Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Rental Property Insurance Coverage

Rental property insurance coverage is a must. Comprehensive rental property insurance coverage is more important than ever, when you consider all of the growing liabilities you face as a landlord and all of the declining rights you have to inspect and care for rental properties.

Basic rental property insurance coverage typically includes fire damage, vandalism, burglary losses, and storm damage. Comprehensive rental property insurance coverage additionally includes losses that result from negligent liability suits for such things that may occur on the property as injury and death. Perhaps the greatest benefit of comprehensive rental property insurance coverage is having the insurance company's lawyers going to court instead of you being required to pay for your own lawyers.

Rental Property Insurance Coverage Types

Rental property insurance coverage can come in a lot of packages. Basic rental property insurance will cover fire, lightning, storm, smoke, explosion, vehicle, vandalism, sprinkler malfunction, and volcanic activity damages. Most basic packages will not include boilers, heavy equipment, and heavy machinery. Be sure that you always compare your potential losses to the cost of any additional types of coverage you want to add.

Broad-form rental property insurance will include all of the basic insurance plus insure against broken glass, falling objects, frozen water roof damage, plumbing damage, and some types of collapse damage.

Special-form rental property insurance coverage will include all of the broad-form insurance plus any other types of losses, as long as they aren't specifically noted in the policy exclusions. It costs significantly more than other coverage packages, but protects you against damage from most things that can go wrong.

Rental Property Insurance Reimbursement

Rental property insurance packages may also be differentiated by how the insurance company will reimburse you for losses. Actual cash value insurance is the least beneficial to you, as it merely pays you the depreciated value of lost property, as determined by the insurer.

Replacement cost insurance makes the most sense for you as the property owner, as it will pay you whatever the current market costs are for replacement parts, materials, and lost items. You will have to pay more for replacement cost insurance, but when bad things happen, it will provide you with enough funds to restore your rental property to a state that will allow you to rent it out once again.

Additional Factors in Rental Property Insurance Coverage

You can expect the quality of the construction of your property and the detriments to the location of your property to have a strong impact on your premiums. Also, having advanced theft-deterrent and fire-deterrent systems will positively impact your premium rates.

In some cases you may be required to carry a specific amount of coverage on a property by your insurer in order to avoid penalties during reimbursement. Watch out for these coinsurance clauses.

Finally, there are a couple of ways to cut your premiums. If you own many rental properties, you can cover them under a single policy, saving money on the rental property insurance for each. Also, consider getting umbrella insurance as a liability protection for anything that goes beyond the coverage limits of your primary rental property insurance coverage. For more info go to Suwanee homes for sale.

You can also learn more, here, at Suwanee homes for sale.