Insurance for Once/Year Home Rentals

​If you rent your home out only once a year for a local event, can you rely on your standard homeowners insurance and umbrella policies to cover any possible incidents that require filing a claim? Or do you need to add a different policy for that one-time rental?

'Before the now established trend of individual homeowners offering their homes as short-term vacation rentals, those renting out their homes only once a year generally depended on their standard homeowners policy.

However, with short-term home rentals becoming a booming business, insurance providers have updated their policies' inclusions/restrictions.  Now they may require you have a landlord or other commercial-type policy for a claim to be approved for any incidents or damage.

Two major policy areas to focus on are liability and building/contents coverage.

If you go through a formal rental agency, it will commonly have provisions in the contract that the client is responsible for any damages, minus normal wear and tear.

But, what if the client sustains significant physical injuries from a fall and claims your house provided an unsafe environment?

Do you know if you're covered by the liability portion of the standard homeowners policy or umbrella policy you have in place?

It's important to understand that each insurance provider has different coverage limits and exclusions.
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So, before you rent your home out for that once a year event, review your policy carefully and speak with your insurance provider to make sure you're adequately covered.