Landlords who hold shops, offices and flats under one roof have long struggled to find rent guarantee insurance for portfolio landlords that treats the whole book as a single risk. A new tie-up between Addept Insurance Services and Moorhouse Group aims to fill that gap.
The two firms have launched a rent guarantee and legal expenses product built for owners of mixed and commercial portfolios. For investors who have diversified beyond standard buy-to-let, it signals that insurers are starting to price the risks they actually carry.
How the Addept and Moorhouse cover works
Addept Insurance has reworked its Rent Protect product, which combines rent guarantee and landlord legal expenses cover, for customers of Moorhouse, part of Atec Group.
The cover sits within Moorhouse’s Property Owners insurance range. Legal costs are tied to each individual let property, while the policy also responds to the wider commercial risks that a portfolio landlord can face.
Landlords can also choose to add rent protection for the residential units in their portfolio. That optional layer matters for anyone whose holdings blend homes with commercial space, where a single policy can otherwise leave gaps.
Why rent guarantee insurance for portfolio landlords is changing
Richard Finan, managing director of Addept Insurance, pointed to structural change in the sector. “Diversification and increasing company activity in the sector is reshaping the risks portfolio landlords face,” he said.
“We have partnered with Moorhouse, who are experts in insuring these more complex and diverse property portfolios, to provide protection extending beyond the traditional residential buy-to-let risks into blended and commercial portfolios.”
Finan was blunt about the value of the cover. “Rent guarantee insurance has never been more important,” he said, adding that adapting products for specific customer groups would help the firm “future-proof our distribution as the market shifts focus with more landlords holding mixed property investments”.
The reference to company activity will be familiar to many readers. A growing number of investors now weigh whether to hold property as a sole trader or through a limited company, and larger incorporated portfolios tend to bring more varied tenants, leases and legal exposure.
Ian Brown, chief risk officer at Moorhouse, framed the partnership around that shifting profile. “Addept Insurance understands the new and emerging risks facing landlords of all shapes and sizes,” he said. “Providing a solution that responds to the evolving risk landscape our portfolio landlord customers face makes them an important partner.”
Mixed portfolios bring blended exposure
The product arrives as more landlords move between asset classes. Some have been converting commercial buildings into residential units, while others have added retail or office space to what began as a residential book.
Either route leaves an owner juggling two quite different sets of obligations. A commercial tenant’s default plays out under different lease terms and recovery routes from a residential arrears case, and legal bills can escalate quickly on both fronts.
Traditional landlord policies were largely designed around the single buy-to-let flat. Owners who have outgrown that model have often had to stitch together separate cover from several providers, which adds cost, paperwork and the risk that a claim falls between two policies.
A combined approach does not remove the need to read the small print. Investors should check excess levels, claim conditions, tenant referencing requirements and any limits on the commercial elements before assuming they are fully protected. Our guide to the essential types of landlord insurance sets out where rent guarantee and legal expenses cover fit alongside buildings and liability protection.
What this means for investors
For portfolio landlords, the launch is less about one product than about the direction of the market. Insurers are now designing cover around diversified, often incorporated, portfolios rather than treating them as a stack of individual buy-to-let policies.
That should, over time, give owners of mixed holdings more choice and a clearer view of their total exposure. It is also a reminder that income is never guaranteed simply because a property is let, a point underlined in our analysis of the passive income myth in buy-to-let.
Investors expanding into commercial space should review existing cover now, before a void or dispute exposes the gaps. As more providers follow this route, the landlords who benchmark policies across their whole portfolio are likely to secure the strongest terms.
