by Trevor Juntunen

Created on: August 31, 2009

As a landlord, you need to look at insurance to protect your property investment. The kind of insurance you need will vary depending on your specific rental buildings. Rental properties come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from a single family dwelling to a multi-story apartment complex.

The simplest rentals to insure are homes. These dwellings can range from a one family dwelling up to a four family dwelling. Any standard insurance carrier (i.e. your home insurance company) that writes a dwelling fire product can provide an insurance policy. Each policy can contain a limit on the dwelling value, other structures if any are present, contents if needed and loss of rental income. Liability can be purchased on each policy also. This is an excellent way to obtain insurance protection if you have only a few rental dwellings.

If you have rentals that contain more than four apartments, or have buildings that have a mixture of commercial rental space and apartments, you will need to look at a Commercial Package Policy (CPP) or Business Owners Policy (BOP). These policies will allow you to insure more than one building, and sometimes more than one location, all in one package. This can be a tidy way to have all of your rentals insured. The package contains coverage on the building, both for the rental and any other structures as listed on the policy and contents, if you own any of the appliances or rent out furnished apartments. Loss of income due to damage from a covered peril can also be added. One liability policy covers all of the insured properties under this package.

The limit of liability available under a CPP or BOP is often much higher than that which can be secured on an individual dwelling fire insurance policy. This might lead you to mix and match policies to obtain the best coverage at the best price. It is possible to have several individual dwelling fire policies on rental homes with one CPP liability policy to coverage all the risks.

If you are renting out apartments or homes on a short term basis (daily or weekly) versus a normal six month or year long lease, you might need to insured your rental property as a lodging establishment.

One thing to always remember, your insurance policy as a landlord only covers contents that you own. It does not cover the possessions of the tenant. These are the responsibility of the tenant to insure.

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