non-resident property insurance

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myabundance
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non-resident property insurance

Post by myabundance »

I'm a Canadian with property and insurance in Canada. However, I plan on moving to the USA and want to make sure my properties can be insured as a non-resident (landlord). It's hard to find a company who will do this. Does anyone have any tips?

Do you know a broker or company that does this?

Or a strategy (e.g. keep an address in Canada for the purposes of having insurance for properties in the country)?

I don't wish to change the name on any deeds just so someone else can hold insurance for the property on my behalf. I just want to make sure my property is covered as a landlord in case there are liabilities.

Thanks in advance!
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Peculiar_Investor
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Re: non-resident property insurance

Post by Peculiar_Investor »

Welcome to FWF.

In what province(s) are your rental properties located? How are you planning to manage the properties while you are living in the USA? Will you be using a property manager? If you are using a property manager, I would think that everything related to the property(s) would funnel back through the property manager, therefore providing a Canadian address.

You might also need to review NR6 - Undertaking to File an Income Tax Return by a Non-Resident Receiving Rent.
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kcowan
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Re: non-resident property insurance

Post by kcowan »

We use Canadian Northern Shield. We tell them we are non-resident and they are ok with it. Our tenants also need to hold insurance for their contents and liability. Although the situation is not exactly parallel because we return after 6 months, it might be worth a call.
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myabundance
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Re: non-resident property insurance

Post by myabundance »

Thanks for all the feedback!

Peculiar_Investor:
I have a property manager in Ontario and a cross-border accountant.

I was told that the underwriter could only provide insurance for "residents". It was very unclear to me what this meant.

Under immigration law, that would mean I require being present at least six months of the year.
Under tax law, I don't have to be present at all, but just have an address.

Has anyone filed a claim?
And if you did, did you have to be physically present for it in some way or provide some proof of being in the country?
Or was having an address enough (no questions asked)?

I'm trying to avoid unnecessary issues and if I can just provide an address without getting into trouble, I'd much prefer that route.

kcowan - Thanks for the tip on CNS - I will check them out!
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Re: non-resident property insurance

Post by flywaysuzy »

You would want the insuance company's definition of resident first- who would want to pay for premiums for insurance that might not pay out when you did have a claim?
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Re: non-resident property insurance

Post by OhGreatGuru »

There is a thread along similar lines on CMF http://canadianmoneyforum.com/showthrea ... n-resident

It seems some insurance companies don't want to insure homes with absentee landlords. But there must be some that will. One suspects the claim rates are higher, so the premium rates will be higher. Try some of the contacts suggested there, or talk to an insurance broker.
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Re: non-resident property insurance

Post by Yoder »

SquareOne Insurance

They were satisfied that i had a local property manager...
SQRT
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Re: non-resident property insurance

Post by SQRT »

Never had much of an issue. Our Ontario cottage and snowbird home are obviously part time residences. Canmore home is our official residence but we are often away. Our Toronto condo was the only issue. I think the insurance co was sceptical that it is owner occupied, ie not rented. I eventually convinced them (Meloche Monnex) without issue. Have regular property checks at all homes other than Condo.
canadian_in_usa
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Re: non-resident property insurance

Post by canadian_in_usa »

@SQRT Who is your insurance provider for your property in Alberta?
Spudd
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Re: non-resident property insurance

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SQRT wrote: 07 Feb 2017 11:54 Never had much of an issue. Our Ontario cottage and snowbird home are obviously part time residences. Canmore home is our official residence but we are often away. Our Toronto condo was the only issue. I think the insurance co was sceptical that it is owner occupied, ie not rented. I eventually convinced them (Meloche Monnex) without issue. Have regular property checks at all homes other than Condo.
How often do you get the property checked? Just curious, as we had a pipe burst while we were on vacation. We were lucky because it literally burst while we were on the plane home, but I was panicking that the insurance company would freak out because we hadn't had property checks. In the end it was a small expense to fix everything so we didn't need to use insurance, but I want to keep doing checks in mind for the future. Also, what do they check? Just walk around and look at the bathrooms?
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Re: non-resident property insurance

Post by SQRT »

Spudd wrote: 07 Jan 2020 11:35
SQRT wrote: 07 Feb 2017 11:54 Never had much of an issue. Our Ontario cottage and snowbird home are obviously part time residences. Canmore home is our official residence but we are often away. Our Toronto condo was the only issue. I think the insurance co was sceptical that it is owner occupied, ie not rented. I eventually convinced them (Meloche Monnex) without issue. Have regular property checks at all homes other than Condo.
How often do you get the property checked? Just curious, as we had a pipe burst while we were on vacation. We were lucky because it literally burst while we were on the plane home, but I was panicking that the insurance company would freak out because we hadn't had property checks. In the end it was a small expense to fix everything so we didn't need to use insurance, but I want to keep doing checks in mind for the future. Also, what do they check? Just walk around and look at the bathrooms?
Cottage and Arizona house checked weekly. Biggest thing for the cottage is heating, flush toilets and look for leaks. Arizona just a general check(leaks) as we have a security company who checks as well.
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AltaRed
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Re: non-resident property insurance

Post by AltaRed »

Most insurance companies have covenants that require property checks on a certain frequency to keep insurance valid... or in the case of water, if water is shut off and pipes drained or protected with RV anti-freeze e.g. traps, then property check frequency decreases. When we are away in winter, we have a property manager who checks our place every 2 days (as required by our insurance) and puts his property checks in his log book for record keeping purposes. Water damage from burst pipes, broken windows or roof leaks (and possibly squatters) are the key issues for insurance companies.

In summer, we ask a neighbour to check the house and the record keeping is the security code we give them for our alarm system, meaning they have to disarm the system to enter the house and then re-arm the system when they leave. The security company has those entry records.

Anecdotally insurance companies are not kind to homeowners who are negligent.
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