With over 100 offices worldwide Towergate has fast become one of the UK's leading insurance providers, boasting over 200 specialist policies to suit a wealth of different needs. From car insurance to home insurance, Towergate prides itself in offering bespoke cover at competitive prices. Indeed, they work closely with a panel of renowned providers including the likes of AXA and Zurich to ensure you get the best deal.

So, how good is Towergate insurance really? And importantly, how good is their landlord insurance offer specifically? Well, in order to make a little more sense of this we'll need to explore more than just ratings and reviews. Let's take a look...

In This Review

• Towergate Landlord Insurance: Overall Review
  • Why choose Towergate Landlord insurance?
  • Customer Reviews and Ratings
  • How much is Towergate Landlord insurance?
  • What is and isn’t covered?
  • How does Towergate Landlord insurance compare to its competitors
• How to Claim
• Towergate Landlord insurance: discounts and savings
• FAQ’s

Towergate Landlord Insurance Overall Review

How does Towergate's landlord insurance offer compare to it's big name rivals? Well, the answer is not quite as straightforward as you might think. Let's discuss.

Towergate was first created in 1997 and has since grown into an international powerhouse, working with some of the UK's (and worlds!) leading insurance providers including AXA, Aviva and Zurich. With a panel full of experts, Towergate prides itself in offering comprehensive and flexible cover to suit your specific needs, shying away from the 'one size fits all' philosophy.

Because of this Towergate is able to offer insurance covering a wealth of different areas of the market, from boat, car, equine, tradesman, landlord insurance and everything in between. Furthermore, Towergate provides a range of specialist policies covering even the most 'risky' tenant types — from DSS, students to asylum seekers!

Whilst this level of flexibility is good in some ways and provides options for landlords who have been unable to find cover elsewhere, it can be a nuisance in others. Namely, when trying to review a specific insurance offer!

In the case of Landlord insurance, it is slightly more difficult to determine whether Towergate's product is the same, better or worse than its rivals. Towergate is different to many other landlord insurance providers in that it can be considered an insurance broker rather than an insurance provider per se. As Towergate works closely with a panel of insurance experts who underwrite their policies, it can be difficult to say whether there overall landlord insurance offer is truly worth it. Your specific landlord policy and level of coverage will vary significantly depending on the insurer that has underwritten your policy, in simple terms, the insurer responsible for deciding who and what is covered in your policy and at what cost.

If we take Towergate in its entirety it appears to be highly regarded by its customers. It has earned a Feefo rating of 4.6 out of 5 which indicates an exceptional customer experience. However, this along with many other star ratings and reviews for Towergate are not landlord insurance specific.

Taking the company as a whole (i.e. not landlord insurance specifically), it would appear that customers are generally satisfied with their experience which is a good sign to begin with. Towergate scores a very impressive 4.6 out of 5 according to Feefo, and this is across over 4,200 ratings from this past year alone! However, Towergate scores a 'great' 4.1 out of 5 overall across over 1,000 customer reviews on Trustpilot, this again is a reflection of all insurance products that Towergate offer, rather than their landlord insurance specifically. We'll delve into the nuances of these scores below.

So what does this mean for landlords and how can we gage whether Towergate's landlord insurance is really worth considering? In this review we'll cover all you need to know about Towergate, including what is and isn't typically included in their landlord insurance offer as well as landlord-specific feedback and sample quotes to help you make the most informed decision.

It's worth mentioning again, however, that this review is designed to give you an idea of what Towergate insurance could offer you. Due to the fact Towergate works with a panel of insurers you may find your level of coverage differs from that which we were given and your price may be higher or lower, so keep this is mind throughout.

Why choose Towergate Landlord Insurance?

Towergate landlord insurance comes with a range of benefits that will appeal to both experts and first-time landlords. Here are a few we feel are worth knowing about:

Towergate Landlord insurance reviews and ratings

^Note, this rating is based on only 84 customer reviews so use as a guide only as the results are not statistically significant.

We found very mixed reviews for Towergate, though it's important to remember that these ratings are a reflection of the company as a whole and not their landlord insurance specifically. With this in mind, it's best to take these ratings with a pinch of salt.

Towergate scores exceptionally well for its customer experience according to Feefo, earning a very high 4.6 out of 5 (from over 26,000 customers! this seems to be where most customers leave their reviews...), and the same can be said for its Trustpilot rating, where they score a 'great' 4.2 out of 5 (and it's risen recently, a sign of improving experience for customers). Unfortunately, Towergate is rated a disappointing 1.1 out of 5 according to the customer ratings website Review Centre. This latter figure is based on a small sample size of 84 reviews however, and whilst this alone does not invalidate this rating completely we would recommend not taking this figure at face value!

Taken together it is difficult to say whether Towergate is a competent landlord insurance provider. Let's take a look at some landlord-specific customer feedback to see whether we can gain some clarity.

What does Towergate Landlord insurance do well?

When we look at feedback from verified landlord insurance customers there are a few areas that Towergate appear to perform well in. Positive reviews tend to highlight their knowledgeable customer advisors who have an ability to communicate complex information in a clear and easy to understand way. Many other customers praise Towergate on their specialist cover, particularly for more 'unique' situations involving non-standard properties.

It appears that Towergate's main strength is that is has found its niche in the market and does this well, so may an option for any landlords who have struggled to find more bespoke coverage elsewhere.

"I like the telephone reminders as my emails are often overflowing and I may miss the renewal notice. You are good at what you do. Onshore phone centre with well informed and helpful people."

“Easy to use, knowledgeable staff when asking queries. All information given swiftly and made easy to understand”

“Had some difficulties getting a quote on the website due to my own misunderstandings so called through. Manged to sort my query and get a very reasonable quote and a policy with minimum fuss. One of the few companies that offer cover for Airbnb properties”

“Friendly, professional and responsive to my needs, providing a very thorough service at a very competitive price”

“Very helpful overall- sorted out my problems and understood my rather unique situation”

“Despite the complexity of the policy required (landlord cover on a property still in probate) setting it up was straightforward, the level of cover and price were also very good”

What could Towergate Landlord insurance improve?

As with all insurance products there is certainly room for improvement, and from our research we noticed a few different areas we feel it's worth keeping in mind.

Customers have called out a less than stellar customer service experience, with many becoming frustrated with 'unhelpful' and 'rude' staff. Many have also expressed that their claims process can be difficult and more complicated owing to the fact Towergate is an insurance broker rather than the provider. Because of this it is difficult to deal with them directly, instead having to go through third-party underwriters and we found many customers have highlighted that this makes them feel like Towergate simply does not care for them.

“Customer service is off the scale bad, I have had landlord cover on several properties. They don't call you back and then argue with you to say they have. They are rude and unhelpful, and clearly too big to care”

“I have used this company for four years in April we had 2 sheets blow off our house veranda roof. I contacted Towergate who after two weeks and many phone calls saying I would be rung back which I never was. Eventually I got an email saying The speediest way to get a claim processed is to call AXA insurance directly. In other words we are your Broker but cant be bothered to sort it out”

“They cancelled my landlords policy without my consent and then emailed me 3 weeks later to inform me? I immediately called them as I have over 6 properties on this policy only to be told I requested the cancellation...I asked for call recordings which they cannot provide. They have offered me a new policy and are dealing with my complaint”

“Terrible, no prompt response, never been treated like this, unqualified with very low knowledge just avoid this company”

“The promise: 'With Towergate you can be confident that, in the event of the worst happening, your claim will be handled by a dedicated claims team offering the exemplary, fast and efficient service that we expect from our own teams and from our partners' The truth: 'Unfortunately the claim is out of our hands at this moment in time as we do not have any delegated authority on the claim to be able to make the decisions as we are the brokers not the insurers'”

Of course, it is important to note the fact that sometimes customers simply overlook the fine print within their policy. It’s no surprise given how long landlord insurance policy documents can be and the fact they are full of jargon and come with a long list of conditions and exclusions!

It is always good to bear this in mind when reading reviews left by frustrated customers and we always recommend reading your policy carefully to ensure you don't end up in a similar situation.

How much is Towergate Landlord insurance?

As we discussed previously, Towergate is slightly different to other landlord insurance providers as they work with a panel of insurers, all of whom determine who and what is covered, along with how much this cover will cost. So, when you request a quote for landlord insurance through Towergate you will find you are given a variety of quotes from different members of this panel, and these will often range in price, too.

Keeping this in mind, we have compiled quotes for a 1 bedroom flat located outside of London in a mid-sized town, with a rebuild value of £200,000 to give you a view of what a no-frills policy could cost you. We found that with buildings insurance and property owners liability of £2million as standard, Towergate provided us with a sample quote of £220 — the fourth most expensive quote we received! In fact, this sample quote is 12% higher than the average across all the sample quotes below.

Costs can really vary so it's important to check prices from multiple sources and understand what's included

Of course these quotes are intended to be used as a guideline as they are sample quotes only, and your quotes may be higher or lower depending on your own individual circumstances. Also, remember that Towergate works with a panel of insurers which means the cost is further subject to variation depending on who has underwritten your policy.

Not only does this affect the cost of a policy but also the level of coverage. Let's take a look at what is and isn't typically included within Towergate's landlord insurance offer...

What is/isn’t covered by Towergates's Landlord insurance?

First let's take a look at what was included within our sample quote of £220, for a 1-bedroom flat in the UK with a rebuild value of £200,000. The specific policy offered to us was underwritten by Pen Underwriting, so the type and level of cover offered to you may differ if your policy is underwritten by a different provider or is simply a different policy from Pen.

Optional add-ons

In addition to the coverage above, which may or may not be included as standard or available as ad ons, the following coverages may be available as well:

Missing features

There are some features that either aren’t offered in Towergate's standard cover or aren’t available to purchase as an add on. These features are worth knowing about as they do provide that added layer of protection if something were to happen and could save you a lot of money, so going without these could be risky.

Exclusions: What isn’t included?

As with almost any type of insurance, landlord insurance often contains some exclusions that are good to be aware of so you don’t get caught out. Towergate and their panel of insurers are no different, so we’ve outlined a few key ones below:

Another key point to remember as a landlord of a rented property is that if your property is unoccupied for longer than the period of time outlined in your policy, any damage or losses that occur within this time will often not be covered by your insurer.

The policy we received from Towergate (underwritten by Pen Underwriting) offers an unoccupancy period of 30 days, but we always recommend minimizing the length of time your rental property is vacant regardless to avoid the risk of break-ins and theft.

How does Towergate Landlord Insurance Compare to Competitors?

To better understand the value of Towergate Landlord insurance you need to look at it in the context of other available options. We compared it to other plans in the market so you can see which may be more suitable for you.

Towergate Landlord Insurance vs AXA Landlord Insurance

With top-rated features and an ‘excellent’ customer experience rating of 4.3 out of 5, AXA is certainly a firm favourite amongst experts and consumers alike. And for good reason — this multiple-award winning provider goes the extra mile, offering a 24 hour glass-replacement service, inflation protection and free access to a 24 hour emergency helpline for emergencies and legal advice.

AXA appears to hover around the same price point as Towergate, and they offer an exceptional level of standard cover which includes accidental damage, loss of rental income and malicious damage by tenants. With a range of discounts for both new and existing customers, it is certainly worth considering.

Bottom line: AXA could be another ideal choice for landlords looking for a policy that covers (almost) all the bases, without the need to factor in extra costs incurred by adding on optional extras.

Towergate Landlord Insurance vs CIA Landlord Insurance

Specializing in non-standard property and tenant types, CIA works with a panel of leading insurers to ensure you get the right level of coverage. This means it is excellent for comparing cover and prices, however, this does also mean it can vary depending on the insurer who has underwritten your policy. At the lower end, our research found CIA to be one of the cheapest options on the market, but at the highest end we found it to be one of the most expensive, so it's certainly worth taking a look!

Nevertheless, CIA offer a high level of standard cover — typically this includes buildings, contents, accidental damage, loss of rental income and employer's liability, rivaling Towergate. Unlike Towergate, however, CIA offers rent guarantee which provides an added layer of financial protection should you want it.

Bottom line: with excellent customer feedback, CIA could be perfect for landlords looking for comprehensive cover with the freedom to tailor their cover to suit their needs. CIA is also an excellent contender for landlords renting non-standard properties or to more risky tenants.

Towergate Landlord Insurance vs LV= Landlord Insurance

One of the UK’s leading providers, LV= specializes in many different insurance areas. This multi-award winning provider receives glowing customer feedback so is certainly a firm favourite amongst experts and customers alike. Not only that, its cover is top rated for features compared to market averages.

Though some customers have noted higher renewal fees and lack of rewards for loyal customers, we found LV= to be one of the cheapest providers we sampled from so it might be worth taking a look. Even with its low price LV=’s coverage certainly packs a punch — its extensive cover includes £5m landlord liability, accidental damage, malicious damage by tenants as well as loss of rental income as standard.

Bottom Line: Don’t be fooled by the low premiums, LV= is certainly an option for price-savvy landlords looking for a value offer without compromising on cover.

How to make a claim on Towergate's Landlord insurance

Unlike some other landlord insurers Towergate work with a panel of experts which means that any policy you take out will be underwritten by any one of these providers. For this reason you will often find you deal directly with the insurer named in your policy documentation should you wish to make a claim rather than Towergate themselves, so make sure you are familiar with who this is.

Fortunately however, Towergate do have a centralized point of contact making it easy for all landlords to get in touch with their claims department:

You can find all the information you need on Towergate’s website, but we’ve listed the key contact details below:

Before you decide to make a claim, we recommend that you read your policy wording carefully to ensure that you are indeed covered. If you are, you may be asked to provide certain details and documentation such as your policy number, photographic evidence of your loss or damage, receipts and invoices so it’s always a good idea to have these handy, or be prepared to acquire these if necessary to avoid delay.

Towergate Landlord insurance: discounts and savings

At the time of writing we were unable to find any specific promotional codes or discounts listed on Towergate's website, however, you may find some that pop-up throughout the year on dedicated discount code websites, so be sure to keep an eye out for these.

Luckily however we have put together an ultimate guide full of simple tips and tricks you can use that might help you save some pennies on your landlord insurance — you can check it out here!