The tenant’s home insurance or the housing company’s real estate insurance policies do not cover all the losses that can occur in a buy-to-let home. The tenant’s home insurance can also end without the lessor’s knowledge. This is why it’s always worth insuring surfaces, fixtures and parts of the flat, as well as the possible home contents of your buy-to-let home. Lessors can also use the insurance to prepare for loss of rental income in case of water damage, for example.
The risks are many, yet quite few lessors have insured their buy-to-let home with a separate insurance policy. The Finnish Landlord Association estimates that only 10–20 per cent of its members have a buy-to-let home insured with lessor’s insurance or an equivalent insurance policy. In other cases, homes are well-insured: nine out of ten owners of owner-occupied homes and 82 per cent of tenants have home insurance.**
The Finnish Landlord Association annually commissions a comparison of the insurance options available to private lessors. In the most recent comparison, Pohjola Lessor's Insurance was judged one of the most extensive sources of comprehensive cover.
“Price-wise, Pohjola Lessor's Insurance is the most competitive option on the market, particularly if the customer is an OP Financial Group banking customer,” says Pekka Määttä from Söderberg & Partners, the insurance broker who carried out the comparison.
Pohjola Lessor's Insurance also received praise for being customer-friendly, because it can be conveniently bought online through OP-mobile, from insurance sales representatives and at OP cooperative bank branches.
“Surprisingly affordable considering its extensive coverage”
Pohjola Insurance’s Product Expert Hannu Partanen estimates that many lessors have no idea how affordably they could get comprehensive cover for their buy-to-let homes:
“Many lessors are very concerned about pipe damage, for example, which can cause the buy-to-let home’s owner to lose many months worth of rental income. Lessor’s consequential loss insurance provides cover for these kinds of unforeseen losses and compensates loss of rental income for up to 12 months. Lessor's Insurance is quite affordable considering its extensive coverage, which may come as a surprise to many. For example, Pohjola Lessor’s consequential loss insurance for a two-room rental apartment only costs about 20 euros per year.”
The Finnish Landlord Association has been Pohjola Insurance’s partner since the beginning of October, and it offers its members a deductible benefit for Lessor’s consequential loss insurance. Learn more about membership benefits and the insurance comparison at The Finnish Landlord Association’s website.
* The fifth comparison of the coverage of lessors’ insurance policies 2022 was carried out by Pekka Määttä from Söderberg & Partners Oy. The results of the comparison were published on 2 November 2022. The comparison is annually commissioned by The Finnish Landlord Association, and members of the association can read it on the association’s member pages.