If you own and rent or own and plan to rent you need to consider purchasing buy to let property insurance.  Ordinarily you can buy cheap buy-to-let property insurance in the event that you rent five or less properties in the UK than is the case if you rent more than five properties, as in the case of the former you are seen as a small time landlord with a small business, whereas in the latter you are seen as a full blown property-owning company.  It really doesn’t matter how many homes you plan to rent, you need to have this minimum type of coverage to protect yourself and your assets.  Consequently, the number of properties you own will have a bearing only insofar as the insurance premiums are concerned.  

There are some minimum provisions that you must have in your buy to let property insurance.  If you do not see these provisions in your policy you need to keep shopping as these are the provisions that are going to protect you from catastrophic loss:

Fire

Insuring against any fire on the property and protecting you from replacement or rebuilding costs.

Natural Disaster

Insuring against natural disasters that may occur, such as a storm where the winds tear off your roof cause catastrophic damage to the property.

Theft

This will protect you from the theft of the property at any time.  In the event that you are renting out unfurnished premises, you may wish to have a discussion with your tenants about whether or not they should have home contents insurance

Public Liability Insurance

This will protect you from claims against you if injury should occur while someone is on the property.

Lost Earnings

This will protect you if your property remains empty for awhile despite trying to find new tenants.  If you are relying on the rental income from your tenants to repay the money you borrowed to purchase the property, you need to ensure you have lost earnings insurance to compensate you during this period

Employee Liability Insurance

If you have employees who will visit the property for you to repair any damage, etc. or to collect the rental payments, then you need to make sure that you have employee liability insurance in case they get injured while carrying out their assigned task

Legal Expenses Insurance

As a property owner you may find the need from time to time to retain the services of a lawyer; for example, if your tenants refuse to pay their rent or move out of the property at a specified agreed time – when you may need to get an eviction notice.  As legal expenses in the UK can be expensive, you should consider insuring against this risk by having in place a provision of legal expenses in your insurance policy.

This is by no means and exhaustive list of the items that you should have in your policy, but this is a great start.  If you do not see these provisions, you need to look for another policy that will offer you these coverage options