looking for advice on insurance options for a rented condo

[consvgentleman]

Hello!

Land lord here.

We rented out our condo to 3 girls.

They are close friends and two of them are family friends and refer to each other as cousins.

'' but they aren't sure if they are actually blood related ''

I am having issues finding insurance for the rented out condo as most places are saying they can't insure three unrelated people.

do you have any advice or suggestions on a company that would be willing to underwrite it?

I am also looking to bundle it with auto insurance.

Thank you

 

[resjudicata]

@consvgentleman This will fall into Sub standard insurance
Definitely doable contact an independent broker or the insurer who is insuring your principal residence
If you state the province I can suggest insurers

 

[consvgentleman]

@resjudicata i am in Ontario.

Principal residence is not insured by me, i moved in with family and they have their own insurance.

 

[gigibella]

@consvgentleman Each of them should purchase their own tenant insurance - or you can pay for three separate policies for each of them.

And as the condo owner - you need rental dwelling insurance on your condo. See if you can bundle your rental dwelling insurance with your current home and auto policies.

 

[consvgentleman]

@gigibella Hi, Thank you for your comment.

I should clarify, the tenants have their own insurance.

I am looking for insurance as the owner, and a few places have refused to give it to me seeing as there are three unrelated tenants.

What is rental dwelling insurance?

 

[diemcarped]

@consvgentleman Hi, in case you have not solved this. It could be considered a rooming house (similar to a student rental). It's more expensive, but would cover what you're after. There are several insurers that could assist, but you would have to go through a broker.

• I am a Commercial Broker.

 

[sovereignone]

@gigibella OP can’t purchase individual tenant insurance for any of them let alone all 3 of them. It’s called insurable interest, their tenant insurance covers their stuff and their personal liability - OP has no direct involvement there; they don’t own their tenants stuff, and the policy would basically be useless if they were a named party for purposes of liability since they’d no longer be a third party.

OP is fully aware, it seems, that they need rented dwelling insurance. The issue is a common one - the prospective insurer asks how many tenants/occupants there are and if they’re related to each other or not. The more occupants that are unrelated to each other, the higher the risk. Three friends is riskier than 3 family members.

 

[gigibella]

@sovereignone Here in Alberta, I've seen several cases where the landlord pays or provides tenants insurance. I work in a home and auto insurance office. The workaround is that technically the policyholder or renter applies... It's just that the landlord pays.... The landlord does this for his own peace of mind to know that the tenants have insurance. ..... And the landlord is aware he can't make a claim all benefit goes to the tenant. The landlord's benefit is knowing that his rental dwelling coverage is not rendered ineligible by his tenant canceling the policy after the first month.
It's a terrible solution we don't recommend, but there are those who end up going this route.

 

[sovereignone]

@gigibella But that's a very specific arrangement between landlord and tenant(s) that's somewhat irrelevant here.

Whether or not OP wants to pay for their tenants to get insurance, the larger issue is that OP is having trouble finding an insurer that will take on the risk knowing that the hope is occupied by 3 individuals who are unrelated to each other an unrelated to OP. That's a common issue and the best advice given is for OP to reach out to a broker who can shop that risk around.

THEN, if they find an insurer who is willing to take on the risk, and if doing so is contingent on each tenant getting insurance, they can discuss that with their tenants.