Student Rental Insurance for Ontario Landlords

To an insurer, a house leased to one family and the same house leased room-by-room to five students are different risks. Student rentals typically have more occupants, more turnover, more cooking and more guests, and they are more likely to have an empty stretch between the end of the academic year and September. Insurers want to know all of this, and many standard rental dwelling policies have limits on the number of units or unrelated tenants they will accept.

If the policy still describes the property as a single-family rental when it is really a five-bedroom student house, a claim can be challenged on the grounds that the risk was misrepresented.

A properly placed landlord policy for student housing in Ontario commonly includes:

• The building: fire, water escape from plumbing, wind, hail and other insured perils, on a rebuild-cost basis.
• Landlord's contents: furniture, appliances and anything you supply in a furnished rental.
• Landlord liability: claims from tenants, their guests or the public, such as a fall on icy steps or a broken railing.
• Loss of rents: replaces rental income while the home is being repaired after a covered loss.
• Optional endorsements: sewer backup, overland water, service line coverage and guaranteed or extended rebuilding cost options where available.

Tenants' own belongings are not covered by the landlord's policy. Most landlords require each student tenant to carry their own tenant insurance as a condition of the lease, which also gives the tenant liability coverage.

This is where student landlords get caught. Many property policies limit or suspend certain coverage, such as freezing, water damage or vandalism, once a building has been vacant or unoccupied beyond a set number of days. If your students move out in April and new leases start in September, tell your broker. Options include arranging summer sublets, scheduled property checks, keeping heat on and water shut off appropriately, or a vacancy permit or endorsement where needed.

Possibly, and the answer affects both the bylaw side and the insurance side. Many Ontario municipalities, especially near college and university campuses, have rental licensing or rooming house rules that trigger when a certain number of unrelated people rent individual rooms. Requirements often include fire separations, interconnected smoke alarms, egress windows and inspections. Insurers ask whether the property is licensed and code compliant, and some will only write student or rooming house risks that meet those standards. Check your municipality's rules before you rent by the room.

• Number of bedrooms and number of tenants, and whether leases are per room or one joint lease
• Whether the property is licensed as a rental or rooming house where your city requires it
• Age and updates of roof, wiring, plumbing and heating
• Fire safety: interconnected smoke and CO alarms, extinguishers, egress from bedrooms, fire separations
• How far you live from the property and how often it is inspected
• Summer occupancy plans
• Claims history

• Parents who bought a house near campus for their child and rent the other rooms
• Investors with student houses near Ontario Tech, Durham College, Trent, Queen's, Waterloo, Western, McMaster and other campuses
• Landlords converting a single-family rental into a room-by-room rental
• Landlords who were declined because of the number of unrelated tenants