Rental Property Damage Lawyers in Ohio

Homeowner's Insurance vs. a Rental Property Policy: What's the Difference?

When you rent a home to someone else, your relationship with the property is different from your own residence.

You need an insurance policy that treats your property more as a business or investment than a personal home.

While some forms of rental property insurance coverage may work similarly to individual homeowner’s policies, especially when the issue is physical damage from events like fires and storms, there are key differences in what they cover.

A major difference between homeowner’s policies and rental property policies, also known as landlord policies or, more formally, dwelling fire policies, is that homeowner’s insurance is weighted toward protecting you and your belongings, whereas landlord insurance is focused on the premises, offering protection against accidents that may injure others or damage that may sour your investment.

The differences between homeowner’s insurance and rental property insurance can be broken into these categories:

Liability: A homeowner’s policy comes with some personal liability coverage that can follow you anywhere you go. Rental property insurance provides premises liability coverage, which covers injuries that occur due to maintenance issues, such as failing to fix a wobbly railing, replace a loose floorboard, clear an icy path, or take care of a tree that drops a branch.

Personal property coverage: Landlord policies don’t cover tenants’ personal property the way homeowner’s insurance would cover yours if you lived there.

Lost Rent: Landlord insurance can reimburse you for rent that a tenant doesn’t pay should the property become unlivable. It doesn’t pay living expenses for the tenant to live somewhere else the way personal homeowner’s insurance would.

It’s important to remember that rental property insurance policies are usually “cafeteria” style. Rather than being all-inclusive like homeowner’s insurance, as a landlord you likely chose which circumstances you wanted covered.

This can be a sticking point when you file a claim. Insurance companies may argue over what is actually covered in your policy, leaving you to sift through all the riders, exceptions and fine print.

An experienced rental property damage attorney can make sure you get the full benefit of the policy you paid for.

When you need to make a repair on your rental home or pay expenses associated with an accident on your property, HNB pushes to get every penny you need to keep your real estate investment sound.

Talk to us for a free consultation on your legal options.