Hi everyone,
Does anyone know of an insurance for short let 90 days? We are looking for a landlord insurance but a lot of them seem to only be able to cover you for a year or for very short holiday let (arbnb etc). We will have one tenant in for 3 months and just want something that covers us for this period. Thank you all for your help! 
Giulia & Carlota
I’ve never taken such a policy, however suspect 6m is shortest period, because
Even if the AST agreement is for less than six months, the landlord cannot evict the tenant within the first six months unless there’s a breach of the tenancy agreement.
Bear this in mind if you NEED your property back in 3m!
As Karl says, what makes you think that theyll leave after 3 months?
You can get insurance policies for 12 months that will refund a pro-rata amount if you cancel early. They usually work out cheaper than short-term policies.
Yeah we actually do need to move back in the property as travelling for summer. You made a good point I was not aware of. So thank you so much.
We are meeting the tenants in person and offered the house at a good price so we are maybe being naive in trusting that they move out…just so i am clear, even if the contract states that the rent is only fixed term 3 months (by adding a clause) they are still legally entitled to break it and stay for an extra 3? It seems a little unfair if so? Thanks so much!
I don’t know, i guess as this is the first time we are letting the flat, so we haven’t really heard any bad stories. The tenant we have in mind is young professional young woman, our sort of age…she seems like a very trustworthy person.
Re: policy this is a very good point i didn’t even know we could do that! Thansk so much David
The legislation is about to change
If they don’t go it make take 16 months and court action to get your home back
I’m not saying this person is dishonest but if this is your first time
‘Seems trustworthy ‘ is a very high risk situation
Have you done all the credit checks etc
There is statutory law that governs every Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST). One such law is an AST must run for a minimum of 6 months which would make the 3 month clause you insert into the contract null and void. I have read of some horror stories where people let out their properties while they travel and unable to get their property back on their return.
If you wish to rent on a short term basis you should instead use a platform such as Airbnb which specialises in short term or holiday lettings and are governed by separate laws.
letting at a cheaper price / they will not want to leave . Do not do it
I would strongly advise you against letting the property whilst youre away. You dont know the law and could get into serious trouble. Even if you managed to do everything right, the law will change whilst youre away, as above and it would then take you about 2 years to evict a tenant that wont leave.
Thank you so much Christopher and everyone. We are somewhat panicky so we are thinking to go down the route of getting the tenant to book straight away on arbnb for 3 months (we are researching any cut arbnb would take) or we have had a read online and what we may need to use rather than AST is a licence agreement. It seems like this would help us evict the tenant in case she doesnt want to leave as the 6 months minimum tenancy wouldn’t apply.
Thank you so much everyone
Airbnb is just a platform, not a tenancy type. If they book for 3 months, then unless its a serviced let with for example cleaning and laundry, the occupant would be a tenant and all the legislation and protections would apply.
You might get lucky with the occupant and she might find somewhere else to go after the 3 months. The issue is that if it doesnt work out, and in ghe current lettings climate theres a strong chance of that, youd be out of that property for 2 years plus.
The usual advice is leave it empty.
I asked my own insurance broker a similar question a couple of years ago. Answer from insurers was that AST needs to be minimum 6 months. If less they consider it to be higher risk as occupier is more transient as I guess they don’t consider it to be home.
Use rbnb any problem call police. You don’t need to sign with them any document
For insurance . Building insurance should be oh right. Just let them know about having guest. Simple no complication