NY Landlord and Rental Property Insurance
Landlord Insurance covers those property owners that rent out one or more of their properties including homes, apartments or condos. A landlord needs to have protection from any loss that may occur to their rental property like fire or severe weather, as well as liability protection.
At the NY Insurance Hub, we are specialists and pride ourselves on finding the right coverage for your rental property needs while providing quality service and competitive pricing. We have hand-picked the top national and regional carriers that provide the best landlord insurance in NY to protect you properly, while also providing the most competitive rates. We tailor to your specific requirements and manually quote amongst our top-rated carriers to isolate the lowest cost and highest protection landlord insurance quote for you.
Many people think that landlord dwelling owners have it easy. They buy properties, lease them out, collect money, and lay back and enjoy all the wealth that come with being a rental property owner.
We know better than that around our agency, having a multitude of landlords as clients from one-unit owners to customers that own a tremendous number of properties. It’s a lot of hard work with stressors and risks involved. We have a major respect for dwelling owners and know that their prosperity only comes with a lot of sweat, tears and time.
In our vast number of conversations with rental property owners we’ve learned about the problems they face outside of insurance, such as high turnover rates, late rent payments, paperwork and organization, evictions and property management responsibilities. Top that off with having to learn the federal, state and local laws pertaining to landlords and one quickly learns this is not an easy profession.
Although we can’t help with the preceding problems that rental property owners face, we can help with the insurance coverage they need at the best price we can find along with top customer service and guidance.
Landlords have enough issues to deal with and they don’t need insurance to be one of them. Our goal is to be the solution for their policy needs.
Vital Components of Your NY Landlord Insurance Policy
- Dwelling – Dwelling coverage is the part of your policy that helps to pay for the rebuilding or the repair of your rental home, apartment or condo when damaged by a covered peril.
- Separate Structures – This policy endorsement helps to pay for repair or replacement of detached structures on your dwelling such as a garage, shed or fence.
- Personal Property – This part of your policy helps to pay for loss to equipment you leave at the rental site, such as lawn equipment, tools, and snow blowers.
- Premises Liability – This will protect you if there is a claim when someone is injured on your property and you are sued for damages. It will help to pay for costs like medical payments, legal fees, and claim settlement or court judgment amounts up to the limit held on the policy. Typically there is no deductible associated with a liability claim.
- For instance, say someone is walking up the front porch wooden stairs and falls down back to the sidewalk due to a loose or damaged stair board, you can be held responsible for that persons injury due to failed maintenance of the stairs.
- Loss of Rents Endorsement – provides the peace of mind and financial assistance you need in the event your dwelling becomes uninhabitable due to a covered loss, like a fire, tree falling on structure, or a bursting pipe. Keep in mind, you must have a tenant or tenants in place for the reimbursement to kick in. It pays for the rent you would have received during the time the dwelling is uninhabitable up to the limit held on the policy. Some insurers allow for a specified fixed amount for the limit, say $10,000 and up per policy where others allow for a certain time period of actual sustained loss at 3, 6, or 12 months.
Optional NY Rental Property Insurance Coverages To Consider
This coverage is an endorsement added to your dwelling policy that pays for repair or replacement of appliances, heating and air conditioning systems and other equipment when they break down due to mechanical or electrical failures.
It’s important to note that Equipment Breakdown does not pay for damage to items caused by wear and tear, rust, corrosion, or decay and does not pay for maintenance issues. Think of equipment breakdown damage being covered due to a sudden event such as a power surge, or something rupturing or bursting.
The cost of Equipment Breakdown protection is really quite affordable considering the peace of mind it provides. You might expect to pay anywhere from $25 to $75 per year depending on the carrier with coverage up to $100,000 and normally includes a deductible.
It’s important to note that Equipment Breakdown does not pay for damage to items caused by wear and tear, rust, corrosion, or decay and does not pay for maintenance issues. Think of equipment breakdown damage being covered due to a sudden event such as a power surge, or something rupturing or bursting.
The cost of Equipment Breakdown protection is really quite affordable considering the peace of mind it provides. You might expect to pay anywhere from $25 to $75 per year depending on the carrier with coverage up to $100,000 and normally includes a deductible.
Most dwelling owners have at least one type of underground service line to transport water, waste, electricity, natural gas, fiber optics, cable, internet and more. In most cases, the dwelling owner is responsible for maintaining the lines from their dwelling to the street.
The standard NY rental property insurance policy does not cover underground service line repair or replacement which could lead you to paying thousands in repairs out of your pocket. But fortunately this added coverage is a great value added endorsement costing as little as $25 per year for a $10,000 coverage depending on the carrier with available limits up to $25,000. Usually a $500 or $1000 deductible will apply.
Although the service line endorsement varies from insurer to insurer, here are some of the more typical perils covered:
- Wear and tear
- Collapse
- Rust, deterioration, corrosion and decay
- Electrical, mechanical or pressure systems breakdown
- Freezing
It’s important to note that septic systems and underground storm drain pipes are not covered.
Also keep in mind that not all NY insurance companies offer underground service line coverage as an option to their standard policy, but you should seriously consider it, especially considering the low cost. Be sure to check your most recent policy to see if you have this protection and if
not, call your agent to see if it’s available and at what cost. You can also contact us to get a NY landlord insurance quote with this endorsement included with a minimum $10,000 limit.
The standard NY rental property insurance policy does not cover underground service line repair or replacement which could lead you to paying thousands in repairs out of your pocket. But fortunately this added coverage is a great value added endorsement costing as little as $25 per year for a $10,000 coverage depending on the carrier with available limits up to $25,000. Usually a $500 or $1000 deductible will apply.
Although the service line endorsement varies from insurer to insurer, here are some of the more typical perils covered:
- Wear and tear
- Collapse
- Rust, deterioration, corrosion and decay
- Electrical, mechanical or pressure systems breakdown
- Freezing
It’s important to note that septic systems and underground storm drain pipes are not covered.
Also keep in mind that not all NY insurance companies offer underground service line coverage as an option to their standard policy, but you should seriously consider it, especially considering the low cost. Be sure to check your most recent policy to see if you have this protection and if
not, call your agent to see if it’s available and at what cost. You can also contact us to get a NY landlord insurance quote with this endorsement included with a minimum $10,000 limit.
A standard landlord policy does not cover your property that has been vandalized. You may want to seriously consider adding this endorsement to pay to repair vandalism damage caused by tenants or others.
Just as with Vandalism, most standard landlord policies exclude theft. You may want to seriously consider adding this endorsement as well to pay for theft of your property on site including appliances by tenants or others.
The Building Ordinance or Law Endorsement is an important coverage, particularly for older properties. If a covered loss requires additional costs to repair or rebuild due to local building code specifications, this endorsement will reimburse the property
owner for the “upgrade” charges. It pertains to the demolishing, repairing or rebuilding of a structure. Keep in mind that dwellings built decades ago without recent updates usually will not pass today’s building code requirements. Some common examples of updates your dwelling might need as it pertains to current building code requirements are new wiring, new fire safety features, new plumbing, new roofing and new means of egress.
owner for the “upgrade” charges. It pertains to the demolishing, repairing or rebuilding of a structure. Keep in mind that dwellings built decades ago without recent updates usually will not pass today’s building code requirements. Some common examples of updates your dwelling might need as it pertains to current building code requirements are new wiring, new fire safety features, new plumbing, new roofing and new means of egress.
We service clients in the Albany, Schenectady, Troy, Latham, Clifton Park, Saratoga Springs, Cohoes, Watervliet areas as well as the entire state of New York. Each one of our clients is given a dedicated expert to work together to proficiently address all your concerns.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for New York Landlord Insurance
There is no “one” best company as it depends upon your specific qualifying scenario. Factors such as building age, physical location, dwelling limit amount, credit rating, prior claims, and fire zone rating all combine in to the final quoted price. Insurer A might be great for older buildings with an estimated reconstruction cost value under $500,000, while Insurer B might be the best for newer high value buildings with limits over $500,000 for owners with an excellent credit rating. And so on and so on. For this reason we analyze each quote as a unique opportunity and manually quote with the companies that rate best for your specific scenario of qualifying factors and coverage requirements.
We will never guarantee the absolute best proposal, but we do guarantee to put our best effort forth and manually rate with our targeted rental property companies for your specific qualifying factors. We have an excellent track record and often save clients up to 50% on their policies. We do this without sacrificing coverage and commonly upgrade protections while still saving customers up to 50%. Our number one goal with every quote opportunity is to find the lowest cost option that provides the protection you need and deserve, while educating you on the most important aspects of your policy.
Absolutely not. In fact, we do not charge our customers at all for our services, and certainly not for a quote. Our compensation comes from the companies that we write for, and we’re paid the same as every other agency whether we spend 1 minute or 2 hours working with a client. In a greater sense, we do make out better by spending extra time with our customers and building relationships with them because we get a lot of referrals for new clients, and our interactions are like talking with friends and family. We simply care about our people and want to make sure they are taken care of.
We pride ourselves on conducting a thorough and comprehensive quote process with quick turnaround times. Even though we manually quote for your property or properties and for most personal lines products, such as auto, home, umbrella, motorcycle,
boat, and RV’s it’s same day service and we can even issue policies that same day. Once the best quote option is determined, we like to review the quote with you and answer any questions you might have.
boat, and RV’s it’s same day service and we can even issue policies that same day. Once the best quote option is determined, we like to review the quote with you and answer any questions you might have.
You never have to come to the office. In fact, most of our interactions are done over the phone, although we love meeting people in-person if convenient for you.
No. We make the process as easy as possible for you. In most cases, it’s really as simple as taking payment and emailing the application for you to e-sign, and that’s it. We even prepare and send the cancellations to your current insurer for you. If it’s a new purchase, we’ll work with your lender and provide the documents needed for your loan closing. We provide same day service if necessary.
Yes. Your new company will simply replace the old one. Sometimes when a policy’s premium is paid in escrow, the insureds don’t pay much attention to the renewals because there’s not a drastic change in their monthly mortgage payment each year. When they do ultimately take a look at their renewal a few years later, they notice that the premium has increased significantly, sometimes over 50% or more. It really does pay to check your renewal each year when in escrow, you could be paying hundreds more than you should be.
We use building reconstruction cost estimators inputting your house’s characteristics that we obtain from our conversation with you and also from our research of the online property data and records for your house. Items such as construction type, build model, exterior features, roof type, basement, along with multiple interior features of the kitchen, cabinets, floors, doors, wall structures, etc. The data input is run through a calculator that takes the area’s cost of materials and labor into account and derives a final estimated cost of reconstruction for your house including an amount for demolition and debris removal. The estimated cost of reconstruction is the figure we use as your dwelling limit.
Yes. We utilize several carriers that do not consider or run a consumer credit report. Premiums are much lower than the standard companies that utilize consumer credit ratings in their pricing.
You’d be surprised at how many water issues occur from clogged gutters, so regularly cleaning them out is advisable. Also make sure to run your sump pump every couple months to make sure it’s ready for any sudden overflow. Raising appliances and electrical equipment up off the floor can help to keep overflow water from damaging them. Simply using waterproof storage containers can protect items stored in your basement. There are also new smart home devices that can detect leaks in pipes, allow for remote water shut off if you’re away from your house, and some that can alert you to any changes in the temperature and humidity of your dwelling.
Landlords can require renter to secure their own policy as a term of a new lease or lease renewal and we advise our clients require their tenants to carry a renters policy because it mitigates the threat of a lawsuit against the property owner. For instance, if a tenant’s property is damaged and they don’t have a renter’s policy, they may claim the owner is responsible for the damage. Or, maybe the tenant has a party and a guest is injured and files a claim against the landlord because the tenant does not have a policy.
We’re here to provide guidance to landlords for both coverage and cost.
So, contact us today at 518-783-0105 to find out more about your options and have us prepare the Best NY Landlord Insurance Quote from amongst our top rental property insurance carriers.