Insurance

[Paul11453]

I'm trying to do rental arbitrage in ottawa and making that property into airbnb. What's the insurance that we should get for apply to city

[Rebecca]

Hi there @Paul11453 👋

I'm popping by to invite some hosts that have been around in the past who are also based in Ottawa, Canada - @Susan5807, @Lan11755, @Ben6105 and @Marie-Eve42. I hope you don't mind me tagging you into this conversation, but we wondered if you could support Paul with his question re insurance needed to apply to the city. 😊

[Ben6105]

Hi @Paul11453 , your need property insurance that explicitly includes coverage for shirt term rentals. Generally this is extra coverage that you add to your policy.

[Paul11453]

@Ben6105 Ya I contacted several insurance agencies and they are only able to provide me a commercial general liability insurance with short term rentals. Do you know any company that provides property insurance. 

Thanks for the support 

[Ben6105]

@Paul11453 I get my property insurance through TD. By default it includes insurance for "home sharing" (their term for short term rentals / Airbnb) for up to 30 days, but you can add additional coverage to increase that up to 120 days of the year.

[Helen3]

@Paul11453 @Ben6105  Those wanting to set up an arbitrage business can't get home insurance for short term guests as they don't own the property.

this is another reason why it's a big risk for landlords to allow someone to sublet their property for short term rentals 

[Ben6105]

I failed to realize that was @Paul11453 's intent. Thanks for that call-out, @Helen3 . To clarify, I own my property, so short term rental coverage is provided by my property insurance.

@Paul11453if you are looking to airbnb a dwelling that you rent, I'm not sure where you would get the appropriate insurance. You could still try with TD, but I don't know for a fact that their Tenant's insurance offers that coverage.

[Frances3408]

@Paul11453. Hi Paul, if you are doing this with your landlords/owners consent then they are the ones that will need to take it out. As a tenant you only get to insure your personal property. At least thats how it works here.

[Helen3]

The owner wouldn't be able to take out STR home insurance as they are not running the STR business @Frances3408 

[Frances3408]

@Helen3. Not unless the owner was formally part of the sub letting arrangement in a written agreement and getting a cut. Perhaps I was being too subtle with my earlier response as I suspect this isnt the case. 😉