Home Insurance + Tenants

[KaeJS]

I'm trying to get Home Insurance.

I've been having difficulty finding an insurer who will allow me to qualify under their insurance when I have tenants in the home.

I have a 3 bedroom home for which I would like to live in the basement and rent out the 3 rooms on the top level.

Allstate Insurance, for instance, said I can rent out the basement and it is okay to have "one" friend live with me in "one" room. But that I wouldn't qualify for more than that.

What do I do? Where do I go for insurance?

This is getting hectic. For those of you that rent out your houses, what is your strategy? Do you even notify the insurance company of your tenants?

[Chris L]

Always notify your insurance agent of the use of the property. What's the point of insurance if it can't be used in a claim? Use of building can void your right to claim.

Email Cam Gurthrie at cam@camguthrie.ca. He's located in Guelph and knows a crap load about rental insurance and is a broker himself so might be able to get you insurance. He's spoken a few times at our real estate investment club and is a local city Councillor. Tell him a guy from TREA sent you.

[KaeJS]

^ Chris, thank you.

I will give him a call tomorrow.

[marina628]

I only have single family homes but if you hit a road block maybe prepare to rent basement and one room and you live upstairs.I am sure there must be some way to get insurance ,so many student housing out there.

[Cal]

Can't you ensure that your tenants have tenant insurance. Would this help with you obtaining insurance as well.

[KaeJS]

I have called more insurance companies and I am beginning to think people are just "taking the risk".

I have seen many homes where the basement and all the rooms upstairs are rented. Surely, there is no insurance for that.

Cal, if I understand it correctly, the tenant insurance won't help me obtain insurance for my home, but only protect me in the event that a tenant set my house on fire, etc, as their insurance company would pay for damages. The problem with tenant insurance is that most tenants do not have it or want to get it (extra expense), so it increases your vacancy rate.

[KaeJS]

I have a question:

Say a tenant is in my home and that tenant does not have tenant insurance. If this tenant burns down my home while I'm at work, can I sue this tenant for damages?

(not sure where I would get the money from... "Can't get blood from a stone") just curious.

[Spudd]

Tenant insurance only covers the tenant's belongings, not your house. The assumption is that the landlord has insurance to cover the house.

If it were actually provable that the tenant had maliciously caused the fire (doubtful) then I would think you could sue him for damages. But if it was an accident, I would think not. Since accidental burnings are covered by home insurance it seems unlikely that you can sue an individual for them. (Note: not an expert on this, just using my experience and common sense.)

I googled and found this thread on another forum that might be helpful (and discouraging):
http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/showthr...home-insurance

I also found these companies that may provide the insurance you're looking for:
https://www.cowangroup.ca/cigl/pages...program_en.jsf
https://www.intactinsurance.com/non-...d-ontario.html

I found the above by googling "rooming house home insurance".

An alternative solution would be to rent out the top part of the house as a package deal. Is the basement a self-contained apartment or would you need to go upstairs for the kitchen? If it's self-contained then I would think you could rent out the upper level to a family or a group of roommates, but if it's billed as a 3-bedroom unit I suspect it would be more insurable than trying to rent each room separately.

[MoneyGal]

What Spudd said in a very generous and informative post. ^^

Kae, you should probably spend some time learning a bit more about home insurance and commercial insurance. You can start at the website of the Insurance Bureau of Canada, here: http://www.ibc.ca/en/Home_Insurance/...ome_Rental.asp

Also, FWIW, you would be operating a rooming house (not a boarding house, which includes meals) according to the bylaws in effect in Cambridge: http://www.cambridge.ca/byLaws/04-18...s%20By-law.pdf

So you are going to want commercial rooming house insurance.

[blin10]

sorry a little off topic but i'm just curious true or fouls?, a friend of mine owns few houses and in one house his kid lives there with a gf (he does not rent it out), he said he still had to get rental insurance, how is that possible?