If you have ever thought about being a landlord, whether you have a private residence, or even an apartment investment property, you really have to be prepared on all aspects of renting out to other people.
You can either try to control and maintain the property yourself, or have an agency do most of the foot work for you.
There are other things that you need to consider as well.
In order to protect your assets, you need to make sure that your building is covered, as well as any liability from a tenant that might get injured and even appliances such as the refrigerator, washer and dryer, or heating and cooling systems.
You may be wondering how you can protect yourself as well as your building and this is done with Landlord insurance.
There are many types of this, from home owner's, which covers damage to your rental property.
This means that if there is a fire, flood, or even if a tree falls on the building, you are covered.
There is appliance, which is different than home owner's, because this covers your major appliances if they happen to break down, even in the middle of the night.
If something happens, depending on how much cover and the voluntary excess, you may not even have any out of pocket expenses at all.
The next and most important type is liability.
This actually covers you if something happens on your property, from you tenants, or even people who may be passing by.
Let's say for an example that your tenant takes a fall coming out of the shower and tries to sue you.
Liability cover pays for any injuries that have incurred.
If you forget to shovel the walks, or just have not gotten to it yet and someone walks by, slips and falls, this covers you as well.
In a bad storm, you have a tree on your land, lightning hits it, or has a build up of ice and falls on the neighbour's house, and this covers you as well.
In many cases, when you have someone else managing your rentals, they require that you have full cover and some agencies can help you decide what cover and how much you should have.
It is a good idea to take their advice, but also be cautious and do your own research as well.
In some cases, you can find better cover on your own.
There are many different kinds of Landlord insurance agencies that can help you find the right cover.
The best thing to do is go online and look over many different agencies.
Look for discounts wherever you can find them.
While you may think about having a lower premium by having a higher voluntary excess, this is really something you have to consider carefully.
While having higher premiums may cost more initially, it can save you much money not having to pay out of pocket expenses.
When looking for Landlord insurance, there are company comparison websites to help you.
You just fill out a short form, giving the basics of what you need covered and several agencies are listed and you can compare these straight across the board and pick the one that best suits your needs.