NYC Insurance Blog

Landlord Liability Insurance: What You Should Know

If you own a building, you must be questioning the best way to protect yourself and your property in the event of damages. If that is the case, you need landlord liability insurance coverage.

What is Landlord Liability Insurance?

Liability coverage is a standard policy amongst property owners. It helps settle the expenses these proprietors may incur after damage or injuries to their tenants or visitors on their premises. 

Landlord liability insurance or a leaser’s risk insurance is a policy that protects property owners financially in case a tenant tries suing them for damages. It is key to keeping your proprietorship game on point. 

In short, it covers any cost associated with the legal defense you hire to represent you in court and any settlement amount the court instructs you to pay the plaintiff. 

What Does Landlord Liability Insurance Cover?

Landlord liability insurance covers damages filed by tenants or guests on your property. It caters to the cost of damages, material loss, or even bodily injuries. If any of these activities happened within your premises, you are most likely going to be responsible. Give us a call today, we can get you a quote quickly!

So, you must get the cover for your property. Usually, landlord liability insurance comprises 5 covers. These include:

1. Worker’s Compensation insurance

Owning a few buildings is a form of business on its own terms. Therefore, you may have a few employees that help you run and maintain your property. Keeping them safe is a top priority.

However, despite taking steps to keep them safe, they could sometimes sustain injuries from trips, falls, and slips. Alternatively, someone could misuse equipment, sustain burns, or get injured by falling items. When they lift or bend, your employees could have strain injuries and need medical care. 

The worker’s compensation insurance is for them. It covers any medical expenses or lost wages they may face when they have to be out of the office due to accidents or injuries on your premises. The cover also includes any cost of rehabilitation or death benefits if the worker loses their life.

Without worker’s compensation insurance, you could lose your commercial buildings to settle the hefty payouts.

2. Business Owners policy

The business owner’s policy, or BOP, is an insurance policy designed to cover commercial property and general liabilities. The policy offers protection to small businesses, usually with less than 100 employees. 

The BOP insurance covers building listed, machinery and equipment permanently installed on the premises, tenant improvements, and business personal property located in the buildings under the BOP. 

On the other hand, the general liability arm of the BOP covers property damage liability, bodily injuries, and personal and advertising liabilities. The BOP covers any medical cost that a tenant or visitor may sue for if they sustain injuries resulting from your business activities. 

3. Commercial auto insurance

If you own a building, you most likely have a car that you drive around for business. You could be for showing houses on your property or delivering material to your building. 

Commercial auto insurance includes special coverage designed for cars you use for commercial use. It includes areas that may not be in the standard personal policy. In addition, the coverage limit is higher, with more legal risks.

Commercial auto insurance also protects the deliverables and people in your car during your drive. The policy also offers non-owner vehicle coverage when an employee drives your vehicle for business purposes.

4. Cyber insurance

Cyber insurance protects your business from any losses you incur during a cyberattack. It also includes any legal costs you may incur when a customer sues you for exposing personal information, which could happen during a cyberattack. 

5. Umbrella insurance

Umbrella insurance comes in handy when your primary insurance cannot cover the whole settlement amount. Therefore, umbrella insurance supplements the base policy. For instance, if your commercial cover only offers $1 million payouts, and the court demands you pay $1.5 million, the umbrella insurance pays off the excess $500,000.

What Does the Landlord Liability Insurance Not Cover?

There are some exceptions to the landlord insurance cover. Some of these include:

• Tenant’s personal property like clothing and electronics
• The property where you live- this is because tenants should occupy a rental property
• Equipment maintenance- for normal wear and tear of your installed machinery
• Run-of-the-mill expenses
• Value loss due to market conditions

Where Do You Get Your Landlord Liability Insurance?

Property coverage is a crucial policy for building owners. Where you get it from also affects how smooth your compensation will be. You can talk to professionals at NYC Business Group to get guidance on what you need and even get a commercial insurance quote within minutes.

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