Landlord Insurance Could be Voided if a Tenant Has a Criminal Conviction that is not Declared to the Insurer

This worrying article in the Guardian has raised my concerns as to whether landlords should be making sure that their tenants don't have criminal convictions.

The article states that many landlord insurance policies could be found to be void with certain landlord insurers if it turns out the tenant has a criminal conviction.

Any thoughts, comments or information would be much appreciated.

'Loving landlords instead' - Margo

Try Landlord Insurance Special Rates with Alan Boswell.

Landlords Testimonials -

Many thanks for the positive feedback we have been receiving from landlords about the new version 2.0 of the FREE property management software. We are really pleased with the way the system is working and the Propertyhawk team is very excited about all the improvements we have lined up for our free landlord software.

We have posted some of the comments from landlords and letting agents in a new Testimonials page and we will try to keep these updated over the coming year.

As always please let us have any more thoughts, ideas and observations to help us improve on the free property management software.

The 'Property Manager project' is only as good as the feedback of its users.

Our aim is to make the FREE property management software better than any of the expensive packages out their by the end of 2009.

Heres to helping landlords in a difficult 2009.

Ecobuild 3-5 March

The Ecobuild conference is on 3-5 March 2009 at Earl’s Court, London. You can find out all about it and order a free ticket on the ecobuild website.

For anyone interested in refurbishment projects and bringing empty properties back to life it sounds as if there are some interesting seminars and exhibitors at this event.

Don't worry, by then daffodils will be out, there will be blossom on the trees, birds will be singing and trains and buses will be running again.

Thankfully, Michelle Obama is not a landlord

Phew, we've got through January.

The Self Assessment Tax deadline is 31 January. That means that we have a peak of visitors on our site in the days leading up to the end of the month. And we've had the odd problem with our server getting overloaded. We're improving our mechanisms for managing the load. We tell ourselves that it's a sign of the success of Property Hawk.

We're in good company - pretty much every website has had its moment of being overwhelmed. Our favourite story of the inauguration of Barack Obama was that so many American women wanted Michelle Obama's gloves that they crashed the maker's website. Poor old J.Crew.

Thankfully, Michelle Obama is not a landlord, or if she is she's one of the few that hasn't registered on Property Hawk. So we should be all right until next January.

Landlord insurance - Arc and Axa in tie up

A new landlord insurance package will give landlords direct access to tenant referencing services

Arc Legal Assistance has launched a tenant referencing and legal expenses package with AXA that provides landlords with direct access to information on tenants before entering into agreements.

Where do professional landlords go for their discounted insurance?

In an exclusive contract with financial risk analysts, Experian, Arc enables landlords insured by AXA to run credit and other financial checks on residential tenants using Experian’s ‘Check My Tenant’ tool – one of the most advanced and comprehensive tenant verification services available, a service previously only available for letting agents - and for commercial tenants, the ‘Busibody’ business credit checking tool.


The service will be offered in addition to legal expenses cover to customers of AXA’s Buy to Let and Small Commercial Property Owners product. The cover includes costs of tenant eviction, defence of criminal prosecutions and pursuit of non-tenancy property disputes. Commercial property owners also receive business legal costs insurance, which covers the other commercial risks that professional landlords face such as employment disputes and tax investigations*.

Mike Keating, managing director of personal lines intermediary at AXA, said: “Arc’s experience in this sector means we benefit from their ability to develop tailored services for landlords, delivering real value to the customer. Direct access to tenant’s references ensures landlords have all the relevant information they need to protect their assets.”

Richard Finan, director of Arc, added: “Working with Experian enables Arc to offer a powerful referencing tool as a key part of our specialist landlord and tenant products. We work with many other referencing companies, however Experian were the only provider able to deliver a ‘direct to landlord’ solution for AXA. We have built a very specific niche in this sector and will continue to grow and develop bespoke products that offer important differentiators to insurers and brokers alike.”

Mystery machine to snoop on social landlords

A campervan was the mobile office for Tenant Services Authority staff when they came to Kent this week.

Members of the new regulatory body, set up in December as a watchdog for social housing, pulled up in Margate and Ramsgate as part of the National Conversation campaign to ask tenants what they think of the quality of service they get from their landlord.

Information gathered by the TSA will be used to help it to create a standards framework against which all councils and housing associations will be measured.

As of December 1, 2009, the TSA, backed by the Housing Regulation Act 2008, will be able to check on how landlords are performing and if necessary take action against those who are not up to standard.

After all the regulation that private landlords have had to face it's reassuring that social landlords are also under the cosh. The jury is out as to whether the TSA turns out to be another toothless wonder.