Look for the best rental property insurance for your needs
As a rental property owner, you will have specific insurance protection needs. Having the right landlord insurance policy will protect your investments.
Your rental property may be a complex property with multiple units and occupancy types or a dwelling. Rental property insurance can be written on a dwelling fire policy or a business owners commercial policy. It depends on how the property is titled and the occupancy of the rental dwelling.
At Huff Insurance, we can help you with all sort of rental properties:
- Rental Dwellings
- Rental Condos
- Mixed Used Rentals– commercial/residential
- Seasonal Rentals
- Home Sharing Rentals
When deciding on the right rental property insurance, you need to consider more than just the property and liability insurance. You also have rental income that you need to protect!
When the property is written on a dwelling fire policy form there is usually a limit of 10% of the dwelling for rental income. Rental Income coverage can be increased for an additional premium.
Factors to consider to determining the proper amount of rental income coverage are:
- the time that it will take you to rebuild after a loss
- the period of time that you will be without the income
On a commercial form, the business income could be handled several ways.
- Actual loss sustained for 12 or 24 months
- A coinsurance percentage, or
- A monthly limitation for coverage.
How do you know if a personal or a commercial rental property insurance policy is the right fit for you?
There are a variety of things that come in to play:
- How is the property titled? If the property is in your personal name, then it is usually on a personal policy. If the property is titled in an LLC name, then it depends on if other properties or businesses are owned by the LLC and who the members are of the LLC. If it is titled to a corporation then it should be on a commercial policy.
- Occupancy- generally, dwelling fire insurance policies will only offer coverage provided that the occupancy is less 1-2 family and residential use. Any commercial occupancy in the building will prevent it from being insured by a personal lines policy.
- Seasonal rentals/Home Sharing- depending on the amount and type of the units being rented and the number of days a year will determine if a personal lines or commercial policy is the best fit.
What happens if your rental property is unoccupied or vacant?
Depending on the policy, most policies will allow for vacancies up to about 45 days. But beyond that there is limited coverage and the carrier will usually not stay on the property for too long. Huff Insurance can also offer you a vacant dwelling insurance policy when you have these situations. Or when you need to fix up the property while it is vacant we can offer you a vacant under renovations policy.
No matter the type of rental property that you have, Huff Insurance can help you with your landlord insurance needs.
What can you do to help reduce your cost and your liability as being a landlord?
- Have a written lease in place with all tenants, including seasonal and home sharing occupancy
- Require all tenants to provide you with proof that they have personal liability coverage of $500,000 minimum. Get an updated copy each year for your file.
- Require an application to become a tenant
- Run applicant screenings (credit, background, and past eviction)
- Arrange for regular property inspections
- Prohibit smoking in the rental property
- If you are more than 50 miles away from the rental property, hire a property management service
Doing these things will help protect you, the landlord, if there is a claim. And some carriers may reduce the premiums for your landlord insurance.
When needing repairs to your rental property, make sure that you only work with licensed, and insured contractors. Too many times, the claim to the rental property occurred due to the negligence of an non-licensed and/or uninsured contractor.
Rental properties are a great way to add an additional revenue stream for your family. Do not take the rental property insurance for granted. Make sure that you have the best landlord insurance protection for your needs.
Contact Huff Insurance Today
Huff Insurance is a Trusted Choice Independent Insurance Agency. Our experienced team has been dealing with landlord insurance for decades. In fact, our owners are also own rental properties, so they have first hand knowledge of what it takes to protect you, the landlord.
Fill out the form or call us at 410-647-1111 today!