You’ve worked hard over the years to build a portfolio of Portland Oregon Rental Properties but the big question is do you have enough insurance to protect your best interests?
Being a landlord is unpredictable! You can lose a rental property due to an act of nature or a tenant’s guest could have an accident at your rental property and you could find yourself being sued.
These reasons are why you must make sure you have more than enough insurance to protect your best interests.
Landlord and Liability Insurance Explained
Basically, it’s a way to protect you financially if a tenant or guest tries to sue you for damages. Damages can mean anything from financial strain to emotional harm to physical injury, or even death.
What Does Landlord Liability Insurance Cover?
Liability insurance for landlords is there for YOU. It’s ready to swoop in, cover your legal expenses and any nasty medical bills. Just like bug bites, legal claims can come in all shapes and sizes. They include everything from slip and falls, property damage to break-ins and beyond.
- Landlord liability insurance: covers the cost associated with your legal defense, whether or not you are found to be at fault.
Even with important maintenance and safety measures in place, not every liability situation can be prevented. Here are a few liability scenarios to think about:
- Staircase railing breaks, sending a guest back to the bottom floor on their back
- A tenant falls on a shoddy sidewalk
- Black mold is popping up on the property and tenants are getting sick
- A burglar breaks in because the locks were installed all willy-nilly
- A tenant is evicted without due process
- A tenant is denied a lease, suing on the grounds of discrimination
With so many different types of incidents, we hope you see the importance of securing enough coverage to help you in any type of claim situation.
Pro tip: extend your coverage by enhancing your landlord liability insurance with an umbrella policy.
Liability Insurance vs Renter’s Insurance
Even though it’s not legally required, a landlord may want a tenant to purchase renter’s insurance as a stipulation in the lease agreement. In fact, it’s a pretty good idea.
It helps ensure the landlord that if something goes wrong, that it will be taken care of. But what falls under a tenant’s responsibility and what’s the landlords. This is where it can get tricky.
Like examples? Here’s a couple:
Example: The dog bite
Say a guest is bitten by a dog. That guest can sue the landlord for medical damages, emotional distress and so on. But if the lease agreement says no dogs over 10 pounds and it was a big ol’ Great Dane that bit the guest, the fault would fall on the tenant.
Example: The fight
Say a tenant was assaulted by someone on the property. Well, that would be the fault of the person who attacked the tenant, right? Not necessarily. If the locks to the complex’s main door or another security measure didn’t work properly. Then, the fault would most likely be placed on the landlord.
How Much Does Landlord Insurance Cost?
Expect to pay 15% to 20% more for landlord insurance than you did for homeowners insurance.
In recent years the average cost of homeowner’s insurance was $822 a year. Tack on 20% and that would put the average annual premium on landlord insurance at about $986.
Which Companies Offer Landlord Insurance?
Thankfully, these days there are many companies that offer landlord insurance. Some of the companies that you may want to consider for landlord insurance include Allstate, State Farm, ForeMost Insurance Group, American Modern and Met Life!
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