When rent stops, it rarely stops for one reason
A landlord usually discovers the rent has stopped in one of three ways: a tenant has simply stopped paying, the property has been damaged and nobody can live in it, or the property is standing empty between tenancies. Insurers sell a cover for each of those situations, and they are not the same cover. Loss of rent, rent guarantee and the unoccupancy terms in a policy answer different events, and only one of them applies to whatever has actually happened to your let.
The confusion is understandable. The three covers are often sold by the same insurer, sometimes in the same policy document, and the word "rent" appears in all of them. Working out which one pays starts with naming what has actually happened.
When your tenant stops paying
If a tenant who is still living in the property has stopped paying rent, the cover you are looking for is rent guarantee. It pays the rent itself, usually up to a set period and subject to an excess, while the tenant remains in arrears or until possession is recovered.
Rent guarantee is conditional on steps taken before the tenancy started. Insurers typically require that the tenant was referenced to a stated standard before they moved in, covering income, employment and previous landlord checks. A claim can be refused if that referencing was not done or not kept, even where the arrears themselves are not in dispute.
- What referencing was carried out, and whether records of it were kept
- Whether the tenancy type matches what the wording names, since cover written for a fixed-term assured shorthold tenancy may not sit well with a periodic tenancy
- How a tenant claiming housing benefit or universal credit is treated under the wording
- How long the cover runs for, and what happens once a possession order is sought
The rent guarantee guide sets out what the cover pays, the referencing it requires, and how housing benefit claims are treated under typical wordings.
When the property is damaged and nobody can live in it
If the rent has stopped because the property is uninhabitable, following a fire, flood or escape of water, the relevant cover is usually loss of rent, not rent guarantee. It pays because the property cannot be lived in. It is attached to the buildings cover and only responds where the damage is caused by an insured peril named in that policy.
Because it is tied to buildings cover, loss of rent generally depends on the same conditions that govern the rest of the policy: that the peril causing the damage is one the policy actually covers, and that the property was maintained and occupied in the way the policy assumed. A claim handled under the wrong cover, or refused for a condition the landlord did not know applied, is one of the more common reasons a claim does not go the way the landlord expected.
When the property stands empty
If there is no tenant in place at all, the question is not loss of rent or rent guarantee but the policy's unoccupancy clause, sometimes called a vacancy clause depending on the insurer. This sets out what cover remains once a property is empty, and for how long.
The unoccupancy clock in many wordings starts from the day the property actually stopped being occupied, which can be before the current policy began if a tenant left some time ago. Insurers publish a range of thresholds after which cover narrows or particular perils are excluded, and most require the landlord to notify them and to maintain stated precautions, such as keeping services on and visiting the property regularly, once it is empty. The figure that applies is set by the wording in front of you.
This is the situation an accidental landlord most often meets first, inheriting a property that stands empty before it is ever let, or finding themselves holding a vacant home while deciding what to do with it. The guide on letting a home you did not plan to let covers what a landlord policy needs to show that a home policy usually does not.
What the Renters' Rights Act changed, and what it did not
Section 38 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 removes the effect of a policy term that requires a landlord to refuse tenants who claim housing benefit or universal credit, for policies taken out or renewed in England from 1 May 2026. That changes what an insurer's term can require of you; it does not change the referencing or conditions a rent guarantee policy can still ask for, and it does not touch loss of rent or unoccupancy terms at all.
The Act also moves tenancies in England from fixed terms to periodic tenancies, which matters where a rent guarantee wording was written with a fixed-term assured shorthold tenancy in mind. The guide to the Renters' Rights Act sets out what changed, what insurers may still require, and what to check at renewal. The move to periodic tenancies is covered in more detail in the note on periodic tenancies and landlord insurance.
Finding the answer to your own situation
The cover-identifier tool on this site asks what has happened to your let. It works from the answers you give it, so it can only be as accurate as those answers, and it gives an indication to check against your policy wording.
You can use it directly from the when the rent stops tool, alongside the separate timeline tool for a property standing empty.
Questions to take to your policy wording or your insurer
- Which of the three covers, loss of rent, rent guarantee or the unoccupancy terms, actually applies to what has happened?
- If rent guarantee applies, what referencing standard did the policy require before the tenancy began, and can you show it was met?
- If loss of rent applies, which perils does the buildings cover actually name, and does the cause of the damage sit inside that list?
- If the property is empty, when does the wording say the unoccupancy clock started, and what precautions does it require while it runs?
- Does the tenancy in place match the tenancy type the wording names, particularly if it has moved from a fixed term to a periodic tenancy?
Where a claim has already been refused on one of these grounds, the note on what happens when a claim is rejected sets out what insurers commonly give as reasons and what a landlord can check in response.