Homeowners Insurance Cancelled

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

Got the notice today that my homeowner's insurance from State Farm will be cancelled at our annual renewal date. The reason is because I am running a "bed & breakfast".  This will jeapardize my mortgage too.  Anyone else been able to successfully navigate the next days of phone calls and conversations with underwriters, agents and lenders?  How does the Host Guarantee play here?  How about the Host Insurance rider https://www.airbnb.com/host-protection-insurance?  

All advice welcome.  

[David126]

Insurance in the US is administered at the State level so you would need to know current experiance of the market in your State, there are Commercial Insurers that will cover STR activity, usually premiums are higher and cover more restrictive.

Best to ignore the Host Guarantee, as has been reported on this forum its scope is very limited.

Host Protection Insurance, well I have yet to come across somebody who has made a claim, obviously its scope is limited, hopefully it is administered on a better basis than the Guarantee.

[Monica4]

I had to change insurance companies. I found out that Lloyds of London has coverage for a "tourist home" so that is the company that I picked.

[Jennifer178]

Hello @Alice-and-Jeff0, @David126 is correct.  I believe each state  has different regulations.  My sister uses Erie Insurance for her homeowners and I use them for my condo.  I pay an extra premium to cover my Airbnb business.  I do not know if they look at owning a home differently than owning a condo.  My condo fees do go towards a master insruance plan for the building.   We are in Pennsylvania.  Maybe if you call Erie they can recommend a carrier in your state that handles coverage of STR.  The number is: 1-800-458-0811.

I just reread the insurance thing and at first glance it looks good but non commital and Airbnb tells hosts that any host guarentees or insurance does not replace your own insurance.  You have definitely read enough horror stories on this site to know that the only true protection we have is ourselves.  Unless you could prove that the host protection insurance will always be honored, no insurance company wil look at this as viable.  But I know more and more insurers are starting to cover STR.  

I am sorry I could not be more helpful.  I hope you get this figured out. You have a lovely home.

Jennifer

[Zacharias0]

Well, how did they prove you were running a b&b? I suppose thats the worst part about insurance they can drop you for whatever reason.

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

The real rub is, if they are ashewing the sharing community, are they canceling car insurance for every Uber/Lyft driver?  What about the folks who deliver groceries for Instacart, Shipt or Uber delivery?  What about folks who do Couchsurfing?  I'm just beside myself that my insurance carrier for over 30 years is doing this.  

Where is the help for hosts from Airbnb?  If it's State-driven, every single listing in North Carolina is in violation.... urp. 

[Helen3]

I don't know how home insurance works in the US @Alice-and-Jeff0, but in the UK most insurers won't cover you under standard house insurance and you either have to get a dedicated policy to cover short term lets or get an addition to your existing policy.

I have seen in the past some US hosts mentioning policies they can get.

Might be worth using the search function on here to see if you can find anything which names insurances companies you could approach?

Same with car insurance here you need to get a policy that covers commercial use.

You are right many hosts don't do this - the sad thing is that if they had to make a claim on their insurance because of guest damage they wouldn't be covered.

[Leonie37]

Hi, I have just had a similar issue with my insurance in the UK - I have an airbnb property which is on my property but a separate building. It has been insured with Kwikfit for a year but they have just let me know that their underwriters will not renew the policy.... Can anyone in the UK recommend an insurance company that will cover the Airbnb property? Thanks for any feedback! 

[Maria-Lurdes0]

Hi @Alice-and-Jeff0 A friend of mine was in the same position - she had her insurance cancelled and had to scramble.  In her case, she called up her broker to ask about any insurance product offered for short term rental.   He spoke to her a minute, then hung up and called her insurance company to tell them she was asking about this type of coverage.   The insurance company sent her a letter telling her that they decided to cancel her policy - all based on her asking the broker about other insurance types.

Yes - insurance carriers can cancel Uber/Lyft drivers, etc. coverage as they would have to have commercial insurance as they are using their vehicle to conduct business and the car is no longer being used for personal use.  Couch surfing is probably the exception to this, as they likely don't take money from the guest, so it's not a business.  

[Dilara1]

Technically Uber/Lyft drivers are not covered by their insurance if they have any claims that arise while driving a client.

[Jeanne45]

You may want to check with All State. I believe they recently offered an add-on to their standard homeowner's policy for those who offer home sharing. Also, there are companies that provide insurance designed for Bed & Breakfast businesses. The advantage to considering that type of policy is that there may be coverage for loss of revenues due to covered events, personal liability coverage, etc.

[Chelly0]

Yes, I'm in California and Allstate was able to write me a policy through Pacific Specialty. I don't know how many states PS is in, but it's worth checking. 

[Bob4]

Thank you Chelly - We were informed by AAA/Triple A that our insurance is to be cancelled upon inquiring if they provide coverage for AirBnB host residences so we're on the hunt for an alternative provider.  Will definitely look into Pacific Specialty and grateful for the referral.

Well... just glanced at their reviews and rating and while I'm not surprised, they're pretty horrific.   Will get a quote none the less as it appears our option are pretty thin.  Grateful none the less.  Thanks for sharing/posting.

All the best,

Bob

[CarlandDiane0]

@Alice-and-Jeff0We may be in the same boat in a couple of months, so I spent an hour on the phone today with Proper Insurance, which writes STR and vacation rental policies for Lloyd's of London in all 50 states. The representative I spoke with was very knowledgable. In our case, they'd cover our main dwelling (our house) in addition to our STR guest house. They're pricier than our current insurer but again, they are designed for STRs. While they've only been around for two years, they get a BBB rating of A and the actual underwriter, Lloyd's, is well known.

[Angelyn1]

Just a heads up. I checked with my agent before we became an air bnb. My agent has helped me have coverage in a variety of situations and she was great. And she got me a terrific price too!