Owning an HMO has become an ever popular trend. Over the past couple of decades this way of letting a property has increased dramatically. HMO landlords or landlords of homes of multiple occupancy have seen this way of renting to be a far more beneficial than just renting out to one family in a house.
Now houses are being converted in multiple rooms which is resulting in multiple tenants occupying each house, hence the name house of multiple occupancy. The landlord now has in place multiple tenancy agreements instead of just one.
The easy bit of all of that was the read above, so now the tough part. To make a house of multiple occupancy, an HMO you need to convert it. Then you need to regulate it and then register it with the council.
You will then need HMO insurance which is never straightforward as many companies assist with the HMO risk and then you must decide what tenant type you want to deal with. DSS tenants, professional tenants, homeless tenants, students tenants. After that choice has been made then it is time to fill up the house, kick back and relax, well that’s if you are lucky and have very good tenants.
A lot of landlords have many issues with multiple tenants, noise, neighbour’s, non payment, increased breakages , troubles with evicting …. the list goes on.
So in many cases it is far from a trouble free world however well an HMO is run. We do offer a legal service for HMO property owners as an add on to their policies for clients, which covers them for the following :
Landlord’s Legal Expenses Insurance – £35.00 + IPT (not available if any tenants are Asylum Seekers or the property is a Holiday Home or 2nd Home)
• Cover up to £25,000 for legal fees – No policy excess
• Cover for Breach of Tenancy Agreement
• Cover for Pursuit of Rent Arrears
• Cover to evict Tenant or anyone in the property
• Landlord Legal Defence cover against both civil & criminal proceedings
• The product is underwritten by Ageas Insurance Ltd
Another great product you can use as an add on is to our HMO policies is :
Residential Emergency Assistance – £69.00 + IPT (not available if any section of the property is unoccupied)
• Cover up to £500.00 for emergency repairs however, the cost shall be limited to the call-out charges, one hours labour, parts materials and VAT
- No limit on the number of claims and no excess to pay, cover includes the following
- Failure or Damage to Plumbing & Drainage
- Failure or Breakdown of the Electricity Supply, water system supply failure and gas leaks
- Failure or Breakdown of the Primary Heating System
- Lost Keys
- Failure or damage to Locks, Doors or Windows rendering the home insecure.
- The product is underwritten by Ageas Insurance Ltd
