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What is Tenant Insurance in Canada ?

Tenant insurance is designed especially for individuals that are renting out properties from a landlord. It’ll protect you in certain events in which you’re not liable for the cause of damage to the property.

It’s estimated that around a third of Canadians rent out properties in Canada instead of owning them. Tenant insurance isn’t like car insurance in Canada, where it’s a legal requirement. It’s completely mandatory and depending on the renter and landlord. However, your landlord may need proof of tenant insurance before you’re able to rent.

This is because tenant insurance will cover most events that landlord insurance doesn’t cover and ensure both parties are protected in common problematic situations.

Canada has four different types of home insurance. The Insurance Bureau of Canada requires citizens to access four different kinds of home insurance, including comprehensive, broad, basic, and no-frills coverage.

Types of Coverages Found in Tenants Insurance

Within tenant’s insurance, there are normally three main coverage types depending on your policy. Each policy will be slightly different, but from an overview, most should have the below.

  • Contents insurance – Sometimes, tenant’s insurance will offer contents coverage. This protects the contents that are found in your rented accommodation. Items such as your TV, couch, bed, laptop, and many other related items can all be covered if they’re stolen or damaged.
  • Liability insurance – If a guest were to injure themselves in your rented space and choose to take legal action against you, this would cover you against any compensation pay-outs. It’ll also protect renters if you cause damage to other people’s properties. For example, if you cause a fire in your apartment and also damage your neighbour’s wall, you’ll be protected by legal action they may take.
  • Additional living expenses – If you happen to fall into the unfortunate event that your rented property becomes so severely damaged that it’s uninhabitable. All the extra costs associated with trying to rehouse yourself will be covered. This will include things like hotel rooms and food.

What Doesn't Tenant Insurance Cover?

As you’re aware, there are exclusions when it comes to insurances. This is the same for tenant’s cover, although some tenant insurances will be excluded from different risks and circumstances depending on your policy. For the most part, you can expect to see the below situations in which tenant insurance doesn’t cover.

  1. Damage from intentional or criminal acts, such as riots.
  2. Damage from severe flooding
  3. Damaged caused by warfare, including terrorism.

However, each of the above exclusions will probably be covered by your landlord’s insurances, depending on their policy.

Acquiring contents coverage is essential for any Canadian wanting to rent a property, and it’s more than worth investing into. It can certainly get you out of situations that may require expensive legal assistance. Providing you have tenant insurance, you won’t have to pay these costly fees if any of the above events happened.

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Jean-Maximilien
Jean-Maximilien is an expert in Canada and France about Loyalty programs, Credit cards and Travel. He is the Founding President of Milesopedia.

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