5 Best Rental Property Insurance Companies of September 2024 (2024)

After in-depth research, we found the following providers to be the best home insurance companies for rental properties.

• Liberty Mutual: Our top pick
• Farmers: Best for eco-friendly homeowners
• Allstate: Best for discounts
• Travelers: Best claim experience
• USAA: Best for military members and veterans

Although similar in many ways, rental property insurance and home insurance are different insurance products. If you own an investment property and plan to have tenants living in it long term, you’ll purchase a landlord insurance policy, rather than a homeowners insurance policy. Then, your tenants will purchase their own renters insurance policy to complement your policy, covering their own personal belongings and liability.

Here are more details about the primary coverages found in landlord insurance policies:

• Dwelling coverage: This covers damage to the dwelling and structure of the building after an unexpected event, such as a storm or fire. It pays up to a certain limit that you agree to when signing up for the policy. This limit is usually equal to the estimated value of the home, since it pays for its replacement after it’s damaged or destroyed.
• Other structures coverage: This coverage is usually equal to around 10% of your dwelling coverage limit, and it pays for repairs or replacements to buildings or structures that aren’t considered part of the main dwelling, such as a fence, detached garage,in-ground swimming pool, storage shed or gazebo.
• Liability coverage: If someone visiting your tenant gets injured by something on the property that you’re responsible for, you could be liable for legal fees and medical costs if they sue you. This coverage helps protect you from those unexpected costs.
• Landlord’s property coverage: Although your rental property insurance policy doesn’t cover your tenant’s personal belongings, it will cover your belongings that may be on the property and receive damage due to a covered peril. For example, if you include furniture in your rental, that’s considered your property and would therefore be covered if it is damaged by the tenant or a covered peril such as a severe weather event or structure fire.
• Loss of rent coverage: Similar to a homeowners insurance policy’s loss of use coverage, this covers months of rent that you may lose if the property is deemed uninhabitable after a covered peril.

While some of these types of coverage can often be found in homeowners insurance policies, such as dwelling and liability coverage, the amounts and terms of the coverage in the policy can be different.

Your rental property insurance policy can also come with various optional coverage additions or endorsem*nts for the most comprehensive coverage. These options can vary depending on the provider you choose, since some insurers offer more add-ons than others.

Here are some examples of commonly offered coverage add-ons:

• Vandalism coverage: This is a common endorsem*nt that pays for intentional or deliberate damage to the home by a tenant or someone else visiting the property. For instance, if a tenant decides to deface the walls with graffiti, this additional coverage option may help pay to paint over it.
• Building code or ordinance coverage: This helps pay for any permits or building code costs associated with repairs or replacements to the property after a covered loss. This coverage is a common add-on with standard home insurance policies, as well.
• Umbrella insurance: In addition to these optional coverage endorsem*nts, you can also often bundle your policy with umbrella insurance, which is a type of insurance that extends your liability coverage to incidents that could happen on and off the premises of your rental property. Incidents might include injuries, damage to property, unexpected lawsuits and other personal liability situations.
• Flood insurance: Even if you don’t live in a FEMA-designated flood zone, insurance professionals recommend you consider flood insurance for a higher level of financial protection for your rental property. Insurance agents from many top home insurance companies, such as Allstate and USAA, can offer these policies through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and dozens of private flood insurers.

If you want to use a secondary residence as an Airbnb, landlord insurance may be too much. Short-term rental insurance covers your property when it is rented out for a certain period, usually up to six months. It can be applied to your primary property or a vacation rental. It typically covers theft of your or your guests’ belongings, vandalism, loss of rental income and liability protection.

Check your standard homeowners insurance policy and see if it covers your needs. Although unusual, some providers cover short-term rentals under their standard policies. Other insurers may offer an endorsem*nt that adds this protection to your base coverage.

Airbnb also offers coverage when you host your property through its platform:

• Host liability coverage comes at no cost to Airbnb hosts. It includes $1 million in liability protection per occurrence up to a maximum number of claims per rental property plus legal liability coverage for incidents that result in bodily injury or property damage to guests during their stay.
• Host damage protection provides $3 million in property damage protection, which can be applied when a guest damages your property or belongings during his stay.
• AirCover for Hosts is Airbnb’s full insurance package, including the above two protections and extras, such as guest identity verification, reservation screening and a 24-hour safety line.

Gain insight into our ratings for the best home, renters, pet, travel or life insurance providers and find affordable recommendations for necessary insurance products.

• Prominent Pet Insurance Companies
• Premier Travel Insurance Companies
• Outstanding Homeowners Insurance Providers
• Top Renters Insurance Firms
• Budget-friendly Renters Insurance Providers
• National Term Life Insurance Providers
• Cost-effective Homeowners Insurance Companies

Our team surveyed dozens of home insurance providers and created a scoring system to assess and compare each company’s quality and service. Here are the factors that account for our provider scores according to our home insurance rating methodology:

• Coverage (28%): We analyze the comprehensiveness of each provider’s standard home insurance policy and compare optional policy endorsem*nts to determine the quality of coverage.
• Cost (27%): We compare cost data for homes nationwide to assess how competitively priced each provider is. We also consider each company’s available discounts when determining its overall cost of coverage.
• Availability and ease of use (25%): We evaluate each company’s customer service options, such as live chat, a customer support phone line, and multiple channels for filing claims and generating quotes. Similarly, we score providers based on their digital resources, such as a mobile app or online customer portal.
• Brand trust (20%): We gauge reputation by evaluating consumer reviews and third-party financial strength and customer experience ratings, including from J.D. Power, AM Best and customer review aggregators.

Companies with the best customer service exhibit 24/7 availability, useful digital tools and a quick claims-filing process. Providers that offer extensive discount options, endorsem*nts, customizable coverage options and unique features score significantly higher than those that don’t, putting them toward the top of our recommendations to readers.

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