Jordan Perry – Chief Underwriting Officer – Real Estate

Effective 1 May, the Renters’ Rights Act marks one of the most significant shifts in the UK private rental sector in decades.

While much of the focus has been on tenant protections, the reality is this: the Act fundamentally reshapes how landlord risk should be understood, managed, and underwritten.

For brokers, this is a critical moment to support clients with clear, practical guidance, helping clients understand not just what’s changing, but how to stay properly protected.

A Shift in Risk:

At its core, the Act reduces landlord flexibility and increases the structure around regaining possession.

Key changes include:

• The abolition of “no-fault” evictions
• Greater security for tenants through periodic tenancies
• Increased reliance on defined legal grounds and formal processes

In practical terms, landlords now operate in an environment where:

• Regaining possession may take longer
• Processes must be followed more precisely
• Errors can lead to delays or legal challenges

These changes make the process  more structured and highlights the importance of careful management to keep risks under control.

Why This Matters for Landlords’ Insurance

From an underwriting perspective, the risk is no longer just about the tenant, it’s about the process.

Longer possession timelines and stricter legal requirements can lead to:

• Increased rental arrears exposure
• Higher legal costs
• Greater cashflow pressure on landlords

This naturally increases the importance of having the right protection in place, not just buildings or contents cover, but policies designed to support landlords through real-world tenancy issues.

The Growing Importance of Legal Expenses Cover

In this new environment, cover such as legal expenses insurance becomes significantly more relevant.

It helps landlords:

• Mitigate the financial impact of disputes and support income recovery where cover applies.
• Access legal expertise early
• Navigate increasingly complex possession processes

(Subject to policy terms, conditions and reasonable prospects.)

Not all landlord‑tenant disputes fall within the scope of legal expenses cover, particularly those linked to rent setting, regulatory decisions or commercial negotiations so, it’s important that policyholders, with broker support, review their insurances to establish the full scope of protection in place.

For brokers, this presents a clear advisory opportunity:

• Position cover as a cashflow protection tool
• Highlight legal expenses support, which becomes more valuable under the new regime
• Emphasise policy conditions, particularly around tenant referencing and affordability checks

How Brokers Can Add Value

This is where brokers play a critical role.

Supporting clients now goes beyond arranging cover, it’s about helping them adapt to a new operating environment.

Brokers should be proactively engaging landlord clients in light of these changes:

• Review existing cover
  Ensure policies reflect the evolving risk, particularly around rent guarantee limits and indemnity periods. Having a true understanding of policy limits, sub‑limits and aggregate exposures is increasingly important, as extended disputes or multiple issues within a policy year can quickly erode available cover. Smaller, recurring disputes can prove just as impactful as a single major claim, particularly where aggregate limits apply across a policy year
• Highlighting potential gaps in protection

Particularly around rent and legal exposures

• Set expectations on claims, processes and timelines
  Claims involving eviction or arrears may take longer to resolve under the new legal framework. Logs, inventories, notices, referencing records and inspection records are often condition precedent.
• Encourage best practice
  Strong documentation, referencing, and tenancy management will directly impact insurability.
• As landlords adapt their operating models to comply with the Act, brokers should ensure any material changes to tenancy arrangements or management structure are disclosed, protecting policy validity. Additional information can be found in this supporting flyer.

Why use Folgate?  

One of the key challenges for landlords is not just having cover but being able to access and use it effectively when needed.

That’s where multi-class comprehensive cover becomes critical.

We offer legal expenses cover as part of a single property owners policy, removing the need for:

• Multiple policies with different providers
• Separate claims processes
• Additional administration for brokers

Instead, landlords benefit from:

• Easy access to legal support when issues arise
• A streamlined claims journey under one policy
• Reduced admin for both brokers and clients
• Confidence that covers are designed to work together

In a more complex legal environment, this simplicity is not just convenient it can directly impact how quickly and effectively issues are resolved.

Looking Ahead

While the Renters’ Rights Act is designed to rebalance the rental market, it inevitably introduces greater uncertainty into landlord risk profiles.

For insurers, this means more disciplined underwriting.

For brokers, it creates an opportunity to add real value through informed advice and tailored cover recommendations at a time of change.

Speak to Our Real Estate Team

What this means for our team:

As underwriting adapts to the new framework, there is a clearer picture of what constitutes a well-managed risk:

• Strong tenant referencing and affordability checks
• Clear, compliant tenancy agreements
• Consistent documentation and record keeping
• Proactive management when issues arise

Landlords who demonstrate these behaviours are not only better protected operationally, they are also more attractive risks from an insurance perspective.

Covers such as malicious damage by tenants may offer valuable protection but are subject to terms, conditions and policy limits, reinforcing the importance of robust referencing and tenancy controls.

If you’d like to discuss how these changes may affect your clients, or how to ensure they have the right protection in place, our Real Estate team is here to support you.

We can help with:

• Coverage guidance
• Underwriting insight
• Support with positioning solutions for your clients

Get in touch with your usual contact or speak to our Real Estate team today to ensure your clients are prepared for what’s ahead.