A property manager is exposed twice over: to the physical risks of buildings they do not own, and to the professional risk of handling other people's money and decisions. The landlord's own policy answers for neither.
Professional indemnity is the centre of it
The claims a managing agent faces are about decisions: a repair not arranged, a safety certificate not obtained, a service charge miscalculated, a lease term misapplied, a tenant referenced badly. All are financial losses caused by the service rather than physical damage, so professional indemnity is the operative cover. Limits are commonly driven by the value of the portfolios managed and by what the client contracts require, and a managing agent handling blocks with substantial service charge budgets is expected to carry more than one handling single lets.
Client money, and the rules around it
Agents holding rent, deposits and service charge funds are handling client money, and the sector's client money protection requirements apply. That is a scheme membership obligation rather than an insurance one, though the two are often bought together and an insurer will ask which scheme you belong to. Separately, fidelity or crime cover answers for money taken by your own staff, which professional indemnity does not.
Public liability on buildings you do not own
Property managers and their staff visit, inspect and arrange work on premises belonging to clients. Public liability answers for injury and damage caused during that, and the care custody and control question arises whenever keys, equipment or the fabric of a building is involved. Where an agent also directly employs cleaners, caretakers or maintenance staff, employers' liability follows and the work those people do is rated rather than the office.
What the landlord's policy does not do for you
A landlord's buildings policy insures the building and the landlord's own property owners' liability. It does not insure the agent, it does not answer for the agent's advice, and it does not respond when the agent failed to arrange something the landlord asked for. Agents who rely on being named on a client's policy are usually named as an interested party rather than as an insured, which gives them notice of changes and no right to claim.
Questions people ask about property management insurance
What insurance does a managing agent need?
Professional indemnity for the service, public liability for visits and works, employers' liability for staff, and crime or fidelity cover where client money is held.
Is client money protection insurance?
No. It is a scheme membership requirement for agents holding client money, separate from the insurance programme though often arranged alongside it.
Does the landlord's policy cover the agent?
No. An agent is usually noted as an interested party rather than insured, which gives notice of changes rather than a right to claim.