10 Things Home Sharing Hosts Should Know About Insurance and Liability

Table of Content

• Homeowners Insurance and Home Sharing
• **Host Home Insurance requirements in the State of Colorado**
• Can regular home insurance cover my Airbnb if I live in the property?
• What kind of insurance do I need to use my home as an Airbnb?
• Keep Your Home & Business Covered With Host Insurance
• Cover for your home if it’s damaged by a paying guest
• What Is Host Protection Insurance?

For hosts, there is the potential for property damage and liability claims. Platforms are susceptible to damage to their reputation arising from claims or negative press. If you’re renting your home to guests, it’s considered a business use and typically not covered by homeowners insurance.

While those remain the major players in the industry, there are home sharing platforms that specialize in just about anything. CultureGoGo connects travelers interested in cultural exchange and Wwoof serves as a nonprofit connecting those interested in organic farming with working farms. D&O Benchmarking We’ve analyzed our policy database to help high-growth companies benchmark their current D&O policy. For example, Airbnb Host Protection Insurance does not cover loss of income. Home emergency comes as standard with our Platinum cover or can be added to the other tiers.

Homeowners Insurance and Home Sharing

As most of us are aware, peer-to-peer resolution can be a lengthy process. If your property is damaged and is not rented during the resolution process, you can lose significant income. Airbnb host insurance does not provide coverage for lost income.

This is offered up to an agreed amount per incident and can either be capped per home annually or left uncapped. Not having the right cover in place if something you love gets damaged would be very annoying and could leave you out of pocket which, is why you may want to consider our Accidental Damage Cover. You can bolt our cover onto any of our tiers of home insurance – Admiral, Gold and Platinum. Our full featured Platinum Home Insurance is for people who demand extra security and peace of mind.

**Host Home Insurance requirements in the State of Colorado**

If your property is rented or leased, you must get the landlord’s permission to sublet. There are more exclusions such as liquor liability and punitive damages, however these three jumped right out. Hired & Non-Owned Auto Covers damages sustained when employees use personal vehicles for business purposes. General Liability Protects companies against basic business risks. Jason Metz is a writer who has worked in the insurance industry since 2007. As a former claims handler and fraud investigator, he’s seen a lot, and enjoys helping others navigate the complexities and opaqueness of insurance.

However, each of these scenarios poses different risks and requires different components of insurance. That is why the “one size fits all” approach does not work for vacation rentals. When you agree to host your property on a homeshare platform, it would be negligent for you not to consider all the risks involved.

Can regular home insurance cover my Airbnb if I live in the property?

Liberty Mutual—Liberty Mutual policyholders can extend their current policy through Liberty Mutual HomeSharing Coverage if they share their home for more than 31 days. VRBO’s $1M Liability Insurance provide protection automatically. Without a Home Sharing policy or endorsement, you could be exposed to coverage gaps. Short-term rentals are not allowed in several communities in the St. Louis area, including Chesterfield, Crestwood, Hazelwood and Maryland Heights.

A standard Homeowners policy does not provide coverage for home sharing. And the protection offered through Airbnb’s Host Guarantee program has several gaps that could leave you on the hook for repairing or replacing your belongings. Home sharing platforms offer limited protection for your personal property. Always check with your local government about policies surrounding short term rental properties. This situation, originally covered by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, demonstrates just a few of the hidden challenges of listing a property on a home sharing website such as Airbnb or Vrbo.

What kind of insurance do I need to use my home as an Airbnb?

The aim of host insurance is to protect homeowners renting their house for commercial uses. The need for special host insurance arises because the moment a home – or a portion of a home – is listed on a platform, a typical homeowners policy excludes coverage. For example, a traveler booking on a platform assumes the risk that their lodging isn’t what they bargained for. The traveler could also be liable for their own actions for example negligence in leaving on a lit stove or flooding a bathroom.

Offering up to £500 for a tradesperson to temporarily repair your central heating, hot water and plumbing, in an emergency. Give us a call and we'll sort out the rest - you won't have to try and resolve the issue directly with your guests. You’ll need to contact your insurer and let them know what you’re planning to do before you start using your home for Airbnb hosting or any type of short-term let. But while there’s no extra charge for this cover, there are plenty of exclusions, as well as terms and conditions that could make it more difficult to make a successful claim. Host insurance is a specialist type of home insurance designed for people to let out spare rooms or their entire homes for short periods.

Do I need specific insurance to use Airbnb?

This is a great question and one Proper Insurance has been asking for years. It’s clear the policy has a $10,000,000 aggregate, meaning if you add up all the claims, the policy is exhausted at $10,000,000. So important in the vacation rental space as someone who provides phony information likely has further malintent related to the rental home.

Consider this lawsuit against Airbnb filed by one of the nation’s largest property management firms. The property company, known as Aimco, claims Airbnb was negligent in not halting bookings at a Miami condominium where subleasing is banned. To illustrate the risk, let’s say you participate in a home share as a host, renting out your beachside cottage for a week during Summer. The family you thought you were renting to turned out to be a large group of young adults who throw a party and unleash significant property damage on your home. That’s because renting a condo is considered a business use.

Host insurance is only applicable during the rental period, yet most insurance claims happen outside or not in relation to the rental. These are normal homeowners insurance claims, but they are not covered unless your insurance carrier knows you are running an Airbnb business. Vrbo automatically provides up to $1 million in liability coverage at no additional cost for hosts.