Landlord/let — Landlord & Let Property Flood Insurance
If you let property at flood risk, you have probably discovered the hard way that the safety net protecting ordinary homeowners doesn't extend to you. Flood Re — the scheme that keeps domestic flood cover affordable — excludes let property. For landlords and portfolio owners near water, that exclusion is the whole problem, and the specialist market is the answer.
The Flood Re exclusion landlords keep hitting
Flood Re is a reinsurance scheme that lets insurers offer affordable flood cover on owner-occupied homes. It was deliberately drawn narrow. It does not cover commercial property, it generally excludes buildings constructed after 1 January 2009, and — the point that catches landlords — it excludes let and tenanted residential property.
The reasoning is that let property is a commercial activity that should be served by the landlord and commercial markets. In a low-risk area that is fine. At a flood-exposed address it leaves landlords facing the full force of a hardening market with no scheme behind them.
Letting property at flood risk? Get a landlord flood review →
What this means in practice
- Standard landlord policies may exclude flood or apply an excess of tens of thousands of pounds.
- A property at high flood risk can find itself with no flood cover at all on the open market.
- Lenders often require flood cover, so a gap can make a property unmortgageable — and unsellable.
- Mixed-use and multi-unit buildings add further complexity that standard rating handles badly.
How we place flood-risk let property
| Your situation | Our approach |
|---|---|
| Single let property in Zone 3 | Property-level underwriting and resilience evidence to keep flood in the cover. See Flood Zone 3 cover. |
| Portfolio of mixed addresses | Book-wide rating that absorbs the high-risk properties rather than declining them. |
| Prior flood claim on a let unit | Specialist markets that weigh the cause and the repair, not just the loss record. |
| Unworkable flood excess | Negotiated excess plus a parametric layer to cover the shortfall. |
And because a flooded let property still has to be repaired while rent stops, we make sure loss of rent is properly covered for the time the building is uninhabitable — not an afterthought to the buildings sum insured.
Understand the whole market: our commercial flood insurance guide →
Does Flood Re cover let or rental property?
Can I get flood cover for a portfolio of properties?
My lender requires flood cover but insurers won't offer it — what can I do?
Miller & Partner Limited is an Appointed Representative of Gauntlet Risk Management Ltd, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. This article is general information, not advice on a specific policy. Cover and availability depend on the individual risk and the insurer's assessment.
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