HOA Condo Insurance

[Kile0]

Recently our HOA Board (which I am on) was tasked with making sure that we were not in any violation of our current building insurance policy by doing airbnb (awful neighbor was pissed about something else and is taking this out on us through airbnb). 

Long story short, the current insurance company does not allow airbnb under their policy and sent a notice that if we don't stop airbnb in the building then they would terminate our insurance.  There are about 6 units on airbnb out of 52 and in total about 40% are rentals (combo of LTR and STR).  

Does anyone have a suggestion of insurance companies that will allow airbnb and is okay with having less that 65% owner occupied?  We are going to require that everyone hosting airbnb has specific short term rental insurance through Proper Insurance so it would replace what a homeowner's policy does not cover and cover the liability of the HOA Condo Insurance, but we are on a time crunch and thought someone else might already have the answer.  

[Robin4 · Accepted solution]

@Kile0.....Hi there Kile, I am really disappointed nobody has responded to your question. The question is totally legitimate, and no doubt affects many thousands of people who host across America. I can't believe that all these hosts 'fly by the seat of their pants' and can't offer a solution to the problem of hosting insurance.

Here in this country (Australia) we have a number of companies that work specifically with the Airbnb platform, with companies offering cover by the night, right through to annual premium policies for hosts who do a lot of hosting. Because of the scale of home hosting in this country, major insurers are falling over themselves offering policies to cover this very lucrative slice of the insurance market!! I can literally insure my cottage as a guest walks up to the door and immediately receive a policy as a PDF for the agreed contract!

By reading posts on this topic on the CC there are only two companies that I am aware of in the US which gets involved with short term rental insurance, and they are CBiZ. and  'Proper Insurance' which operates out of Maryland, but know nothing about this company other than, it does sound similar to our 'Sharecover'. Maybe a call to the Insurance council of America could point you in the right direction.

Kile, I would love to be of more help but where insurance on the CC is concerned, in the US we seem to be rather 'stonewalled'. There doesn't seem to be any companies 'shouting cover from the rooftops' and I fear a high percentage of hosts in America 'go it alone' and hope that nothing goes wrong.

I am truly sorry I can't be of more help.....cheers.....Rob

[Dale7]

Rob, this is helpful, I'm also having problems with the HOA here, but not about insurance.  If I show the HOA I've done my due diligence and have extra coverage beyond that of AirBnB, perhaps that will show that I'm more responsible.  

The issue here is renting for short-term.  Technically, the regs say we need a year lease to do any rentals.  

Thanks

[Heather151]

I am having this issue as well. I got the extra insurance also. What I am finding with both the condo board and the rental property management, and even the insurance company, is a complete lack of understanding as to how Airbnb works. I live in Cambridge, ma and am fortunate enough to be able to rent out my extra room by the semester - except during the summers. I have to do short term then. But I am always living in the unit. It is an extra room I have.

Here is my dilemma; the condo docs say that you cannot rent out your UNIT for less than a three month period. I read that as the entire unit, so I should be free to rent out short term while I am in it. The nervous nellies on the board are disagreeing and the clueless management company is advising them the same. Even when I explained I generally rent per semester and they cannot tell me where to get my roommates, the management company told me to take down the daily rate. This is not possible on Airbnb (unless I am missing something!) They threatened legal action. I have had a long term Airbnb people here so went ahead and took it down and just haven't had the energy to fight the fight. But my person leaves in May (she is a return Airbnb roommate getting her PhD at MIT). So I need to prepare for the summer.

ALL of the people who have stayed with me have been amazing an interesting and generally affiliated with MIT or Harvard. I love doing this. 

Any advice?

[Jeremy134]

@Heather151 - I'm not sure if you eneded up working this out or not, but we're in a similar dilemma. The condo rules and regs state that we cannot do short term leases (< 6 months), and our interpretation is 100% different. A lease is a fully occupancy, landlord/leasee agreement, where as a rental of a room is very different from that, and is viewed as legally different. Have you had a lawyer or even law student (perhaps their professor?) read your condo docs to see if there is a battle worth fighting? 

I'll say this as well - I think AirBnB needs to step up and start supporting countless thousands of people in this same situation. They stand to lose millions of dollars in business due to condo boards who do not have an understanding of what AirBnB is, potential benefits and how this all works. If i were running an organization like AirBnB I would absolutely invest resources in guiding people like you and I toward a resolution, because the return on that kind of investment (or worse, lost revenue due to insurance and condo board issues) could be amazing. 

[Anjana-And-Karthik0]

we have a similar dilemna , no solutions found yet.

[Jeremy134]

@Robin4 you make such a good point here. I'm totally baffled as to why more U.S. insurance companies aren't pushing each other out of the way to get a piece of this economic pie. Consider the money AirBnB hosts can raise each month, I would gladly pay another $500-$1000 a year in premiums to be covered. And considering the risk of something happening being so low, most insurance companies would simply be collecting that extra cash from potentially millions of customers and transactions. Anyone want to begin an insurance startup here in the US?

[Anjana-And-Karthik0]

sounds like a good idea;  not sure what kind of capital we need ; and insurance for our insurance startup

[Jim1557]

What did any one every get resolved with this issue?  Anything?

[Kevin50]

I contacted my insurance agent and purchased a policy specifically for the contents and liability of actions. In other words. It covers myself my family and my guests. It was $1900 a year.

[Jeremy134]

I'm going to try to do the same, and if so I cannot wait to tell State Farm - my insurance company since I learned to drive - that they can cancel my policy immediately. 

[Clara251]

I have a leaking pipe in my condo and just recently my HOA found out I’m an Airbnb host. Can they deny reposibility to fix the leak now that they know I host Airbnb even though before they knew they told me to fix it that they will cover it. 

The leak is not related to hosting at all! 

Thanks! 

[Alison1]

Get out your HOA's and read the part about plumbing then proceed accordingly.

[Adam622]

Joining in here.

I'm on a small condo board and we're tasked with securing the insurances we need for the building to enable owners in good standing to use AirBNB part time.

Having a very hard time navigating this; it would be great if AirBNB could create a toolkit for progressive and reasonable boards to navigate a middle road with the service.

Unfortunately our GL policy would be cancelled and we thus cannot allow STR.

[Jamie441]

Agreed, I am trying to work with my HOA on proposing commonsense regulations on Airbnb, but I'm getting stuck at this point on the insurance part. I'd love to see the market, or Airbnb itself, come up with some solutions.