As a landlord who manages multiple properties, you may be thinking that it’s time to take the next steps to protect your business and manage risks. If so, then getting landlord insurance for multiple properties is the first step. This is applicable whether you are a landlord of residential and/or commercial rental properties.
In general, landlord insurance for multiple properties costs more than just insuring one rental property. However, this isn’t the only factor to consider when thinking of the costs associated with landlord insurance. If you get customized multi-property landlord insurance from a trusted insurance broker, you can expect to get effective insurance for the best price.
In this complete guide, we talk about landlord insurance for multiple properties, the factors that affect the cost, and more.
Let’s begin!
What Will Landlord Insurance Cover?
Landlord insurance is a specialized type of insurance for owners of rental properties. These rental properties can either be residential or commercial. Either way, landlord insurance gives a broad scope of protection.
The following are the main coverage points of landlord insurance for multiple properties:
1. Property Damage Coverage
In the event that your property is damaged by fire, lightning, wind, hail, and so on, landlord insurance will help cover repair costs.
2. Income Protection
If your rental property becomes uninhabitable or inaccessible due to a covered peril, landlord insurance will cover your lost income.
3. Personal Property Coverage
If you have any equipment kept on site that is used for the maintenance of your rental property, damage to such equipment (by a covered peril) will also be included in your landlord insurance.
4. Liability Coverage
In case anyone suffers an injury within the premises of your rental property and you are found liable for it, then this type of insurance will shoulder medical bills and legal bills up to the coverage limit of your landlord insurance policy.
5. Additional (Optional) Coverage
Typically, additional coverage will also add to your insurance’s premium. However, depending on the unique risks you face as a landlord, these could well be worth it. Optional coverages include vandalism, burglary, and making needed upgrades to meet new building codes.
Who Needs Landlord Insurance?
Landlords of Residential Properties
Renting out a condo, part of your home, apartment, apartment complex, and so on, comes with its unique risks. Landlord insurance for residential properties will help you be ready for anything.
Landlords of Commercial Properties
Commercial landlord insurance typically costs more than residential landlord insurance. This is mainly because commercial spaces tend to have higher foot traffic, which increases the probability of an accident or property damage.
This type of insurance is essential because it protects against numerous risks, including the risk of property damage. In addition, not all businesses that rent spaces carry their own commercial property insurance. Therefore, commercial landlords cannot rely solely on commercial property insurance from tenants.
Landlords of Multiple or Mixed Properties
In the world of insurance, having a larger space or more workspaces generally increases risks. Therefore, landlord insurance for multiple properties tends to have higher premiums than landlords of single properties.
The good news is that with a trusted insurance broker, you can find effective ways to lower your premium—all while having reliable coverage.
Factors That Affect the Cost of Landlord Insurance for Multiple Properties
We’ve established that landlord insurance for multiple properties tends to cost more than landlord insurance for just one rental property. At the end of the day, this ties to risk probability. There are plenty of other factors that affect risk, including:
1. The Number of Properties
Generally, the more properties a landlord needs to insure, the higher the premium will be. However, when it comes to landlord insurance for multiple properties, discounts may be available depending on the insurance provider.
Therefore, one rental house may have a landlord insurance premium of around $75 per month, but this does not automatically mean that three rental homes (of the same make and location) will cost $225 (or $75 x 3) per month.
2. The Mix of Properties
Earlier, we discussed that commercial rental properties tend to have a higher premium than residential rental properties. Therefore, if a landlord has a mix of both residential and commercial rental spaces, this will cost more than a mix of purely residential rental spaces —assuming that all other factors are equal.
3. The Location of The Properties
Properties in locations that have a high crime rate or those with more frequent natural disasters/weather anomalies tend to have a higher premium. This is true for regular landlord insurance and landlord insurance for multiple properties.
4. The Age of The Properties
Generally, older rental properties are more prone to sustaining damage or even structural collapses. This means that landlord insurance premium could be higher if the mix of properties contains ones that are older.
5. Your Rental Rates for The Different Properties
Landlord insurance covers lost income—as long as the property damage or inaccessibility which is causing the income loss is brought about by a covered peril. This means that higher rental rates can bump up the premium of multi-property landlord insurance.
6. Having Safety Measures
Fire is typically a covered peril for most landlord insurance policies. Therefore, fire prevention measures like fire alarms and sprinklers can lower the premium of most landlord insurance plans.
If you’ve chosen to include additional coverage for burglary and vandalism, then security measures like CCTVs and alarms will also help lower your premium.
7. The Deductibles You Choose
Deductibles are essentially the amount or percentage you will pay out of your pocket before insurance takes over for a covered incident. Higher deductibles equate to lower premiums— this is true for virtually all insurance types.
However, before making decisions about deductibles, you can learn all about them in this comprehensive guide: Landlord Insurance Policy Deductibles Explained.
Customized Landlord Insurance for Multiple Properties
KASE Insurance is a Toronto-based, award-winning insurance brokerage firm—and one of our specialties is providing customized landlord insurance for multiple properties. Our insurance experts can put together a policy that perfectly fits your needs as a landlord. We can also negotiate for the best premiums while ensuring that you have exemplary coverage.
Our dedicated team continuously supports clients with all their ongoing insurance needs. Once your policy is set up, you can always contact us for questions, clarifications, or assistance.
With KASE Insurance, you can experience hassle-free insurance that gives you absolute peace of mind. Contact us today or get started with a quick quote.