What Insurance Do Edmonton Apartment Owners Need?
Are you an Edmonton apartment owner? Are your properties and rental incomes adequately protected from lawsuits and natural catastrophes? Apartment owner insurance ensures that you are protected financially as a landlord.
Also called landlord insurance, apartment owner insurance protects your commercial real estate from any potential risks, such as a such as fire, vandalism, flood, and third-party liability lawsuits.
Western Financial Group is a national insurance broker that has partnered with Canada’s leading insurers to meet your business insurance needs in Edmonton.
Our business insurance experts do the insurance shopping for you to get you a competitive insurance quote that suits your needs as an Edmonton apartment building owner.
What is apartment insurance for Edmonton landlords?
Landlord insurance covers Edmonton apartment building owners from financial losses for events, third-party accidents, mishaps, or occurrences that happen at their rental buildings. It protects landlords for losses or damages to their property, its contents, and loss of rental income resulting from an insured loss, such as a burst water pipe.
This type of insurance also protects sheds or garages that are attached to an apartment building.
You may also hear apartment owner insurance called rental property insurance
What happens when one of your Edmonton apartment units isn’t occupied due to an insured loss, like a fire, and no rent is coming in for that unit?
Fair rental income protection is typically a type of coverage in an apartment owners’ insurance policy. It can help replace lost rent payments if the apartment unit being rented is temporarily uninhabitable after a covered claim, such as a fire or flood.
Fair rental income protection may be part of your apartment owner insurance policy or you may need to add it to your commercial policy. Make sure to ask your Western business insurance expert about this type of coverage.
You may also hear it called fair rental value coverage.
What if a tenant intentionally damages one of your apartment building rental units?
Your Edmonton landlord insurance may cover accidental damage caused by your tenants, such as an unintentional kitchen fire. It does not cover intentional damage or wear and tear.
How much does Edmonton apartment insurance cost?
There isn’t a set price to insure an apartment building(s) owner.
The following factors are usually considered when determining the cost of your Edmonton landlord insurance:
- Your location(s)
- Square footage of your building(s)
- How many buildings you own
- Age of your building
- Annual revenues
- Number of employees
- Any equipment
- Any past claims
Here’s how Edmonton apartment building insurance helps property landlords
There’s a fire at an Edmonton apartment building you own and it causes significant damage. Commercial property insurance provides coverage for physical loss or damage to your property and its contents caused by fire.
There’s a heavy downpour and the city’s sewer system backs up and floods your apartment building’s basement. If you have added optional sewer backup coverage to your apartment building insurance package, it can help with the costs of the cleanup.
What’s in an Edmonton apartment insurance package?
Commercial general liability (CGL) insurance
CGL can help pay legal and medical costs if a tenant is injured at your Edmonton apartment building; for example, they slip on wet floor or on an icy patch on your apartment building’s sidewalk.
Without commercial liability insurance, you would be responsible for paying any liability costs out of your own pocket.
Your CGL policy also can help protect you from libel, slander, and false advertising allegations.
Commercial property insurance
Commercial property insurance provides coverage for loss or damage to your Edmonton apartment building(s) and contents due to fire, flood, theft, or vandalism.
It can typically cover:
- Furniture, equipment, supplies
- Inventory and computers
- Documents such as payroll, accounts receivable
Ask your Western business insurance expert about how much CGL coverage you will need to protect your Edmonton commercial property.
Cyber insurance: Your tenants’ rent payments by e-transfer could be hacked and cyber insurance can help protect you as an Edmonton landlord.
Without cyber insurance, you will have to pay out of your pocket for the cost of restoring your computer system if it’s hacked.
You may also be liable for damages to third parties whose information has been stolen and you may have to pay for notification expenses to inform customers affected by a breach.
Legal expense insurance
What if you have a tenant who won’t pay their rent? Legal expense insurance typically pays for legal advice or legal fees associated with a lawsuit. It can also help cover court fees and expert witness fees.
Equipment insurance
Equipment insurance helps cover the costs of repairing or replacing essential equipment, such as a building’s boiler or HVAC system if they are broken or damaged due to a mechanical or electrical issue.
Consider these add-on coverages as an Edmonton apartment building owner:
Sewer backup insurance
Sewer backup insurance is additional insurance that you can buy to protect your Edmonton apartment building should a municipal sewer system flood your building. It typically covers the costs to clean it up.
Overland water insurance
This type of insurance typically covers your expenses if a flood caused by extreme weather, a spring thaw, or an overflowing body of freshwater results in damage to your property and enters through the basement, windows, doors, and roofs.
Are your tenants required to have renter’s insurance?
As an apartment building owner, your tenants are not legally required to have renter’s insurance. It is recommended, though, that you encourage your tenants to purchase their own tenant insurance policies to cover their belongings.
Your Edmonton landlord insurance policy will not cover any losses or damages to your tenants’ furniture and clothing, for example.
What do I do if I have a claim against my Edmonton apartment building?
- Contact your broker immediately after any business-related mishap. Waiting to file a claim can confuse insurers about the severity of the damages to your business.
- Know your policy so that when you contact your broker you are familiar with what will be covered or not.
- Document the damage. Take photos right away and write down what happened.
- Do not throw away damaged goods after taking photos. Keep the physical evidence so that your adjustor can see it.
- Do not invite lawsuits. Don’t say anything that could be used against you, especially if you aren’t sure what happened.
- Be honest about what your damaged property is worth. Damaged commercial property is generally valued according to its actual cash value or replacement value.
Here’s an insurance checklist:
- Do you have the best business insurance rate that suits your work?
- Do you have the right amount for your deductible and regularly review it to make sure it’s the right amount for you?
- Are you or your employees using personal vehicles for work?
Western Financial Group has licensed BUSINESS INSURANCE EXPERTS to get you the right insurance coverage as an Edmonton apartment building owner. Our experts are available now to help you navigate the business insurance journey to protect your Edmonton business.
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