Landlord boiler insurance is three things in a trenchcoat: a legal duty, a service, and a repair contract. Only one of them is compulsory, only one of them actually fixes anything, and the third is what most people mean by insurance. Separating them makes the purchase straightforward.
The duty
An annual gas safety check by a Gas Safe registered engineer on every gas appliance, fitting and flue, with the record given to the tenant within the statutory period and to any new tenant at the start of their tenancy. Compulsory, fixed in scope, and independent of any contract you buy.
The service and the repair contract
A service is a maintenance visit, usually combined with the safety check in one appointment. A repair contract pays for breakdowns, subject to exclusions for age, wear and unevidenced past servicing. Most products bundle all three, which is convenient and is why landlords conflate them.
When a contract stops being worth it
When the boiler is old enough for the age exclusions to bite, which is precisely when it breaks down most. At that point the honest arithmetic favours replacement over another year of cover, and a landlord who keeps renewing a contract on an ageing system is paying for a product designed not to answer.
Questions people ask about landlord boiler insurance
Is boiler cover compulsory for landlords?
No. The annual gas safety check and the record given to the tenant are. A service or repair contract is optional.
Will it repair an old boiler?
Subject to age and servicing exclusions, which frequently bite on exactly the systems most likely to fail.
Does my landlord policy cover boiler breakdown?
No. Home emergency attends and makes a failure safe up to a limit. Repair and replacement are maintenance costs.