Rent Protection and Legal Expenses Service

A Rent Protection and Legal Expenses Service does exactly what it says on the tin - it protects the income (rent) of a property that has been let to a tenant. Sometimes things can go wrong - even when you’ve taken measures to protect yourself.

Rent arrears can be disastrous when you rely on this income to pay a buy-to-let mortgage. We’ll often settle a dispute in rent arrears or damage to a property outside of the legal system and, by taking out our service, we handle the time-consuming task of making a settlement.

With our service, you’ll always get the income you expect and, if you need legal representation to recover it, our service can help.

1. NIL EXCESS - The Rent Protection and Legal Expenses service comes with nil excess as standard, so you’ll benefit from 100% of the monthly rent owed until vacant possession is obtained, should you need to make a claim.

2. UP TO £100,000 LEGAL EXPENSES - We’ll cover the costs and expenses of legal proceedings, including the cost of appeals, and also provide legal representation from one of our trusted partners. We’ll appoint a legal representative for the duration of the proceedings and support throughout the process.

3. RENT PROTECTION AND RECOVERY - We’ll pay rent arrears whilst a tenant or ex-tenant still occupies the property until vacant possession is obtained. After which, we’ll continue to pay 75% of the rent until the property is re-lent for a maximum of two months. We’ll also cover the costs and expenses of recovering rent from a tenant or ex-tenant, if the rent has been overdue for at least one month.

4. PROPERTY DAMAGE LEGAL EXPENSES - Should a property sustain physical damage of £1,000 or more during the tenancy caused by the tenant, we’ll cover the expenses for pursuit of a civil dispute against the tenant, to rectify the damage.

5. EVICTION OF TENANTS OR SQUATTERS - If there are squatters or ex-tenants in the property without your consent, our service will assist with the costs of eviction.

6. STANDALONE LEGAL EXPENSES - You can claim for legal expenses to evict a tenant, for mandatory breaches that require the pursuit of a civil dispute.

7. CONTRACT DISPUTE PROTECTION - Our service will cover against costs and expenses relating to the dispute of a contract, entered into for the buying or hiring of any goods and services relating to your property, providing the amount in dispute is over £100 and the agreement was entered into during the period of service.

8. 90-DAY CLAIM WINDOW - We offer a 90-day claim window, providing plenty of time to organise a claim from the date of the first rental payment missed by a tenant, with nil excess in the first 45 days and a one month excess for the remaining. Our claims process is really simple and all communications to you are sent automatically, when a claim is submitted.

Our Rent Protection and Legal Expenses Service is nil excess as standard, and covers eviction of tenants or squatters legal proceedings, property damage

legal expenses, contract disputes, and legal defence, should you need it. You can see full details of our comprehensive cover below:

How many months does your service pay out for?

Our services pays out 100% of rent until vacant possession is obtained, there is no cap on the number of months covered, with £100,000 of indemnity included in the service. The property must be re-let with us.

What’s covered under the legal expenses?

We’ll cover the eviction for rent arrears, serving the Section 8 notice, arranging a legal advocate, paying court costs and organising a bailiff. We’ll also evict for some other serious breaches. The main ones include subletting, illegal activity, unauthorised occupants and failure to vacate after a Section 21 notice - the case must have a 51% (or higher) chance of success in court, as determined by DAS Law.

What is the property damage cover?

This provides legal expenses and support where the tenant leaves with over £1,000 of damage in the property. Your deposit is used and then any damages over and above that amount will be chased through the money judgement process. Please be aware we need to be able to trace the tenant for you to benefit from this.

Is there an excess?

This service is nil excess, as long as a claim is made within 45 days of the first arrears. If a claim is made within 46 to 90 days of arrears, there is a penalty excess of one month.