NOT FOR LIONS
HOW CAN YOU LOOK AFTER JACK?
This is Jack. He’s a private residential landlord with a small portfolio of three properties. He’s not a full-time landlord, but has made some investments over the past few years. This is Jack’s dog, Rufus. He lives at home with Jack and his family, but travels with him to most places because he’s so well behaved.
Unfortunately for Jack, the last tenants that rented his property had a puppy that wasn’t so well behaved. When Jack’s tenants moved out, he discovered how much damage the puppy had done; chewing the wooden architrave and skirting in most rooms and destroying, beyond repair, two of the carpets that Jack had only installed 12 months earlier, before the tenants moved in.
Jack contacted his insurers but, like most landlord buildings policies, they do not cover damage caused by tenant’s pets or carpets. Jack’s repair bill, including carpet replacement is £1900. However, he only held a £900 tenant deposit. The tenants also failed to pay the last month’s rent which Jack was hoping to claim back from the deposit.
Bringing a civil claim against a tenant post tenancy is notoriously difficult. Therefore, Jack is likely to end up having to cover most of the cost of the repairs himself. This, together with his mortgage payments, means he will end up losing money on this let. He’s now seriously considering moving out of let property, adding to the shortage of affordable rental properties in the UK.
Under the Renters' Rights Act, landlords will no longer be able to unreasonably prevent their tenants from having pets in their properties. This leaves landlords more exposed than ever to losses caused by unruly pets causing damage to the property.
Not For Lions is a brand-new product in the UK insurance market designed by Addept to offer landlords an optional, embedded or standalone insurance cover to protect against damage caused by a tenant’s pets once in their property.
Cover limit of £5000 (£1000 for damage caused by chewing, plucking, scratching or fouling)
High cover limit to ensure landlords are fully protected, and with cover specifically added in, to include most common causes of pet damage to property
Pet damage to carpets covered as standard
As most buildings policies do not cover carpets as standard, and landlords of unfurnished lets do not typically buy contents insurance, we are able to provide cover currently unavailable for this risk
Ringfencing of the Tenant’s Deposit
In the event that the tenant’s deposit is needed by the landlord to cover other costs, such as non-pet related cleaning, damage caused by the tenant themselves or unpaid rent, the policy will pay in full with a reduced excess
Tenant Deposit Adjudication Integration
The policy will abide by the Tenant Deposit Adjudicator’s findings over the cause and responsibility for the damage, as well as how the deposit should be determined and distributed post tenancy
Damage to landlord’s contents automatically covered as standard
We cater for properties that are let on a furnished basis, where the landlord needs extra cover for damage caused by the tenant’s pet to the landlord contents such as their furniture etc.