Amidst the down times comes opportunity as Sunday Times report on a new product that would be coming to Singapore for landlords; note that this is not something new in other parts of the world.

Next month, Jardine Lloyd Thompson and QBE Insurance Group will launch a rent protection insurance policy aimed at protecting landlords of private homes and HDB flats.

The timing of this first-of-its-kind product in Singapore is perfect given rising instances of early terminations as global economic conditions worsen.

‘This is something you can find in Australia. We talked about offering it here a year ago and it is now ready,’ said Institute of Estate Agents (IEA) president Jeff Foo. ‘From feedback gathered from our members, there are more people breaking their leases early this downturn compared with the previous downturn. Landlords are not really protected.’

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If the premium of the rental insurance coverage is at 15 – 20% on a monthly basis, it would cough up to be about close to 2 months of rental fees or so for protection against tenants who abscond or defaulting their rent. Not exactly cheap if you’re talking about a normal lease of 12 months.

Again, it’s an option and another avenue for landlords to look at as we should be seeing many more defaults and absconding cases coming in when the level of expatriates leave increases.

An opportunity indeed ;)