INSURANCE BLACK HOLE ? HOSTS AT RISK.... any help

[David505]

Hi,

I am trying to understand and dig into this giant issue !

Indeed for any AirBnb hosts in Canada, Airbnb provides an insurance which I understand MAY cover any injury to the guest and damages made by the guest to the neighboor's property HOWEVER what about the Host's property damages ? 

Let's take the example of a guest who would set the host's house on fire (and sorry for the worst case scenario) and die in the fire.

--> the host's home insurance would be void as insurers in canada do not cover a home where -even part of- the home was rented via airbnb. Now this gets even more tricky as There are no insurers that would actually offer to cover an airbnb host.... so what are the hosts supposed to do if their home insurances are void and nobody is willing to offer coverage ? count on luck ?

Did anybody have substantial damaged to their property ? what happened ? who covered ? 

Please help me understand and try to find a solution ? 

Tks

[Cynthia-and-Chris1]

Hosts are responsible for providing their own insurance.  You're correct, many homeowner policies will not cover short-term rentals and will void your insurance if they discover you are doing this.  You will be responsible for obtaining a commercial policy at a hefty premium to be covered.  Many don't and rent at their own risk.  Airbnb's coverage is NOT meant to cover your personal belongings or property.  It is up to YOU to cover these things.  Airbnb is simply a listing service to connect guests with hosts and vice versa.

[David505]

Thank you for confirming my very bad impression that the insurance provided by Abnb is sort of a smoke screen and to also confirm that there is actually no other option than renting at your own risk or than paying three times (yes no joke) your current premium for half the coverage (... the new premium is going to take so much of the income, it is -in some cases- no longer worth it to rent) .

I am a bit disappointed to see that everybody is looking at making sure hosts will declare their taxes as a business  but there is nobody to get you insured for the business you run and pay taxes for....

[David126]

Commercial Insurance is going to be more expensive for obvious reasons, cost of doing business.

[Karen-and-Brian0]

 Hi @David505 "the host's home insurance would be void as insurers in canada do not cover a home where -even part of- the home was rented via airbnb. Now this gets even more tricky as There are no insurers that would actually offer to cover an airbnb host".

There are insurance companies which DO cover Airbnb hosts, you just have to have a good insurance broker who knows his or her stuff and will search them out for you. It's commercial insurance, so is more expensive (up to 3 times). We got coverage with Premier Insurance, but there have been other Canadians posting here who have coverage with Wawanesa and Square One to name 2. It varies from province to province, but is not an impossibility.

Don't venture into Airbnb without having adequate home insurance - from what I can tell, Airbnb coverage *might* go up to the amount of your damage deposit, and only if the guest agrees to pay. It's not worth counting on. Hope that helps! Karen

[David505]

Hi,

THANK YOU ALL FOR REPLYING AND HELPING OUT... MY FRUSTRATION IS COMING TO AN END !!!!!

Thanks to you, I got a quote from SquareOne insurance which ends up being 20% cheaper than my current home insurance (which was kind of expensive). So I am really relieved to see that some insurances would be willing to insure short term rentals at competitive price where another insurer was willing to cover me (with a really low coverage/ bad service) for 4300$/year.

So now I am close to switch and really glad you helped me finding a solution.

The only difference between my current insurance and the new is that my current one was kind of a "high end" insurance and would cover me for more than what i really need where the new one is covering me less but still covering my needs and the only exclusion / noticeable difference is that they would cover the Host for Guest's damages but only if those damages are accidental. If the damages were intended, then I believe it's airbnb insurance that would cover that.

I feel much better and feel like I finally be covered properly before getting started. 

thanks again

[Sandra593]

I too had an issue with insurance.  Square One insurance provides it but now so does AVIVA insurance in Canada.  My broker found it for me and it is new.  

My insurance is now less than with my previous provider.