subject: Recovering your property [print this page] Recovering your property Recovering your property
Letting your property is always something of a gamble; you take up suitable references before allowing new tenants in, but you never really know how well they will look after your property, or whether they will continue to pay rent, once they are in, Of course, anyone can suffer a setback such as losing their job, or becoming very ill, so you can empathise with those who genuinely get into difficulties paying rent. But at the end of the day, you are running a business and you need to be sure that you will be paid a fair return for your investment. Or that, if not, you can get back in control of the situation as quickly as possible.
Fortunately, it is possible to easily and inexpensively arrange specialist legal expenses insurance designed for professional landlords.
The aim of this is to give you access to free advice about what to do should you become involved in a legal dispute with your tenants or anyone else, such as a neighbour, for that matter. Professional advice is very important, because if you make a mistake in what you say or write to a third party, it could make it even more difficult to recover your property or defend an action against you as a property owner.
Landlords' legal expenses insurance goes further than simply giving you advice, however. It also covers the cost of your legal representation (usually up to an annual limit of 25,000 or 50,000) including the cost of actually regaining possession of your property, if necessary.
This means that you have the peace of mind of knowing that you will not only be able to recover control of your premises, but that you will not have to meet vast legal expenses (while your tenant claims legal aid) in order to do so.
The insurance can also cover the cost of making essential repairs to the property, should tenants damage it or fail to prevent dilapidation.
You may, however suffer from a loss of rent, which could last as long as a year in some cases, should tenants default while a dispute is running.
Fortunately, it is possible to add a rental guarantee extension to your landlords' legal expenses insurance policy that provides up to 25,000 in replacement rent (after the first missed month) for up to a year. This means that you do not have to suffer a loss of income while the legalities are sorted out.
Certainly something that would be appreciated at landlords associations up and down the country.
