Landlords can spend years building a property portfolio; they will research locations, compare mortgage rates, calculate rental yields and think carefully about when to buy, sell or refinance.
But there is one question that can receive far less attention: what happens to that portfolio if you die or become seriously ill?
This is not simply about protecting the value of the properties themselves, as where there is mortgage debt attached to a portfolio, the people left behind may also inherit the responsibility of dealing with that borrowing.
Recent figures suggest this is an issue worth thinking about, and research published by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in January found that 58% of adults do not hold a pure protection product, such as life insurance, critical illness cover or income protection.
Of those without cover, 59% had not considered their protection needs during the previous five years. The FCA repeated these findings when it published its final Pure Protection Market Study in September.
For landlords, that gap can carry an extra risk because many are both older and still have mortgage debt.
Many landlords still have substantial borrowing
The 2024 English Private Landlord Survey found that almost two-thirds, or 64%, of individual landlords in England were aged 55 or over, with the median landlord aged 59.
At the same time, 59% of landlords had some form of borrowing secured against at least one rental property, and among landlords with borrowing, the median loan-to-value ratio was 52%, with the median value of loans and other borrowing was £224,000.
This matters because mortgage payments do not stop simply because the person who built and managed the portfolio is no longer able to make those payments. If a landlord dies, their family may suddenly have to deal with the mortgages, tenants, maintenance and management of the properties or if the landlord becomes seriously ill or cannot work, they may face the same financial commitments while their own income has fallen.
Rental income may continue, of course, but that does not mean there will be no disruption. A family member who has never managed rental property may need to appoint a letting or managing agent and there may also be voids, repairs, tax bills and mortgage payments to meet.
Without enough cash or insurance in place, selling one or more properties may become necessary, but the problem is that the sale could then take place because money is needed quickly rather than because it is the right time to sell and selling property can take time.
Protection insurance cannot remove those choices, but it can help stop them becoming the only choices available.
Protection is not just about your home
Life insurance is often discussed when someone takes out a residential mortgage, but the same basic question applies to landlords: if you were no longer here, how would the debt be repaid or serviced?
The FCA's research found that covering a mortgage or other loans was the objective given by 45% of people with term insurance. It also found that people buying income protection, commonly wanted replacement income if they could no longer work.
The amount and type of cover needed will depend on the individual, as a landlord with one lowly geared property is in a very different position from someone with several highly mortgaged properties.
It is therefore worth looking at the total borrowing, rental income, other assets, the ownership structure of the properties and what the family would want to happen to the portfolio.
Do insurers actually pay claims?
One concern I sometimes hear is that insurers will look for a reason not to pay, but the figures do not support that view.
Data from the Association of British Insurers and Group Risk Development shows that 97.9% of individual protection claims were paid in 2025. Insurers paid £5.15 billion across individual life insurance, critical illness and income protection claims, with 258,000 new claims paid and an average claim of £19,300.
The ABI says the proportion of individual claims paid has remained at or above 97.9% for more than a decade. Common reasons for claims being declined include relevant medical information not being disclosed when the policy was taken out or the claim not meeting the definition set out in the policy, so that makes getting the application right from the start important.
Protection needs can change as the portfolio grows
Also, taking out cover once is not necessarily enough, as a landlord may have arranged life insurance when buying their first property, but since then bought another three or four properties and taken on much more borrowing.
The FCA found that only 31% of policyholders had reviewed their protection needs in the previous year, while 34% had not done so in the previous four years. Its research also showed that people who had reviewed their needs more recently were more likely to believe their protection needs were being met.
Separate research from LifeSearch and the HomeOwners Alliance in 2026 found that 40% of homeowners had never reviewed or considered their protection needs. Obviously, building a property portfolio can take decades, but protecting what you have built does not need to.
For landlords with outstanding mortgage debt, it is worth asking a simple question: if something happened tomorrow, could the portfolio carry on as planned? If the answer is unclear, that is probably a good reason to review the protection already in place.
