Rental Insurance?

[Tron_fdc]

So I went and bought a rental property, and I'm having some trouble finding companies that will insure it. My existing policy doesn't, and the last place I called won't get back to me for 3-5 business days.

Can anyone who has a rental property recommend a cheap insurance company?

[Tron_fdc]

5th street 9th ave. Big pink building.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

So I went and bought a rental property, and I'm having some trouble finding companies that will insure it. My existing policy doesn't, and the last place I called won't get back to me for 3-5 business days.

Can anyone who has a rental property recommend a cheap insurance company?

I just bought some but I don't remember who I bought it from. It's like $11/month for up to a $1 million liability.

[Tron_fdc]

Originally Posted by rubecube

I just bought some but I don't remember who I bought it from. It's like $11/month for up to a $1 million liability.

That sounds right up my alley. Cheap and minimum Post the name if you remember it.

I've heard that it's hard to get rental insurance because of the grow ops in the city. Anyone else hear this?

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by rubecube

I just bought some but I don't remember who I bought it from. It's like $11/month for up to a $1 million liability.

Are you sure that's not tenant's insurance? I think Tron is asking for insurance for the owner of the renatl property; in case he has tenants like Fotze.

[Tron_fdc]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Are you sure that's not tenant's insurance? I think Tron is asking for insurance for the owner of the renatl property; in case he has tenants like Fotze.

si senor.

Ken is correct. I own the property I am renting to a couple young punks, and I want to insure it in case they have a rave.

[photon]

We've got insurance with a few different places, but I never really had a problem with them saying no. For sure I know we have some with TD and some with the Co-operators.

Often when we get a rental property, we find out who was insuring the property before and go with them, sometimes they'll transfer the policy right over without having to do a new one.

In fact insurance can be a huge deal sometimes, if a property is older and had one owner for quite a while then trying to get new insurance can be difficult, expensive, or sometimes even impossible without doing sgnificant work. I know we looked at one property once where it was a decent property, but to get it insured would have required $20-30k worth of work on the plumbing and wiring and stuff!

So now when we write offers, the ability to get acceptable insurance is part of the offer conditions so I don't end up with a property that I can't insure.

Anyway, try TD and the Cooperators, though I'm suprised your current insurance company wouldn't be willing to do something for you.

[photon]

One other thing, we now have a clause in our rental agreements where the tenant is required to get content insurance for thier stuff, and if they don't then they have to sign a seperate form to indicate they understand that your insurance doesn't cover their stuff and they knowingly declined to get content insurance and if it burns down then you don't have any responsibility.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Are you sure that's not tenant's insurance? I think Tron is asking for insurance for the owner of the renatl property; in case he has tenants like Fotze.

You're right, it is tenants insurance.

[SeeGeeWhy]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

si senor.

Ken is correct. I own the property I am renting to a couple young punks, and I want to insure it in case they have a rave.

Well, I'd say that its better to just require a damage deposit up front and screen your clients to a degree. Remember, if you treat the place like crap by putting in high risk tenants, not maintaining it, etc... then the people in there will show it the same disrespect and you'll be left with "land value" in no time.

Most insurance companies will offer renters insurance, but it is nowhere near the level of coverage that a normal home owner can get on their own place.

[SeeGeeWhy]

Originally Posted by photon

One other thing, we now have a clause in our rental agreements where the tenant is required to get content insurance for thier stuff, and if they don't then they have to sign a seperate form to indicate they understand that your insurance doesn't cover their stuff and they knowingly declined to get content insurance and if it burns down then you don't have any responsibility.

here here

[photon]

Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy

Well, I'd say that its better to just require a damage deposit up front and screen your clients to a degree. Remember, if you treat the place like crap by putting in high risk tenants, not maintaining it, etc... then the people in there will show it the same disrespect and you'll be left with "land value" in no time.

Most insurance companies will offer renters insurance, but it is nowhere near the level of coverage that a normal home owner can get on their own place.

Definately, you always want to have a security deposit of 1 month's rent, and do background checks on the tenants (we do credit reports and criminal backgrounds if we think necessary, as well as past landlord and employer references).

However we have the exact same insurance on all our rental properties as we do our own house. That mostly covers the replacement / repair costs in the event of a fire or something, tenant damage is typically covered by the security deposit and legal action if it's really bad.

We also try to check up on our tenants quarterly under the guise of checking for anything that needs repairs; if we think they're abusing the place then we might take some actions.

It can be really hard to kick someone out sometimes (the courts heavily favour the tenants), however doubling their rent can make things happen (I've never actually done that)

[killer_carlson]

you ought to be able to find rental insurance quite easily. When I lived in Calgary I think we used to use Palliser Insurance Brokers (John White was the fellows name). Give a broker a call and ask for it.

Be careful with "cheap" insurance. I am wary of insurers with the lowest rates because they also tend towards denying every claim.