Homeowners' Insurance - Help!

[Anonymous]

I have been setting up my home to rent two bedrooms through AirBnB.

Today I talked to my insurance company about adding any coverage that would be needed for this use, and was unpleasantly surprised to find out that if I do AirBnB, They Will Not Cover Me At All.  They assured me that since my policy had just renewed I would still be covered for almost a year, but that they would not renew me, and they would not pay claims related to AirBnB.

They were also unable to provide me with any suggestions of companies that Would cover my home, and so far I have not been able to turn anyone up.

I searched the user forums, and found that this appears to be a fairly common problem, and that there are numerous horror stories of people having their insurance cancelled after just -asking- about AirBnB.  A few of them appear to have lost their mortgage as a result.  The only suggestions I saw were in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, which does not help me much in the United States.

I called AirBnB support (after considerable effort finding a phone number), and was informed by the agent that she "Never heard of that kind of a problem before". Apparently, she does not read the community forums.  The agent promised to escalate the question to her supervisor, but I have heard nothing yet.

Needless to say, I want to get this taken care of, since it appears that there is a reasonable chance of losing my home over it.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[David126]

Lloyds is not a single entity, a collection of syndicates, sounds like thay have put together a programme and are seeking syndicates to underwite it with devolved underwriting.

House sharing is hardly new, been around as long as there has been houses.

[Lori96]

Wow... I was considering renting a room in my house but this thread has me reconsidering this plan. 😞

[Kathleen87]

Sent that message to airbnb.  I think they need to know that many of there hosts are on a high wire with no net.  

[Kathleen87]

Can we ALL somehow get this message to airbnb.   That so many hosts - I would like to know how many- are in jepody of losing their homeowners insurance.   Instead of starting a magazine (!!!really?) maybe they could work with an insurance company to accept in-home hosting. 

[David126]

@Kathleen87

AirBnB is a worldwide service, you are in VT I am in CO and the Insurance options are different State by State never mind Country by Country. There is a massive range of different types of listing within each area.

AirBnB is a booking service, Insurance is well outside their remit.

[Sean140]

Correct.  This isnt as much an Air BNB issue as it is an owner issue.  The solution falls to the homeowner to make sure they are covering their own risk properly.  Please contact a local Farmers Insurance agent in your area.  I can handle all of Indiana, Illinois and Michigan.

Sean [Personal information hidden]

[David126]

@Kathleen87

I am sure AirBnb is fully aware.

[Kathleen87]

With a few bad insurance disasters, spead on social media and the press, they might see a lot of their in-home hosting sites gone.  I wonder why they don't worry about that. 

[David126]

I can not speak for them. I assume because major nasties are very rare and that they have no shortage of hosts so losing a few is immaterial to the overall business.

[Kathleen87]

You are probably right but I would be very curious how many people who are hosting, are doing so without a clue of the risk involved.  

[David126]

There are people who know they are going outside their Insurance cover.

There are people have Insurance that covers their business activities.

And my guess the majority who have  never even thought about it.

[Kathleen87]

I agree.  My hope to spread the word. 

[Sean140]

Many people are reluctant to discuss this with their agent as most companies do not cover this risk.  I can understand the "head in the sand" mentality.  But the owner is taking a sizable risk in exchange for not covering their property properly.

[Cindy-Lou0]

I posted this question quite awhile ago, but I am happy to say I did find insurance that will take me knowing I am Airbnb, it was Farmers.  He read the 19 page contract and adjusted my insurance so that I am fully covered.  He also suggested that I have guests sign a paper legal if possible stating that they have homeowners or renters insurance.  I have done this only if the person wants to use the excercise equipment or hot tub.  I feel much better knowing that I have insurance.  By the way many of you have replied that Farmers has taken you as an Airbnb host. Thank you.

[Emily140]

The Farmers option appears to be an excellent option for those in an area where Farmers will write insurance.  If you are in CA anywhere near a canyon or rural area, they will not offer coverage (as they assume greater fire risk). 

Our congress is working on equal access and guaranteed issue of health insurance (debatably) to those who might need it most - requiring policies to be issued for everyone--after all the whole idea is to put everyone in the "pool" together to pool the risk--right?  It appears our national or state regulators need to address property insurance next.  It seems ridiculous that if you are in a Napa Valley canyon or Malibu Canyon that you cannot get a policy, that Farmer's can cherrypick customers to reduce their risk, when for 20 years I have lived here, there have been more fires in Oakland warehouses...  So I'm frustrated I cannot get a Farmer's policy even though I WAS a customer for 15 years....  Switched to Travelers two years ago, big mistake.  Who knew...

Travelers, in my opinion, does not have a fair process to look at your damage and assess WHY/HOW it occurred.  If you even had one AirBnb guest for one night in the past year, or created a profile to do a charity donation for a hosted stay at your property, with you present the entire time, you will be denied any claim for any natural reason having nothing to do with your guests.  Or at least that is what happened to me.