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Rent Guarantee for letting agents
Welcome to our partnership page which provides the following information:
- Aviva Rent Guarantee Insurance
- Your responsibilities and purchase criteria
- Rent Guarantee portal user guide
- Invoicing and documentations
- How to make a claim
- FAQs (acceptance criteria, guarantors etc)
Pricing and policy details
Aviva policy From £135 (including Insurance Premium Tax)
- 15 months rental payments
- Three months rental payments at 75% after repossession of property
- In-house claims team
- Nil excess policy
- Annual policy (no Covid restrictions)
- Maximum of £5,000 pcm rent covered (in the event there is sufficient volume of polices)
- Up to £100,000 of legal expenses cover (including eviction proceedings)
Purchase and acceptance criteria
Purchase criteria
- IMPORTANT In order to purchase a policy for the property, it must be fully managed by yourselves and you must collect the rent. There must be a potential financial loss for you if the tenant(s) fail to pay.
- Included in your service Rent Guarantee can be included as part of your management service, but must not be referred to as "insurance" due to the regulations involved in the sale of insurance.
- Let only The product is not available for let only properties. However, if you contact us, we can provide you a unique link to refer clients and generate income.
Acceptance criteria
- Affordability You must ensure that the amount confirmed as their gross monthly income is equivalent to at least 2.5 times the monthly rent.
- Adverse credit history All CCJs, bankruptcies and IVAs must be settled for at least three years.
- Identification Two forms of identification, of which one must be photographic, are required or pass the right to rent check.
- Long standing tenants If a tenant(s) has been in place for greater than 12 months at the inception date of the policy, the above checks will not be required, provided there have been no breaches of tenancy and no late payments (more than 31 days) in the last 12 months.
- Failure If a tenant does not meet the acceptance criteria, the applicant can use a guarantor who must meet the same requirements as the applicant, excluding the income figure. This must be three times the monthly rent.
Sales portal access and portal instructions
Setting your password
To get started with our agent portal, you’ll need to set a new password. To do this, click below and enter your email address:
You’ll receive a password reset email from us. Click on the link and set a new password.
Once you’ve completed this step, you’re all set up.
Accessing your agent portal
Once you’ve set a password, you can access the portal. Click the button below to log-in:
Invoicing and payments
We send invoices on the 15th day of the month, where an invoice will be generated for the previous months sales e.g. 15th July invoice for June sales.
Invoices will be sent automatically and we provide a variety of payment options, including an automated payment facility for ease. If you wish to sign up for this please visit the following link https://www.alanboswell.com/automated-payment-agreement/
Your responsibilities
As a Letting Agent under Financial Conduct Authority rules, you are not allowed to sell, arrange or promote insurance to your clients (as you are not regulated to do so). Arranging insurance without proper authorisation could lead to enforcement action being taken by the regulators.
To enable you to purchase a rent guarantee policy in your agency name that your landlords can benefit from you must have insurable interest. This is evidenced by the full management of a property which includes tenant find, tenant referencing, check-in with an inventory, rent collection, and at the termination of the tenancy a check out with a final inventory. This enables you to offer a management service that includes rent and legal protection. Please bear in mind that when marketing the scheme you cannot give the impression you are offering an insurance product. You must refrain from referring to the cost of the scheme as a ‘premium’ or using the word ‘insurance’. Instead you are offering your clients a guarantee. The policy must be in your name as letting agent, you must pay the premium, but either you or the property owner can make a claim against the policy.
In terms of the service Alan Boswell Group is providing you (the letting agent), please note this is a non-advised sale and that we only provide rent guarantee insurance from a single provider (Aviva). Our Terms of Business to you are available here.
To help you position the service, below we explain how it should be described as a ‘contract of guarantee’. By following this process you are able to formalise the arrangement with your client.
Charging the landlord
You must ensure that any charge needs to form part of your managed service charge and is subject to VAT. There cannot be a direct cost to the landlord for the insurance otherwise this would be a regulated activity and require FCA authorisation.
Such a charge may be levied as follows:
- An increased Management Service % ( i.e 10% for our standard service or 12% for our increased management service including Rent Guarantee)
- A monthly charge of £XX for our Rent Guarantee service
- An annual charge of £XX for our Rent Guarantee service
Largely driven by market forces, the costs for the added benefit of having the guarantee needs to be proportionate and reasonable.
Renewing the Guarantee
You can only renew the guarantee if you are still fully managing the property.
Consequences of not complying with the above guidelines
If you do not comply with the above guidelines, we reserve the right to restrict your access to the portal or reject your claim.
How to make a claim
In-house claims process
Once you have purchased a policy you will be able to make a claim via our agent portal.
The claims process will be automated and will allow you to upload all required documents. Ongoing payments will be proactively managed by us, cutting down on admin time for you.
Once a claim is in process you will also have access to ongoing communications relating to your claim via our solicitors.
FAQs
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Two forms of ID – at least one photographic.
Proof of earnings at 2.5x the rental amount.
A credit reference from a licenced credit agency confirming all CCJs, IVAs or bankruptcies have been settled for at least three years.
If a tenant has been in the property for 12 months without payment issues then the need for the above checks is waivered and in the event of a claim you would just need to provide a rental statement confirming the past 12 months rent have paid on time.
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These will be acceptable and their income can be proved using a number of documents as detailed above in our acceptance criteria.
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If a tenant can’t pass the reference requirement, they will need a UK based guarantor who can pass referencing.
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Guarantors would be required to pass the same referencing requirements as a tenant, except their earnings need to be 3x the rental amount.
- Two forms of ID, one inclusive of a photo
- Proof of earnings at 3x the rental amount
- All CCJs, bankruptcies and IVAs must be settled for at least three years.
- Must be UK based
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Acceptable IDs – two forms of ID, a minimum of one must be primary
Accepted primary forms
- Passport
- Driving licence
- Residency card
- Current UK Non-Photo Driving Licence
- HMRC tax notification
- Young Scots Card
- Blue disabled drivers pass
- Benefits of pensions notification letter confirming the right to benefit
In addition to the above if you cannot provide two primary forms of ID
- Bank or Building Society statement
- Utility bill within the last 6 months
- Local authority tax bill for the current financial year
- Benefits of pensions notification letter confirming the right to benefit
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In general they will require a guarantor, but it does depend on the frequency and severity. To be sure please refer the scenario to us for a decision.
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- No claims will be paid if rental payments are in arrears for less than 31 days.
- Any claims not reported within 90 days from first arrears occurring. Claims reported between 60 and 90 days will incur a 1 months excess
- Any claims within the first 90 days where the policy wasn’t taken out on or before a tenancy starts, or if there hasn’t been previous cover in place.
- Claims where a tenant is already in default before the policy starts.
- End of tenancy cleaning, fees and general wear and tear cannot be included in dilapidations.
- A check in (signed by the tenant) and check out report must be completed to enable the deposit to be used against dilapidations.
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Cover is provided against the property, if a tenant moves out and a new tenant moves in cover will remain valid provided the new tenant passes referencing.
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Provided all documents are received and validated, a valid claim should be paid around 45 days after the 1st payment is missed.
Payments will continue being paid a month in arrears until eviction is achieved. If you have opted for the vacant possession cover you will receive a further two months rental cover at 75% of the monthly amount assuming the property is not let.
Any deposit taken will be used against the final payment provided it has not be used against dilapidations.
The full claims process is outlined in the claims flowchart document – Aviva-RGI-Claim.pdf (alanboswell.com)