Tenant insurance?

Thanks for the reminder and tips. Tenant's insurance is on my new year's to do list.

Don't put it off. Like call today on your lunch break. We'd be in a world of hurt if we did not have insurance.

Thanks Shirk. We've got a call into the owners to get that information. I'm hoping that whoever insures the building should cover us. I'm just hoping that it isn't at some stupidiculous price.

I would try to get a price for a standard similar unit in the same neighbourhood without all the complications of the coffee shop and the heritage building. You now have that price as a baseline to compare.

Then, I would seek insurance from the building owner's insurance company, which will likley be much higher than the baseline comparable due to the circumstances.

This then, should be the owners problem, and not your problem - and will be for all future tenants when you leave. As such, you can then negotiate the premium for your insurance rates off the rent rather than hunting high and low for insurance providers.

I haven't had to get tenants insurance in awhile, but I was paying through the nose for my Owners insurance - primarily because I had to schedule our bikes separately and that cost a TONNE.

I went to Park Insurance (www.park.ca) and spoke to Emily at the Highgate location. She saved me hundreds of dollars by cutting my costs to less than half.

She found an insurer that did not have the standard $500 limit on bikes - which meant no need to schedule them separately. We have the full replacement value of all of our bikes insured (basically we rolled them into the 'contents' and then upped the contents to $100k). All we had to do was supply pictures with a list of parts/components.

And I asked - the cost to go from like $70k - $80k - $90k - $100k for the contents was like a couple dollars per $10k per year.

Couldn't be happier… Thankfully haven't had to make any sort of claim, so I can't comment on the experience of "using" the insurance… Emily made the "process" of obtaining the insurance really easy.

Yikes. I figured maybe that building would be more expensive, but would not have expected to drop the policy.

Maybe ask the owner what insurance company they use? If they are covering the building and business it would be expected they would also do a tenant policy.

They're probably only covering the building. They won't cover your personal possessions. And it's unlikely they'll cover any damages you cause. Don't leave the bathtub running!

Don't leave the bathtub running!

A tenant did this in a building I manage… 13 units flooded and $140,000 in restoration costs… Best to have insurance!

NO bodies fault when my buddies DW overflowed in her condo which kacked the hard wood kitchen floor which needed to be replaced $$$ … insurance is a good idea

It makes sense that statistcaly a heritage building with a coffee shop is more likely to be a problem than a new building with no coffee shop, the actuary has all that shit figured out, back in a the day I asked my b-inlaw the banker what an actuary is … he said like a chartered acountant but without a personality

Are you folks who can't find insurance talking to A BROKER or wasting time searching the internet?

Are you folks who can't find insurance talking to A BROKER or wasting time searching the internet?

No such thing.

As you should clearly know. :martini:

Also something I have been meaning to do sooner than later. I live in a basement suite and pay month to month (no lease), I'm fairly certain my suite is covered under my landlords home insurance as far as accidents/damage go. I wouldn't want to replace all of my possessions and such if something were to happen though.

yeah. its on my list too

I'm fairly certain my suite is covered under my landlords home insurance as far as accidents/damage go.

While your landlord would be covered if you caused damage to the building by accident (their insurance company would cover the damage), there's nothing stopping the insurance company from then coming after you to recover their costs. This is why its a VERY GOOD idea to have a tenant insurance policy since it includes liability coverage.
The value of your possessions would be the least of your worries if you accidentally burnt down your landlord's house…

^Be easy for him to run away with no possessions slowing him down

bump.. i live in a 30+ year old building and need to insure. would you recommend going through your bank? i just did the bcaa online quote and seems way too pricey

bump.. i live in a 30+ year old building and need to insure. is BCAA any good? would you recommend going through your bank?

I run BCAA, its half price than what my bank offered me. my house hasnt burned down so i dont know how good it actually is but given that most insurance is just a farce anyway..

Shop around. I saved 50% off my last insurance quote.