Landlords’ home emergency & boiler cover

Written by

Gerry McNally

Home Insurance Expert

Reviewed by

Libby Goodsearles

Head of Marketing

What is landlord home emergency insurance?

Landlord Home Emergency insurance provides 24/7 emergency assistance, in the event of unexpected incidents, at your let property, that require immediate help – such as emergency repairs to a boiler, power outages, burst pipes or leaks and damage to windows or doors that pose a security risk. It is designed to cover the cost of emergency callouts to specialist tradespeople such as electricians, plumbers and locksmiths, and the repairs they undertake. 

Do I need landlord home emergency cover?

Landlord Home Emergency is designed to provide a quick response in the event of incidents such as a boiler malfunction, an electricity failure, faulty locks or a vermin infestation. You can typically get an engineer at your home within four hours. Or, in the event of an uncontrollable leak in your let property, an emergency plumber to your property, typically within two hours. 

The way to think about it is that Landlord Home Emergency insurance is designed to prevent or limit damage to your let property (following an insured incident), whereas Buildings insurance is designed to reinstate your property (or cover the cost of reinstatement), after the event, to the condition it was in before the incident happened. 

At Homeprotect we see Landlord Home Emergency as a valuable, complementary product to our own Landlord Buildings Insurance. 

Is landlord boiler cover included?

Yes, our Landlord Home Emergency covers the cost of repairing the main hot-water or central-heating system in your property (up to the £500 claim limit). This cover includes the pipes that connect components of the system. 

The product doesn’t provide cover if your heating system is beyond economic repair (i.e. it costs more to repair than it would to buy a new one) or cannot be repaired. It won’t cover a replacement system.  

Additionally, it won’t cover cold-water supply or drainage pipes, non-domestic heating or non-domestic hot water systems, or any form of solar heating or warm air system (e.g. heat pumps). 

See the cover levels and what is covered sections below for full details. 

Landlord home emergency cover levels

All Homeprotect landlord policies come with our Basic Home Emergency as standard, provided at no cost to our customers. We also have an upgrade option, Landlord Home Emergency, which extends the type of home emergencies you can claim for.  

Basic Home Emergency covers the following insured incidents: 

1. Plumbing and drainage incidents, where there is damage to, or blockage, breakage, or leaking of the drains or plumbing system that you are responsible for 

2. Power failure incidents, where your electricity or gas supply has failed, due to an issue in your property (as opposed to a failure of the mains supply) 

3. Toilet failure incidents, where there has been impact damage to or mechanical failure of a toilet that results in complete loss of function (note: only considered an emergency if there is no other functioning toilet)  

4. Home security incidents, where there has been failure of or damage to external doors, windows or locks which has compromised the security of your property 

5. Vermin infestation incidents, which prevents the use of the loft or one or more rooms in your property (note: cover provided for wasps’ and/or hornets’ nests, rats, mice, or grey squirrels) 

If you choose to upgrade your cover to our Full Home Emergency, you will also have cover for the following additional insured incidents: 

7. Heating incidents, where the main heating system in your let property (e.g. gas boiler) fails to function (note: no cover is provided for solar heating, heat pumps or other warm air systems) 

8. Roof incidents, resulting in damage to the roof of your let property where internal damage has been caused or is likely 

One other benefit of upgrading to our Landlord Home Emergency is you can claim for upto £300 (including VAT) for hotel accommodation for your tenant, if your property is unhabitable overnight, following an insured incident. 

Compare cover levels using the table below.

There are exclusions and limitations to Home Emergency cover (both Basic and Landlord versions), including: 

• A limit, per claim, of £500 (including VAT) for the call-out charge, labour costs, parts and materials
• No cover for issues which are considered normal day-to-day maintenance that you should carry out or pay for (e.g. servicing your boiler)
• No cover if a repair is uneconomical
• If there are risks to the health and safety of the contractor then a repair will not be attempted
• No reimbursement of costs you have incurred in relation to the incident that the insurer has not agreed
• No cover for any claim where the contractor attends your property at an agreed time, but there are no adults in attendance
• No cover for any claim where your property has been left unoccupied for more than 30 days (unless your property is noted as being unoccupied in your policy document)
• Anything else specifically excluded from the policy

How can I buy landlord home emergency cover?

Basic home emergency cover is included in all Homeprotect home insurance policies, but it might be the case that you want to purchase additional cover more suited to Landlords. To get the benefits afforded by Landlord cover – such as the boiler breaking down in your let property – you need to upgrade to Landlord Home Emergency cover. The easiest way to do this is to simply select full cover whilst purchasing your quote online,  or ask to upgrade to it If you are buying over the phone. You can also call us after you’ve purchased your main policy to upgrade to Landlord Home Emergency cover.