay you for the additional living expenses. Usually, these claims are paid for living in some other place, till your home gets repaired, or pays for another similar apartments rent.

The above stated are the basic fundamentals for buying a renters insurance. This provides awareness for the people who live in the rental homes to protect their possessions from any disasters.

Insurance Advice for Buy-To-Let Landlords

Insuring buy to let investments good value for money or not?

It is a statutory requirement for landlords to insure the freehold building for all Buy 2 Let dwellings. But with the increasing costs of mortgages plus more and more legislation over deposits and safety matters particularly with the Housing Health and Rating System (www.communities.gov.uk/hhsrs) will you maybe tempted to try to save money choosing cheaper insurance?

Demand for Buy 2 Let dwellings continues to increase with pace and with it so are the risks! The number of migrant workers is growing rapidly. Many of these people do not speak or read English fluently and many have very different cultural standards, which may affect how they live and how they use the dwelling.

All landlords should insure to protect themselves and their asset from a claim in respect of their legal liabilities to their tenant, their agent or any visiting contractors. This list represents some of the important points a policy should cover protecting you and your investment:

• injury to your tenant, a visitor, a contractor or a third party


• accidental damage caused by the tenant a visitor or a contractor


• malicious damage caused by tenant or caused by a third party


• rent if the dwelling is rendered uninhabitable due to an insurable incident


• legal expenses relating to physical  possession of the property


• legal expenses relating to disputes over dilapidations


• legal expenses relating to tenants causing a nuisance


• legal expenses relating to disputes over repairs and renovations


• legal expenses relating to disputes over health and safety

Many standard policies exclude malicious damage by tenants, accidental damage by tenants, cover for your furnishings, and are restricted cover when the property is empty between tenants.

Check to see if your letting agent is Authorised or Regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the mediation of general insurance. If so, like Belvoir Lettings agents, they should be able to provide you with advice to introduce or sell you suitable insurance cover for your rented property .

In my next article I will go into how you can insure yourself against the tenant defaulting on their rental payments.

Boat Insurance – Peace of mind for your marine adventures.

As with all vehicles a boat is legible for an insurance policy, under the marine insurance Act. While some small boats kept on your premises can be covered by home insurance, Marine insurance can cover not just a seafaring boat but also the goods, as throughout marine history ships have been lost with very expensive cargoes aboard, due to the dangerous nature of sea voyages.

boat insurance is often cheaper than car insurance especially for a small boat. A comprehensive plan will cover damage to the hull, the machinery and the parts. It is also worth checking if the plan covers theft, injury and any specialist equipment on board like fishing tackle.

Insurance varies a lot depending on the boat. Narrow boats, speedboats, dinghies, yachts, rowing boats and motorboats all have different systems for working out a quote. A fibreglass boat (usually GRP, glass reinforced plastic), like most speedboats, is in a higher insurance band than a wooden or steel boat such as a narrow boat. This is because fibreglass hulls can be damaged or dented very easily while steel hulls for example are very hard to cause any significant damage to. You can get cheaper insurance for diesel powered boats, as they are less likely to explode, and also for using coast guard approved fire extinguishers. A certification in a boat safety course may also reduce insurance.

It also depends on where you intend to sail the boat. The boat will be in a different insurance category depending on whether you intend to sail it in canals (least expensive), rivers, lakes and tidal waters (more expensive) and the ocean.

There are also insurance policies for special circumstances. You can have a boat insured for damage while it is being built, or for a vessel sailing into a war zone or terrorist associated waters, or for specific cargoes such as highly perishable goods that may fail due to delays.

If You Want Advice And Cheap Mortgage Protection Insurance Go To A Standalone Specialist

If you want cheap mortgage protection insurance the dont be tempted to take out the cover thats offered at the time of taking out the mortgage, cover bought this way can add hundreds of pounds more onto the cost than if you had chosen to take out the cover from a standalone specialist. Cheap mortgage protection insurance along with the best advice possible is only available from a specialist provider and for the time being this is the best way of buying the cover if you want to understand the product.

Sadly many consumers dont even realise they have the option of shopping around for a mortgage payment protection insurance (MPPI) policy but instead are led to believe that the cover has to be taken out with the mortgage lender at the time of taking out your mortgage and so pay more than needed for what could be essential cover.

Mortgage protection insurance is taken out to safeguard your monthly mortgage repayments each month in case you should come out of work due to suffering from an accident, a sickness or if you should be unlucky enough to become unemployed by such as being made redundant. If you are out of work you will still have to continue to find the money to pay your mortgage each month, this can bring great stress and worry to an already stressful time and in the worse case scenario if you cant keep up with your repayments then you risk losing your home to repossession.

Providing that a policy is suitable for your needs then it could give you an income each month with which to continue paying your mortgage and give you peace of mind and security. The cover can start paying out from between one to three months after being out of work and would then continue to payout for up to 12 months and with some insurances, for up to 24 months. You do have to ensure that the product is suitable for your particular circumstances before you buy as there are exclusions which can stop the product from being suitable, some exclusions are common to all polices such as if you are only working part time, if you are of retirement age, self-employed or if you suffer from a pre-existing medical condition.

If you want to make sure that cheap mortgage protection insurance is suited to your circumstances then go to a standalone specialist, all specialist should make policies and in particular the exclusions available to the consumer before they buy so they can determine if a policy is suitable to your lifestyle. Mortgage payment protection can be an expensive addition to an already stretched budget but buying from a specialist can save you hundreds over the term of your mortgage. Mortgage payment protection can make a difference between losing the roof over your head and keeping it, you would still have to repay your monthly repayments and mortgage cover can give you that income to ensure you dont have to struggle to find the money and increase an already stressful situation.

The difference between a bottomry bond and a respondentia bond in ancient ocean marine insurance – Part 1

During those days when communication facilities did not exist, ships were heard or seen only on return from the voyage. The Masters of the ship had ultimate responsibilities of the ship.

A ship may require extraordinary expenditures in the course of its voyage. These expenses may be for repairs or just for sailing and maintainance. In order to raise money for these expenses, the master of the ship has to either take a loan on the Ship itself or on the cargo of the ship.There are 2 kinds of bonds availabe :

1.Bottomry Bond : The bond between the lender and borrower(master) where the ship’s bottom(aka the physical structure of ship) is given as security against money lended. Under this agreement, if the ship reaches ashore with no damages then the borrower has to pay fixed premiums every month to payoff the loan taken. But if the ship sinks then the loan is completely weaved off.

2.Respondentia bond : Loan taken against the Cargo of the ship as security.

Well, in todays world of communication, these bonds almost never exist, the master of the ship can obtain funds across the globe with a simple international bank transfer within minimal time.

Good old days!

Renters Insurance Guide – Renters Insurance Simplified

Confused about renters insurance? Here’s a renters insurance guide that will help you understand it.

Renters Insurance Guide

Many people think their landlords insurance will cover them if their possessions are stolen or damaged. Not so. Your landlord’s insurance only covers the building you live in, not your possessions. If you want to protect your possessions you need to get renters insurance.

Renters insurance is one of the least expensive types of insurance, yet it provides invaluable protection for you and your possessions. Renters insurance covers three basic categories:

Personal Property

Personal property coverage pays to replace your possessions if they’re stolen, or damaged by vandalism, fire, smoke, lightning, explosions, windstorms, burst water pipes, or electrical malfunctions.

There are two types of personal property coverages available:

Actual cash value coverage – which pays to replace your personal property minus a deduction for deprecation.

Replacement cost coverage – which pays to replace your personal property with no depreciation deduction.

Standard policies only provide limited coverage for expensive items like jewelry, furs, silver, and collections, so you may need to purchase additional coverage for these items. Standard policies also do not cover damage caused by floods or earthquakes, so if you want coverage for these disasters you’ll need to purchase additional insurance.

Additional Living Expenses

This coverage pays for your living expenses – hotel, motel, and restaurant bills – if your home becomes uninhabitable due to the causes mentioned above. Most insurers will reimburse you for the difference between your additional living expenses and your usual living expenses.

Personal Liability

Personal liability coverage pays for another person’s medical expenses if you, a family member, or your pet injures that person. It also covers damages to that person’s property. Some policies do not cover pets such as as pit bulls or rottweilers.

Standard policies usually come with $100,000 to $300,000 worth of liability coverage, but you can purchase more if you have a lot of assets you want to protect from a lawsuit.

Cheap Renters Insurance

Because renters insurance can vary by hundreds of dollars from one company to the next, the best way to get cheap renters insurance is to visit an insurance comparison website to get quotes from multiple companies.

Visit http://www.LowerRateQuotes.com/renters-insurance.html or click on the following link to get renters insurance quotes from top-rated companies and see how much you can save. You can also get more insurance tips there.

What Is The Best Boat Insurance Company? – Part 1

There is no right answer when someone asks which boat insurance company is the best. There are so many choices available that it is hard to determine the very best. It really all depends on what the specific needs of the person wanting to insure the boat are.

BoatU.S. has been insuring boats, and only boats, since they opened in the late 1960s. They are said to offer some of the lowest rates and best coverage depending on the craft covered. Their web site offers free instant quotes.

Progressive Boat, a division of Progressive Auto is one of the cheaper boat insurance companies but they are said to not offer nearly as many services and less comprehensive coverage. They do offer free online instant quotes and their staff is said to be one of the most knowledgeable and friendly groups in the business.

To determine the best boat insurance for you then go to a site that offers multiple quotes from several different insurance companies. This will provide you with the best basic information about several companies at the same time which will save you time versus calling all the individual insurance companies.

Mansi Aggarwal recommends that you visit best boat insurance company.

Boating insurance: Coverage options

Coverage options for boating insurance are similar to that of auto insurance. There are a variety of coverage options you can obtain such as..

Physical Damage Coverage

Watercraft Liability Coverage

Medical Payments Coverage

Emergency services coverage

Coverage for personal effects

There are also additional coverage options that you can learn about by either asking your current auto insurance agent or by learning about it online. My mother in law is an insurance agent for Farmer’s insurance so I was asking her about this topic. She told me that there are also discounts available to you for certain things on boat insurance. Such as..

New Boat Discount if the boat is less than 11 years old

Boating Education Discount ( you must complete a approved boating course)

Experience Discount (have at least 3 years experience with boating)

Those are some of the discount options that she told me.

Texas Landlord Insurance Discounts For Out of State Property Owners

Many individuals own investment property in multiple states. In order to protect their holdings and indemnify themselves against liability, these landowners must obtain insurance from the state in which the property is held. This can be rather complicated for the landlord who owns property in a large state like Texas or California. The varied geography and climates tend to carry with them their own unique set of perils. Texas landlord insurance, for example, is very different in the Panhandle than it is on the Gulf Coast. Texas landlord insurance policies also vary greatly according to the type of building insured. Houses are covered differently than duplexes, for example. The time it takes to research community risk ratings and variations in Texas insurance laws specific to different areas is often time the property owner simply does not have. It is much more expeditious and cost effective for an out of state property owner to work with a statewide agency like Texas Auto Home Insurance who is familiar with all Texas regions and communities and is able to find ways to discount the cost of Texas landlord insurance.

Texas Auto Home Insurance will identify some of the key coverage needs and exposures that landlords face in Texas. These coverage needs will depend greatly on the location of the property within the state itself, the size of the building and its location within the general community, and its status as either a commercial property or residential property. Each one of these factors carries its own set of risks and coverage indemnities. In spite of the complexities of insurance laws, there are opportunities to save money on landlord insurance on any type of property, anywhere in Texas.

Many of our laws may be somewhat different from the home state of the insured and require some explanation before a landlord insurance policy is written. Texas Auto Home Insurance agents will take the time to share this information with serious inquirers. We feel it is important to break down litigious language to the daily language of the lay person in order for them to better understand their options.

One very important point of Texas landlord insurance policies are vacancy clauses and fire rates. Property owners always obtain a number of quotes from providers and may often look only for the best rates without studying the details of the fine print, as they say. Vacant policies should be insured with only the necessary coverage that will allow the owner time to prep the building for tenants and occupy the lease. If a vacancy clause is not properly worded, or absent altogether, a landlord may end up paying higher than necessary insurance cost on a building that isnt even making him or her money yet!

Texas Auto Home Insurance will assist landlords in determining if their investment property is near enough to fire protection to qualify for a discounted fire rate, or if the property is justifies a higher, standard rate. Many out of state investors forget that rural properties obtainable for cheap prices many also carry higher premiums on fire protection because of their remote location. It is a good idea for any speculators to call our office first and explore the hypothetical on Texas landlord insurance first before making a down payment on property that may turn out to be more expensive in the long run than anticipated.

Liability exposure also differs from state to state. If a landlord does not have proper liability coverage and is sued for something that occurs in Texas, out of state assets may suddenly become exposed and vulnerable to Texas law. This is another very important point to consider, and one that justifies taking the extra precaution of thoroughly looking at all of your liability coverage options with a qualified, trained insurance agent at Texas Auto Home.