Archive for the Insurance and Protection Category

Arranging the mortgage itself tends to take up all the attention, and protection insurance – the cover that pays out if something happens to you – often gets left as an afterthought, or skipped entirely. For expats specifically, there are a few extra wrinkles worth understanding before assuming your situation is covered the same way a UK resident's would be. What Mortgage Protection Actually Covers Life insurance pays out a lump sum (or repays the mortgage directly, depending on the policy) if you die during the term, so your family isn't left with a mortgage they can't afford. Critical illness cover pays out on diagnosis of a specified serious illness, and income protection replaces a portion of your income if you're unable to work. None of these are legally required to get a UK mortgage, but many lenders strongly encourage at least life cover, and it's worth thinking through properly regardless of what's mandatory. This is especially worth planning for if this is your first UK purchase – see our First-Time Buyer Expat Mortgages page for the wider set of things worth sorting alongside the mortgage itself. Why Being an Expat Changes the Picture Some UK insurers restrict or declineRead more →

Insurance is one of the more easily overlooked parts of being an expat landlord, partly because it feels like an afterthought next to the mortgage itself, and partly because standard home insurance – the kind most people are familiar with – often doesn't actually cover a rented, non-owner-occupied property at all. Why Standard Home Insurance Usually Doesn't Work for a Rental Property A typical buildings and contents policy assumes the owner lives in the property. Once you're renting it out, most standard policies either become invalid or simply don't cover risks specific to tenanted property – things like malicious damage by a tenant, extended void periods, or landlord liability. This isn't a minor technicality; a claim on an inappropriate policy can be refused entirely if the insurer discovers the property was actually let out. What Landlord Insurance Typically Covers Instead Specialist landlord insurance is built around the realities of a rented property: buildings cover appropriate for a let property, contents cover for anything you as landlord provide (not the tenant's own belongings), loss of rent cover if the property becomes uninhabitable, and landlord liability cover in case a tenant or visitor is injured on the property and you're found responsible.Read more →

What is life insurance? Life insurance can pay your dependents money as a lump sum or as regular payments if you die early whilst you are working and in employment. It’s designed to provide you with the reassurance that your dependents will be looked after if you’re no longer there to provide for them. The amount of money paid out depends on the level of cover you buy. You decide how it is paid out and whether it will cover specific payments, such as mortgage or rent. You may need to think about whether receiving a payout will affect any means tested benefits your dependents might otherwise be eligible for. There are two main types of life insurance: Term life insurance policies: run for a fixed period of time (known as the ‘term’ of your policy) – such as 5, 10 or 25 years. Some policies can run longer upon request from your life insurance company. These kinds of policies only pay out if you die during the policy. There’s no lump sum payable at the end of the policy term. A whole-of-life insurance policy: will pay out no matter when you die, as long as you keep up with

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