United Kingdom (UK) Private Landlord Insurance 2021

1.1 The residential landlord insurance market has shrunk as landlords feel the BTL squeeze
1.2 Key findings
1.3 Critical success factors

2.1 The residential landlord insurance market has contracted
2.2 A swathe of regulatory changes have made the BTL market less attractive for investors
2.3 COVID-19 stirs property prices to an all-time high

3.1 The profile of landlords is changing

4.1 Key players and elements of cover
4.2 Distribution dynamics

5.1 The UK private landlord insurance market will stabilize

6.1 Abbreviations and acronyms
6.2 Methodology
6.3 Secondary sources
6.4 Further reading

Table 1: Residential landlords can now only deduct finance costs based on a basic rate
Table 2: Example of tax payable during 2020-21 tax year on a rental property held by a limited company vs. held in the personal name of a landlord
Table 3: Private landlords pay a 3% surcharge on top of the standard SDLT rate since April 1, 2016
Table 4: Among incumbent insurers, Admiral offers greater cover to landlords using home-sharing sites

Figure 1: The residential landlord insurance market was worth an estimated £716.8m in 2020
Figure 2: 41.4% of private landlords do not have adequate cover or have no insurance at all
Figure 3: The proportion of private rented households has declined since 2016-17
Figure 4: Growth in the number of private rented households has been sluggish since 2016
Figure 5: The number of companies set up to hold BTL properties has escalated since 2016
Figure 6: Average UK house prices peaked at almost £250,000 in November 2020
Figure 7: Gross advances and new residential lending commitments fell sharply in Q2 2020
Figure 8: The proportion of BTL advances fell from 14.4% in Q2 2020 to 12.5% in Q3 2020
Figure 9: Annual private rental price growth in the UK has been flat since November 2019
Figure 10: London experienced the weakest annual rental price growth in 2020
Figure 11: Saving for a deposit and unaffordable house prices lock adults into rented accommodation
Figure 12: 20% of UK adults had to put home-buying plans on hold in 2020
Figure 13: A larger proportion of renters have been furloughed compared to homeowners
Figure 14: Most landlords own just one investment property
Figure 15: The majority of landlords have purchased their investment property
Figure 16: 75.9% of landlords are aged between 30 and 54
Figure 17: Younger landlords make up an increasing share of the total
Figure 18: Airbnb has placed greater focus on longer stays since 2020
Figure 19: The top five players all strengthened their market share in 2020
Figure 20: Admiral allows customers to create a bundle of different insurance cover under one policy
Figure 21: More than half of all private landlord policies are sold through insurers and brokers
Figure 22: Online via a PC or laptop is the most common way for landlords to take out their cover
Figure 23: The UK private landlord insurance market is forecast to reach £757.6m in 2025
Figure 24: Prior to the 2021 Budget announcement, up to 105,000 property sales could have missed the stamp duty deadline
Figure 25: The publisher’s forecasting model