Being a landlord can also be time-consuming, and you face potential liabilities that could cost you. From property damage to accidents involving tenants or visitors, unforeseen events can strain your finances—if you’re unprepared. For example, if a tenant trips on a walkway leading to your property and is injured, you could face legal costs and be responsible for paying their medical expenses.
Whether you’re renting out a single-family home or a multi-unit property in Canada, here’s what you should know about landlord insurance.
Landlord insurance vs. homeowner insurance: What’s the difference?
“Can I use home insurance to cover my rental property?” you might wonder. Home owner insurance and landlord insurance are both types of property insurance, but they have different types of coverage and address different risks. Home owner insurance is only designed to cover you if you reside at the property.
Here are other key differences:
A private home owner insurance policy is not designed to cover damage and loss or liability risks related to renting or leasing out a home, condo, basement apartment or other type of property. It also doesn’t typically cover short-term rentals, for those who use home-sharing platforms like Airbnb or Vrbo.
What coverages does a landlord insurance policy include?
A landlord insurance policy typically includes the following types of coverages:
- Liability coverage: General liability protects against third-party property damage, bodily injury claims and lawsuits—for instance, if you are sued for bodily injury damages by a tenant or a visitor to your property when they get injured from a slip or fall.
- Property coverage: Property insurance pays for damages to your rental property and its contents from unexpected events out of your control, such as a fire, a natural disaster, water damage, theft and vandalism. It also includes:
- Rental income coverage to replace lost rent payments if a property is temporarily uninhabitable after a covered claim, up to a specified limit.
- Contents coverage for items that are not permanently attached to a building, such as kitchen appliances.
- Equipment coverage: Equipment insurance covers the costs to repair or replace equipment, such as a unit’s kitchen appliances and the building’s HVAC system, if it is broken or damaged due to an internal mechanical or electrical issue.
There are additional types of insurance you can add to a landlord insurance policy to up your protection, such as:
- Overland flood insurance: Many property policies do not include overland flood insurance. It covers your expenses if a freshwater flood caused by extreme weather, a spring thaw or an overflowing body of water inflicts internal and external damage to your property or enters the dwelling from the basement, roof, windows and doors.
- Sewer backup insurance: If a municipal sanitary sewer damages your rental property and floods your home through drains and septic tanks, sewer backup insurance covers cleaning up the mess.
- Earthquake insurance: If your rental property is located in an area that is prone to earthquakes, adding earthquake insurance to your policy can cover losses and damages to your property and contents caused by earthquakes.
- Legal expense insurance: If you have a tenant who refuses to pay the rent and you want to evict them, you’ll likely face a lengthy and expensive legal battle. Legal expense insurance is by far a more economical option. It provides access to a 24/7 legal helpline through which you can get information about your rights and options as a landlord, as well as confidential general legal assistance.
How to get comprehensive, low-cost landlord insurance quickly
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