Free fact finder · United Kingdom
Estate and letting agents' insurance fact find
Every question the estate and letting agents' professional indemnity forms ask, asked once in plain English. Your client's answers fill each insurer's form and start your demands and needs statement.
- No login needed
- Fillable PDF with your logo
- 71 questions
- Written for UK rules
What it asks
The questions underwriters ask, in plain English.
Each one comes with a line saying why it's asked, so your client answers fully the first time.
- 1Which services does the agency provide? Tick all that apply.Each service carries a different risk. Valuations and commercial work cost the most to insure.
- 2Is the agency regulated by RICS, so it needs cover that meets RICS rules?RICS-regulated firms must hold cover on RICS's minimum terms, which only some insurers offer.
- 3Which client money protection scheme is the agency a member of?Letting agents in England that hold client money must belong to an approved scheme.
- 4For managed lets, do you always take tenant references and a deposit?Unreferenced tenants are behind many landlords' claims against agents.
- 5Is the agency responsible for the maintenance, condition or refurbishment of any property?Responsibility for a building's condition brings claims a sales-only agency never sees.
- 6Are new or changed bank details always checked by phone before paying?Fake emails with changed bank details, diverting deposits and rent, are the most common cyber loss for agencies.
The agency
Entity, RICS regulation, redress scheme, franchise, people and fee income.
Services
Tick the services, then the share of fees for each: sales, commercial agency, lettings, management, auctions and more.
Lettings and management
Tenant referencing, notices, maintenance responsibility and the blocks you manage.
Client money
Client money protection scheme, balances held and separate client accounts.
Risk, cyber and claims
Terms of business, time limits, money controls, cyber security, past claims and current insurance.
How it works
- 1
Open it and try it
Answer it on the page as your client would. Follow-up questions appear as you go. Nothing is saved.
No login
- 2
Send it, or download the PDF
Send your client a link to answer by form or chat, with reminders sent for you. Or download a fillable PDF with your logo.
PDF free, no email
- 3
Fill the insurers' forms
When your client answers, one click starts each insurer's form with their answers in, and drafts the demands and needs for you to finish.
Free 14-day trial
Minimum cover
Who sets an agent's minimum cover
No law sets a professional indemnity minimum for every agent, but membership bodies and the client money rules do.
- Propertymark
- Members must show professional indemnity cover each year: at least £100,000 with no lettings or management, £150,000 with lettings fee income up to £150,000, and £500,000 above that.
- RICS
- Regulated firms need cover of at least £250,000 with turnover up to £100,000, £500,000 up to £200,000, and £1 million above that.
- GOV.UK: client money protection
- In England, letting and property management agents that hold client money must belong to a government-approved client money protection scheme, or face a fine of up to £30,000. Scotland and Wales have their own rules.
- GOV.UK: redress schemes
- Estate agents dealing with residential property must belong to a government-approved redress scheme, as must letting agents and property managers in England.
A summary, not advice. Check each body's current rules before setting a limit.
Free tool or a free trial
The fact finder is free. A trial does the forms.
Free, no login
Everything you need to use it.
- The whole fact finder, answered as your client would
- How much of each insurer's form it fills
- Fillable PDF with your firm's logo
With a 14-day free trial
Your client answers once. No card needed.
- Send it as a link: answered by form or chat, with reminders
- Upload a PDF your client filled in and the answers are read in
- Start each insurer's form with your client's answers in
- A first draft of the demands and needs statement
- Next year, your client only confirms what changed
Before you ask
Questions about the estate and letting agents fact finder.
- Is the estate and letting agents' fact finder really free?
- Yes. Answer it on the page as your client would, and download it as a fillable PDF with your logo, with no login and no email. Sending it to a client as a link comes with a free 14-day trial.
- How does it fill the insurers' forms?
- Each question is linked to the same question on the insurers' forms in the Coverbound Form Library. When your client answers the fact finder, starting an insurer's form puts their answers in, and your client confirms them instead of typing them again. The rest of each form, mostly tables of names, matters and past claims, they answer there.
- Which insurers' forms does it fill?
- Proposal forms from Elmlake (estate and lettings agents) and Travelers (surveyors and estate agents). The page shows how much of each one it fills.
- Does it cover letting agents as well as estate agents?
- Yes. Lettings, property management and block management have their own questions, alongside sales.
- Does it work out the cover my client needs?
- No. It collects what your client tells you and drafts a demands and needs summary in their own words for you to finish. The advice is yours.
Ask once. Fill every form.
Open the fact finder, try it as your client and download the fillable PDF. No login needed.
Open the fact finder