If you had called your insurance company last month and asked if they offered coverage for renting out your home for short-term guests such as Airbnb, they would have said no. They would have also advised that your home must be insured as a commercial (business) property, basically the same policy a hotel would need.
That all changed Feb. 1st 2017 thanks to Aviva Canada (and others soon to follow) who now offer Home-sharing coverage as an option on standard home owners policies.
Coverage Added To Your Policy Includes:
- liability arising out of the short-term rental
- loss or damage to buildings and personal property
- intentional acts, criminal acts, or failure to act by a guest
- loss or damage to a guest’s property up to $1,500
- fair rental value (loss of rental income)
The cost
If you were to rent out your entire home or part of your home, here is what you can expect to pay for the additional coverage added to your policy.
Note: for the sake of this example, let’s pretend your home insurance premium is currently $1,000/year.
Note: The total number of days rented is based on the entire year and not consecutive. For example, if you rent your house for two nights every month, the total days rented would be 2 X 12 = 24 days rented yearly.
- Entire home rented for up to 90 days per year = $200 Additional premium
- Entire home rented up to 180 days per year = $400 Additional premium
- Portion of home rented short-term guests year-round = $200 Additional premium