Insurance for property you own but do not live in.
One suite, a house, a small building, or a portfolio. A rented home is not covered by a homeowner’s policy, and the gap usually goes unnoticed until a claim is refused.
Insure a rental See what’s coveredBuilding, lost rental income, landlord liability and vacancy
Anyone renting out a suite, a house, a condo or a building
The address, how it is rented, and whether anyone has said no
Do I need landlord insurance if I rent out my home?
Yes. A standard homeowner’s policy is written on the basis that you live there. Once a property is tenant-occupied (including a basement suite, a long-term rental, or a home you moved out of and kept) the policy may not respond to a claim. Landlord cover is a different product: it insures the building, your liability as an owner, and the rent you would lose if the property became unlivable.
If the insurer was never told the property is rented, a claim can be refused outright, after years of premiums that felt like cover. And without loss of rental income, the mortgage runs on through every month of repairs. The Residential Tenancy Branch sets the landlord’s duty: “Landlords must provide rental units where tenants can expect to be safe and healthy.” That is a business obligation to a paying tenant, and a homeowner policy was not written for it. Read the Residential Tenancy Branch on repairs and maintenance (opens in a new tab).
Telling your insurer the property is rented is not optional. It is the difference between a claim being paid and a claim being denied.
Cover for owners, not occupants.
The building
Rebuild cost for the structure, plus any appliances, flooring and fixtures you provide.
Loss of rental income
The rent you cannot collect while the property is being repaired after an insured loss.
Landlord liability
Injury to a tenant or visitor, or damage that spreads from your property to someone else’s.
Secondary suites
Basement and laneway suites in a home you also live in, a common gap on ordinary home policies.
Multi-unit and small apartment buildings
Purpose-built rental buildings. We can cover up to four units on a personal policy; anything larger goes to our commercial team.
Buildings under renovation
Renovation changes the risk and often the policy required, tell us before work starts.
We handle rental properties up to four units on personal lines. Anything larger is a commercial habitational risk and belongs on a different policy. We will tell you which side yours falls on.
Three gaps we find on landlord policies.
Rental property claims go wrong in a small number of predictable ways. Every one of these is fixable in a five-minute conversation, and expensive to discover afterwards.
The insurer was never told
A home policy left in place after the owner moved out and rented it. The gap that puts the whole policy in doubt.
No loss of rental income
The building is insured; the mortgage payments during six months of repairs are not.
Supportive and social housing.
We place this class today.
Single room occupancy buildings, supportive and social housing, and non-profit and government-funded housing operators are difficult to place. Many insurers will not quote them at all, and many brokers do not attempt it.
We do. If you are a housing society, a non-profit operator or an owner of a building in this class, including one that has just been non-renewed, bring us the file. You will get a straight answer about what can be arranged, and an honest one if it cannot.
Worth reading next: renting out a suite in your own home.
How this can play out.
A homeowner moves out, rents the house, and leaves the same policy in place. Two years later a kitchen fire is refused because the insurer was never told anyone else was living there. The premiums were paid the whole time.
Your policy does not cover their belongings.
A landlord policy covers the building and your interest in it. A tenant’s furniture, electronics and clothing are theirs to insure, as is their liability if they cause damage, for example a kitchen fire that spreads. Requiring tenant insurance in your lease moves that risk to a policy written for it, and we can arrange tenant insurance for them directly if that helps.
What quietly undoes a rental property policy.
Landlord policies fail at the seams between what was declared and how the property actually runs. Four seams to check.
A homeowner policy left in place
A policy written while you lived there may not respond once tenants moved in. The rental needs landlord wording, and the discount for not switching is an illusion.
Short stays on a long-term policy
Nightly and weekly rentals are excluded outright by most standard wordings. One listed weekend can put a whole loss outside the policy.
The empty months between tenants
Vacancy conditions bite rentals too. Water cover narrows first, usually around the thirty-day mark. A vacancy permit is simple to arrange. The argument afterwards is not.
Rent declared, income forgotten
The building gets insured and the rent does not. Loss of rental income cover is the difference between a repair project and a mortgage problem.
Say how the property really runs: term, occupants and empty spells. Call before the tenancy changes, not after the loss.
What landlords ask us.
I rent out my basement suite. Does my home policy cover that?
Often not without being told. A secondary suite changes the risk the policy was priced on, so it needs declaring. Arranging it properly is straightforward, and not arranging it is a serious problem.
What happens if my rental sits empty between tenants?
Most policies limit or exclude cover once a property has been unoccupied beyond a set period, often thirty days. Tell us before it happens and it can be arranged; tell us after a claim and it may be too late.
Should I require my tenants to carry insurance?
Yes, and put it in the lease. It protects their belongings, covers their liability if they cause damage to your building, and reduces the chance of a dispute landing on your policy.
A tenant caused significant damage. Am I covered?
It depends on the cause and your wording. Sudden accidental damage is usually covered; gradual damage and general wear are usually not. Call us before you start repairs so the claim is documented properly.
I own several rental properties. Can they go on one policy?
Yes. Portfolios are usually simpler and often better priced on a single arrangement, and it means one renewal date instead of five.
My rental building was non-renewed. Will you look at it?
Yes. Habitational property is a class insurers have pulled back from, and it is exactly the work our hard-to-place desk does. Send us the letter.
My rental is not in the Lower Mainland. Can you still insure it?
Yes. We are licensed to arrange insurance anywhere in British Columbia, so a suite in Kelowna, a house in Prince George or a condo on Vancouver Island is inside our licence. The address does change what an insurer asks, things like the age of the roof and whether anyone is living there right now. Tell us where the property is and we will work from that.
Renting out a house on acreage? farm & acreage is the right policy.
Tell us about the property.
The address, how it is rented, and whether anyone has said no to you already.
ONE SUITE OR A WHOLE BUILDING, SAME DESK, SAME PEOPLE
Own or manage a whole building? See Strata & property managers.
Empty between tenants? vacant property insurance, most policies stop covering after about thirty days.