Top landlord insurance compared

About Top landlord insurance compared

Landlord insurance is the cover that stands behind a letting: the building, the fittings, and the liability that follows when a tenant or a visitor is hurt. This ranking reads 53 brands that sell it, spread across Britain, Germany, France, Spain, Hong Kong and Canada, and weighs them on what a landlord actually pays for: the price, who stands behind the policy, and how the account behaves when something goes wrong. The first trade-off is the monthly split. Every brand listed works on a monthly model, and 94.4% of them allow monthly payments, which spreads the cost across the months a tenant is actually there. The second is the limit against the excess, since a big limit and a small excess both decide how much of a loss stays with you. Limits across the wider set run €876,962.20 to €11,621,825.79, and 38 of the brands here hold a licence. The third trade-off is contact, because a broken boiler gets reported at inconvenient hours, so claims and support channels carry real weight in the scores. Published prices are starting points rather than quotes for a specific property, so read them as a signal of where each brand sits.

How we picked

Score weights sit on the page, so nothing here is hidden. Trust carries 40%, cost carries 35% and the offer itself carries 25%. Trust leans on who stands behind the policy, whether an insurer underwrites it or a broker places it, and how many ways there are to reach a human, because a landlord claim rarely arrives at a convenient hour. Costs are read from the starting premium each brand publishes, and the spread matters more than any single figure: €11.33 sits at the median for this ranking, €5.26 at the lower quartile and €64.40 at the upper quartile, with €1.50 at the bottom and €1,732.88 at the top. Company and licensing details come from each brand's own company and regulatory pages, product pages, claims pages and contact pages. Partners are listed first and everything else follows by score, so a sponsored place never reads as an organic one. Every other entry rests on the facts the brand publishes.

Our top picks

1. 2. CosmosDirekt

   CosmosDirekt sits high in this ranking as the broadest insurer on the list, with landlord policies written alongside home, motor, life, travel, pet and income protection, and a history going back to 1950. It underwrites the policy, works on a monthly model with monthly payments available, and handles claims through online and phone while support runs on phone, email and help centre. The starting figure of €1.73 is published on its term life line rather than on landlord cover, and its published cover limit reads by tier on travel cancellation, so both numbers need reading sideways. INZMO, the brand below it, publishes a lower starting figure of €1.99 on mobile insurance and keeps to a narrower property range.

   • Premium from: €1.73
   • Insurance types: Auto, Home, Life, and 5 more
   • Provider type: Insurer

   Pros

   • Premiums start at €1.73 on monthly policies, under the site median of €8.37.
   • CosmosDirekt is an insurer, insurer, so the policy and the payout sit with the same company, Cosmos Versicherung Aktiengesellschaft.
   • Cover spans auto, home and life, letting a household place several lines with a single provider.
   • Claims can be filed online or by phone, online and phone, and support runs on phone, email and help centre.
   • Traded since 1950 in DE under BaFin supervision, which gives a long operating record to weigh.

   Cons

   • The €1.73 entry figure ranks 44 of 252 brands on price, better than most, yet the floor across the site is €0.
   • Support runs on phone, email and help centre only, with no chat line or community forum in that list.
   • auto, home and renters at Good Sam Insurance Agency adds renters and health cover, so a reader needing those lines goes elsewhere.
   • The travel policy stops at up to 64 years, leaving older travellers outside that cover.

2. 7. Hiscox UK: best for top-pick

   Hiscox UK takes the top pick of this ranking because it underwrites the policy itself, which keeps the landlord cover and the claim on a single desk, and it takes claims on phone, online and post. Landlord cover is listed at GBP 100,000 and public liability premiums start at £5.20, with monthly payments available so the cost follows the tenancy rather than a single annual date. It also writes home, renters, auto and home emergency cover, so a letting sits alongside the rest of a household's policies. The trade-off is reach: support runs on phone and help centre, and the landlord cover limit reads lower than the property owners' liability Simply Business publishes next.

   • Provider type: Insurer
   • Cover types: Public-liability, Professional-indemnity, Employers-liability, and 1 more
   • Indemnity limit: £10,000,000

   Pros

   • Indemnity limits of £10,000,000 rank first of 11 brands on our data, well above the site median of €3,486,547.74.
   • Business lines cover public liability, professional indemnity, employers liability and cyber, so several core covers sit with one insurer.
   • Premium from £5.20 sits below the site median of €8.37, and Hiscox UK ranks 2 of 14 on entry price.
   • Monthly payments are available, so the premium can be spread rather than paid as one lump sum.
   • Cover runs from an insurer, Hiscox Underwriting Ltd, rather than through a broker or comparison site, and Hiscox UK ranks 2 of 14 on price.

   Cons

   • Support runs on phone and help centre only, so a help centre and phone line are the listed ways to reach the team.
   • Business cover is limited to public liability, professional indemnity and employers liability, with no property business line among the listed lines.
   • The entry premium is a starting figure, and business insurance premium from £5.20 sits under a category spread running to €3,431.08.
   • A Hiscox UK entity is an insurer, so cover sits with a single underwriter rather than a broker such as broker who can place it across the market.

3. 8. Aviva

   Aviva sits high in this ranking as an insurer with the widest book on the list, listing landlord, home, renters, auto, life, health, travel, pet, van and breakdown cover in auto, home and renters, and it works on a monthly model with monthly payments available. It also writes for an older readership, naming seniors as its audience and giving an age range of 18-77. Claims run through online, app and phone and support on phone, chat and help centre. The starting figure of £5 is published on its life insurance line, so it tells you about the brand rather than the letting. APOLLO Insurance, the brand below it, works as a Canadian broker and quotes from CAD 13 on tenant cover.

   • Premium from: £5
   • Insurance types: Auto, Home, Renters, and 9 more
   • Provider type: Insurer

   Pros

   • One insurer covers auto, home and renters
   • Life premiums start at £5, under the site median of €8.37
   • Aviva is an insurer, so it carries the risk itself
   • Claims run through online, app and phone
   • Life cover opens at 18-77 and targets seniors

   Cons

   • £5 is an entry figure on life cover
   • monthly lists monthly as the only model
   • Support runs on phone, chat and help centre only
   • Business cover is limited to employers liability, professional indemnity and public liability

What to look for

Who underwrites the policy

An insurer answers for the claim itself, while a broker places it with an underwriter. In this ranking 56.6% of the brands are insurers and 34% are brokers, so it pays to know which side of the transaction you are on before comparing prices.

The starting premium and the limit behind it

Starting premiums are the cheapest headline a brand shows, not a quote for your property. Here they run €1.50 at the low end to €1,732.88 at the top, with €11.33 in the middle. Read a low figure next to the limit it buys.

Limit and excess, read together

A large limit means less of a big loss lands with you, an excess means more of a small one does. Limits across the wider set run €876,962.20 to €11,621,825.79, with €3,486,547.74 at the median, so a cheap premium sitting on a heavy excess reads very differently from a cheap premium on a light one.

Whether the letting is a standalone policy

Some brands write landlord cover as one product among a few, others sit inside a household book. 86.8% of the brands in this ranking list home cover, 52.8% list renters cover and 81.1% sell motor policies, so a landlord may hold several policies with one name.

How a claim gets started

Phone claims matter when a tenant is waiting on heating. 96.1% of the brands in this ranking offer phone support, 84.3% run a help centre and 64.7% answer email, so the quickest route differs by brand.

Billing rhythm and licensing

Monthly billing spreads the cost and keeps cover live between payments, and 94.4% of the brands here allow it. 53 brands span several markets and 38 of them hold a licence, so check where a brand sits before you start.

Frequently asked questions

Top landlord insurance compared by country

• Australia
• Canada
• France
• Germany
• Ireland
• Italy
• New Zealand
• Spain
• United Kingdom
• United States

The data behind this ranking

All data and the CSV