Student accommodation insurance is asked about by three different people: a landlord letting a shared house, a student insuring their own belongings, and an operator running purpose built accommodation. The building, the contents and the liability sit with different parties in each case, and the confusion between them is the whole of the question.
The landlord letting a student house
Needs a student or HMO landlord policy: buildings, landlord contents for the furnishings, liability at a limit reflecting the number of occupants, loss of rent against total room income, accidental damage, and crucially an unoccupancy allowance that covers the long vacation. A standard landlord wording usually does not.
The student in a room
Insures their own possessions. Several insurers sell room by room student contents policies and some parental home policies extend to a student's belongings away at university. It is the student's purchase and no landlord policy substitutes for it, which is worth saying in the welcome pack.
Purpose built student accommodation
Operated as a commercial building rather than a let house, insured on commercial property terms with employers liability for on site staff, public liability reflecting large numbers of residents, and business interruption rather than loss of rent. Residents insure their own belongings, often through a block scheme the operator arranges.
Questions people ask about student accommodation insurance
Who insures a student house?
The landlord insures the building and their own contents; each student insures their own belongings. Neither covers the other.
Is a student house an HMO?
Where students from more than one household share a kitchen or bathroom, generally yes, and licensing may apply.
What about the summer vacation?
A specialist student landlord policy handles the long void either by extending the unoccupancy allowance or by treating the property as occupied while the tenancy runs.