Rent Guarantee – Everything you need to know
Rent Guarantee insurance protects your management fee and your landlords’ rental income if a tenant falls into arrears. A win-win, especially in the current environment. If you’re new to offering Rent Guarantee, or looking to find out more about how to pitch it to landlords, read our advice below.
Why use Rent Guarantee?
Rent Guarantee insurance is a win-win for both landlords and agents.
Your landlord gets the peace of mind that they’ll get paid their rent every month, and you still receive your management fee income, even if the tenant can’t or won’t pay their rent. 58% of landlords say they’re concerned about tenants going into arrears, so it solves a real problem for your landlords (Rightmove survey of 583 full and part time landlords, 2021).
The main benefit for agents is being able to enhance the managed service you offer to landlords by including Rent Guarantee. This helps you retain existing landlords (by providing a better service) and attract new ones (with your improved service offering).
Lots of agents offer this service to landlords at the same cost as they pay for it, as a way to provide extra value and enhance their relationship. Others add on a small margin and use it to justify increasing their management fee. The choice is yours.
Finally, it saves you time to focus on the important things. With our policy, the claims team and legal experts do all the work involved in claiming possession, leaving you to get on with your day job.
How does Rent Guarantee insurance work?
If a tenant can’t or won’t pay rent, the insurer pays you (the agent) the rent every month. You can then deduct your management fee as normal before passing the rest onto the landlord.
That’s more important than ever at the moment, with continued uncertainty and large backlogs in the courts that aren’t expected to improve for at least another year.
Whereas some Rent Guarantee policies only pay out rent for a certain number of months, our policy offers indefinite cover*. This means your landlord’s rent is protected until they get their property back and you receive your management fee income every month.
Our Rent Guarantee policy also includes the costs of evicting a tenant, including the legal work, and a mediation service – taking the hassle away from you.
What makes Rightmove's Rent Guarantee policy different?
As Rightmove is a household name it makes it easier for you to offer a service to landlords that’s backed by a brand they know and trust.
On top of that, we’re one of the only providers to offer indefinite* rental protection. That means we pay the rent for as long as the claims process takes, unlike most other providers that only pay for a specified amount of months. This means you can have easier conversations with your landlords, offering peace of mind in an environment of uncertainty and continued court delays.
Finally, our very competitive pricing means you can offer all of this as a price that maximises your income as well as delivering a great service to your landlords, backed by a brand they know and trust.
How much does it cost?
We’ve designed our pricing to be as competitive as possible in every market.
Book a call back using the form above to get a bespoke quote from our experts.
What does Rightmove's policy include, specifically?
Our policy includes:
- Indefinite cover – rent is paid for as long as it takes to get your landlord’s property back
- 100% of the rent paid (up to £2,500 per month)
- Up to £50,000 for any one claim
- Legal expenses paid for any breach of the tenancy agreement – including squatters
- An extra 50% of the rent for three months if the property can’t be re-let due to damages or neglect caused by the tenant
- No excess
- No “no claims” period
- Notices served
- Cover for alternative accommodation and storage
- Market-leading mediation tools to give a landlord the best chance of getting their property back faster
How to position Rent Guarantee to your landlords
58% of landlords say they’re concerned about tenants going into arrears (Rightmove survey of 821 landlords, 2021). But we know that it can be difficult to persuade a landlord to take out a Rent Guarantee policy if they’ve never personally experienced a tenant going into arrears.
Here are some stats that should help you convince your landlords that Rent Guarantee is worthwhile:
14 months – the average time it is currently taking for a landlord to achieve a repossession on a property (Source – UK Govt)
£1,047 – the average UK monthly rent (Source – Rightmove Rental Trends Tracker, Q3 2021)
£2,200 – the average legal and court costs for evicting a tenant (Source)
Most landlords will therefore take a hit of over £10,000 if they need to evict a tenant. Could they afford that?
Request a call back about Rent Guarantee Insurance
Request a call back about Rent Guarantee Insurance
*Terms and conditions apply. Subject to eligibility criteria. Always check the policy wording for full benefits and exclusions. Rent guarantee payments may be paid for an indefinite number of months until vacant possession is gained, except where the tenant provides a valid defence to the eviction in which case payments are capped at 12 months. Total payment for any one claim is capped at £50,000
Rightmove Landlord and Tenant Services Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Firm Reference Number 522050. This can be checked on the FCA register at (www.fca.org.uk/register). Registered in England number 7064255. Trading office address: DCS House, Silverbirch, Camperdown Industrial Estate, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE12 5UJ. Registered office address: 2 Caldecotte Lake Business Park, Caldecotte Lake Drive, Milton Keynes, England, MK7 8LE. VAT Registration Number 100838839.
