Plain English
Landlord insurance glossary
46 terms from landlord insurance and letting, defined without the jargon.
Last updated 22 September 2026
Insurance and letting each come with their own vocabulary, and the two overlap badly. These are the terms that decide whether a claim pays or a possession claim stands up, and the ones worth knowing before you compare cover.
Several changed on 1 May 2026. Where a term is now historic it says so, because you will still meet it on older paperwork.
A
- Accidental damage
- One-off, unintentional damage, such as a foot through a ceiling or a drill through a pipe. Usually an optional extension rather than part of standard cover.
- Alternative accommodation
- Cover for housing a tenant elsewhere when the property cannot be lived in after an insured event, where the tenancy continues and you are obliged to rehouse them.
- Assured periodic tenancy
- The form every tenancy in England takes since 1 May 2026. It runs on a rolling basis with no end date, and it replaced the assured shorthold tenancy. What the Renters' Rights Act changed
- Assured shorthold tenancy (AST)
- The standard tenancy in England until 1 May 2026, usually with a fixed term. Existing ASTs converted automatically to assured periodic tenancies, so no new ones exist.
- Average clause
- A policy term letting an insurer reduce a settlement in proportion to any under-insurance. Insure a property for half its rebuild cost and a claim can be cut accordingly. Landlord buildings insurance
B
- Block policy
- A single policy covering a whole building of flats, arranged by the freeholder or management company and recharged to leaseholders through the service charge. Block of flats insurance
- Buildings insurance
- Cover for the structure, roof and permanent fixtures, insured for the cost of rebuilding rather than the market value of the property. Landlord buildings insurance
- Buy-to-let
- A property bought or held in order to let it out. Lenders treat it as a separate mortgage class, and insurers as a separate risk from an owner-occupied home. Buy-to-let insurance
C
- Consent to let
- A lender's permission to let a property held on an ordinary residential mortgage. Letting without it breaches the mortgage terms.
- Contract works
- Cover for a property undergoing building work, where the value or nature of the works takes it beyond what an unoccupied or standard policy will accept. Unoccupied property insurance
D
- Demise
- The part of a building a leaseholder actually owns under their lease. Where the demise line falls decides whether a repair is theirs or the freeholder’s. Flat landlord insurance
- Deposit protection
- The duty to place a tenancy deposit in a government-approved scheme within 30 days and give the tenant prescribed information. Failing to do it can now block a possession claim. How to protect a tenancy deposit
E
- Escape of water
- Water released from a pipe, tank or appliance. The most common residential claim, and often carrying a higher excess than other perils.
- Excess
- The amount you pay towards a claim. Compulsory excesses for subsidence and escape of water are frequently far higher than the headline figure.
F
- Fair wear and tear
- Deterioration expected from ordinary use over time. It cannot be deducted from a deposit, and it is not an insurable event.
- Freeholder
- The owner of the building and the land it stands on. In a block of flats the freeholder normally carries the obligation to insure the structure.
- FRI lease
- A full repairing and insuring lease, common in commercial property. The landlord arranges the insurance and recovers the premium from the tenant as insurance rent. Commercial landlord insurance
G
- Ground (for possession)
- A legal reason for recovering a property, set out in the Housing Act 1988 and cited in a section 8 notice. Since section 21 was abolished, possession requires one. Section 8 grounds for possession
H
- HMO
- A house in multiple occupation: broadly, three or more people forming more than one household who share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet. When you need an HMO licence
I
- Indemnity period
- The maximum time a loss of rent or business interruption section will pay for. Setting it at twelve months is common and often optimistic after a serious fire. Loss of rent insurance
- Index linking
- Automatic annual adjustment of a sum insured in line with a building cost index, so cover keeps pace with construction inflation.
- Inventory
- A dated record of the condition and contents of a property at the start of a tenancy, ideally photographic and signed. It decides most deposit disputes.
L
- Leasehold
- Ownership of a property for a fixed term under a lease, rather than of the land itself. Most flats are leasehold, which affects who insures what.
- Loss adjuster
- A professional appointed by an insurer to investigate a larger claim, assess the cause and agree the settlement.
- Loss of rent
- Cover for rent lost while a property is uninhabitable after an insured event. Different from rent guarantee, which responds when a tenant stops paying. Loss of rent insurance
M
- Malicious damage
- Deliberate damage. Where it is caused by a tenant it is frequently excluded from standard cover, or offered separately with its own excess.
- MEES
- The Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard, which sets the minimum EPC rating a property must reach before it can be let.
P
- Peril
- An event a policy insures against, such as fire, flood, storm or subsidence. What counts as each one is defined in the wording, not in ordinary usage.
- Portfolio policy
- One policy covering several rental properties on a single schedule with one renewal date, each property still rated on its own merits. Portfolio landlord insurance
- Prescribed information
- The details about a deposit that must be given to a tenant within 30 days: which scheme holds it, how to get it back, and what happens in a dispute. How to protect a tenancy deposit
- Property owners’ liability
- Cover for claims by a tenant, visitor or neighbour who says they were injured, or their property damaged, because of your building. Landlord liability insurance
R
- Rebuild cost
- What it would cost to demolish, clear and rebuild the property to the same specification, including professional fees. Usually lower than market value.
- Reinstatement
- Putting a damaged building back as it was. On a listed property it means matching materials and methods, which is why the figure is higher. Listed building insurance
- Rent guarantee
- Cover paying your rent, up to a monthly cap and for a set period, when a tenant stops paying. Normally requires referenced tenants and a written agreement. Rent guarantee insurance
- Rent repayment order
- An order requiring a landlord to repay rent for certain offences. The maximum rose from one year of rent to two when the Renters’ Rights Act commenced.
- Right to rent
- The duty in England to check every adult occupier may legally rent, before the tenancy starts, and to keep a dated record of the check. How to carry out a right to rent check
S
- Section 13 notice
- The statutory route for increasing rent, served on Form 4A with at least two months’ notice and no more than once in any 12 months. How to increase the rent legally
- Section 21 notice
- The former no-fault route to possession, abolished on 1 May 2026. A landlord can no longer recover a property without a ground. What happened to Section 21
- Section 8 notice
- A notice seeking possession citing one or more grounds. Since 1 May 2026 it is the only route to possession in England. Section 8 grounds for possession
- Selective licensing
- A scheme under which a council requires a licence for all privately rented property in a designated area, whether or not it is an HMO.
- Service charge
- The sum leaseholders pay towards the costs of running a building, insurance included. Charges must be reasonable and can be challenged.
- Subsidence
- Downward movement of the ground beneath a building, leaving foundations unsupported. Covered by most policies, with a much higher excess. Signs of subsidence and how cover works
- Sum insured
- The maximum an insurer will pay under a section of the policy. For buildings it should be the rebuild cost, not the market value.
T
- Tenancy deposit scheme
- A government-approved scheme holding or insuring a deposit, offering free adjudication if deductions are disputed at the end of a tenancy.
U
- Unoccupancy clause
- The policy term limiting cover once a property has stood empty for a set number of consecutive days. The figure is in the wording, not fixed by law. Unoccupied property insurance
V
- Void period
- A gap between tenancies when no rent is coming in. A commercial risk rather than an insured one, and long voids affect cover.