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I Just Got Cheaper Landlord Building Insurance

Written by The Landlord on 10 Jul 2008

Zurich Home Insurance- too expensive

All I’m hearing on the news is that we should all strap up, tighten our purse strings, and brace ourselves for a rough financial patch. That got me thinking, ‘where does my money actually go?’

I was looking through my bank statement the other day (something which I rarely do, but should do more often), and I was looking through a few of my direct debits. I noticed that Zurich was taking out £15.80 per month to insure one of my buy-to-let properties. This policy had been running for 3 years. So over the 3 years I had paid £568.80 for Landlord Insurance. That policy included up to a £500k reclaim amount and a £100 excess fee.

I knew I was paying too much because I have a similar property, in the same area, which is costing me less to insure with another insurance provider.

I called up Zurich and asked them if they would lower my premium. They offered me a &pound10 annual saving. I wanted to say,

You call that a saving, you tight ass fuckers? Psh. You’re ripping a huge hole in my ass. Tap more figures into your spreadsheet and see what you can come up with, fool

Unfortunately, what I actually said was,

Ok, cool. Cancel the policy. Thanks for your help.

Probably not as powerful, but nonetheless, it did the trick. My insurance policy was cancelled.

I then called up Halifax and asked for a quote on the same property. I already have an Landlord Insurance policy with Halifax so I knew they offered good rates. They offered me ‘building only’ (I don’t need content cover because the property isn’t furnished with my belongings) Insurance with an unlimited claim count, with an excess fee of £150 for £11 per month. Over 3 years, I would have paid £396 by using Halifax.

If you compare Zurich with Halifax, Halifax offer me a approximate saving of 34%, with an unlimited claim amount. That’s a considerable saving.

Ok, I’m not saving thousands here, granted. But I am saving hundreds and that’s still progression. If we all monitor our spending habits just a little bit, and try to get the best deals on the market, we’ll probably save a hell of a lot of money, and become better Landlords for it.

So, my advice is, have a shop around because you’re probably getting ripped off.

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2 Comments - join the conversation...

Nick Pattison2011-03-23 17:55:04 Include us on your ringaround, we are getting some very keen prices from our providers that makes us hard to beat: http://www.metcalfeins.co.uk/buy-to-let-insurance.php 1

Vincent2011-07-22 14:38:49 The Landlord, would you recommend people buy contents insurance for an long leasehold apartments? My one is furnished but they are all pretty standard Ikea/Argos furniture.

I presume building insurance is not required as I pay that already. 2