Renters insurance

[Barbara219]

Hi, I've just started on Airbnb and phoned my home insurance company who are not willing to cover the extra risk associated with renting a room. Does anyone have advice regarding insurance companies who will take on the cover? Thanks Barbara

[Angela175]

Hi Barbara,

What type of home do you live in?  What was their reason for not allowing you to rent out a room?

I own a 2 BR condo and I am allowed to rent to 1 person according to my insurance company.

I happen to be an insurance agent so I called first as well to play it safe.  This is a gray area so definitely keep your liability limits up and get an Umbrella policy if you own your home.

Thanks,

Angela 🙂

[Barbara219]

I live in a two bedroom upper villa. The company simply said they would not cover the extra risk of having a renter. I've since phoned others but they will only insure for long term tenancies. 

I am worried about this and might change my mind about being a host.

[Jody19]

I thought we were covered by Air B n B?

[Victoria57]

@Jody0, you should still have proper home insurance.

[Victoria57]

@Barbara219, as you are in the UK you can contact Admiral who do home and contents insurance specifically for AirBnB hosts. You need to specify HOST when you speak to them, and you must do this over the phone as the AirBnB policy cannot be taken out online. We took it out a couple of weeks after it started earlier this summer as it conicided with the expiry of our previous policy. It is a bit more than a standard buildings and contents policy but not as much as a commercial guest house policy. There are restrictions, like only being able to rent out for 90 days and it must be your main family home, but at least it's a start.

[Barbara219]

Thanks, that's really helpful. 

[Juanita11]

We are new to hosting and have so far had great guests. Does anyone have special insurance for renting out a basement apartment attached to your home?

[Helen3]

I am sure a US host will be along shortly with details of insurance companies - but you should be focusing on insurance companies that cover short term lettings rather than whether it is in a basement.

[David126]

US is different in that Insurance is controlled at the State level. So it will vary.

[Linda1472]

Doesn’t insurance coverage come through Airbnb when we become host?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Linda1472 NO NO NO and No again. The Airbnb host guarantees are often worthless in real life situations. I would certainly not risk relying on them for liability issues or for significant/total loss of the house.