By David Lawrenson

Contents insurance, public liability, employer's liability, terrorism, legal costs cover, rent guarantee insurance - but what do they really cover and do you need them?

There are lots of different types of cover - some provided as standard in landlords' specialist insurance policies - and some not.

So, what's really covered and what's excluded?

It's easy to convince yourself that as long as you are careful and take all necessary steps to protect your property, the risk of anything serious happening is low and so it's not worth the cost of getting insured. And anyway, don't insurers always try to wriggle out of paying anyway? So why bother?