Insurance on Rental Properties - What is Correct?

When you own a rental property, it is important to be certain that the property is well protected and insured. As a landlord, you have specific needs when it comes to rental insurance, just as your tenant has their own needs as a renter! insuranceRental property insurance, or landlord insurance, will cover the risks associated with renting a home or condo. This type of insurance will cover things like:

• Loss of rental income
• Property damage
• Liability costs

Insurance will cover a vacation home or an investment property – and will help protect you from financial risk associated with tenants living in your property.

Rental Property Insurance – What Does It Cover?

Landlord insurance coverage varies. A typically policies cover the property dwelling or structure, any property belonging to the landlord, loss of rental income, and liability coverage. This policy is usually similar to homeowner’s insurance, but homeowner’s insurance would not count for any tenants on the property.

Dwelling Coverage

Dwelling coverage in a rental property will cover physical damage to the building. If something happens to the walls or roof, but no items inside the building belonging to the tenant – this is covered by dwelling coverage. Dwelling coverage only extends to damage caused by peril. It is important to speak to your insurance agent to understand what peril is. This can be defined as fire, lightning or other issues listed by your insurance carrier.

How to Ensure Your Property is Covered

Renter’s property insurance does not cover items owned by your tenant. But this will cover items owned by you left on the property. If you own the lawn equipment used to landscape or remove snow on the property and it is damaged in a fire or flood – renters property insurance will cover this. However, a lawnmower owned by a tenant will not be covered by your insurance policy.

Not all insurance policies include renter’s property coverage. This is something that should be checked on when shopping for insurance policies.

Liability Coverage

What is liability coverage? If your tenant has a visitor on the property that injures themselves and you are deemed liable for the accident, liability insurance will protect you from legal and medical costs associated with this issue. While coverage may not seem sufficient, there are other “umbrella insurance” policies that you can get to increase your policy coverage at any time.

Loss of Rent Coverage

This type of coverage is exactly what it sounds like. Should your property become uninhabitable due to peril covered in the policy, your coverage provides you protection against loss of rental payments during this time.

For example, if fires are covered under rental property insurance and your property is damaged due to fire, rental income protection covers you for rental payments. Typically, coverage will hold for around 12 months and this policy is not standard with most policies. Ask to purchase before signing into your policy without loss of rent coverage.

Different Rental Property Insurance Policies

Just like homeowner’s insurance, rental property insurance has different types of policies called “forms”. These forms have different coverage levels, and each below are generalized.

• DP-1: “DP” or Dwelling Policy, is how rental property insurance is categorized. DP-1 is the least expensive and most basic coverage. This includes named perils in the policy, and anything additional will not be covered.
• DP-2: While providing more coverage than the DP-1 , DP-2 also only pays out on named perils, but will include a larger list. Coverage is typically done on a replacement cost basis – damage is covered at the price of current market value.
• DP-3: While the most expensive option, this policy provides the biggest range of coverage. It protects against all perils except those excluded in the policy.

Optional Additions

Rental insurance has additional options that will vary by the insurance company. However, there are several endorsements that can be added into your policy.

• Vandalism coverage
• Ordinance or law coverage
• These are the two most common additions to insurance policies when not already listed.

At Alpha Omega Disaster Restoration, we know that different problems can creep up into rental properties without warning. We provide disaster restoration services to assist in clean up in your rental property when problems strike. Our team is certified in fire, water, and mold remediation. We work with most insurance companies and will guide you through the process of claims and collecting any necessary documentation needed before an insurance company will pay for repairs.
Call us for more information when you need restoration services 24 hours a day.