What is landlord insurance? The property policy for a home somebody else lives in: the structure, the owner's liability, and the rent lost while a covered loss makes the unit unlivable.
Landlord insurance is what replaces a homeowners policy once the owner stops living in the house and a tenant moves in. It is commonly written on a dwelling policy form, and the one most often used for a rental is the DP-3, which covers the building on an open perils basis. Three things sit inside it. The structure itself, insured for what it would cost to rebuild rather than what the home would sell for. Liability, for injuries on the property the owner is responsible for. And loss of rent, which pays the rent that is not being collected while a covered loss makes the unit unlivable, usually for a stated number of months.
The reason it has to be a different policy is that a homeowners policy is written for an owner-occupied home. Letting the home is a change of occupancy the insurer expects to be told about, and a claim on a house that has been rented out without notice can be denied on that ground, or the policy cancelled or not renewed at its term. The gap runs to the liability side too: a tenant's guest injured in a house the owner no longer lives in is not the claim that policy was priced for. Whether a short let of a few weeks counts is a question for the insurer rather than for a guess, and the time to ask is before the first booking, not after the first claim.
A landlord policy does not cover the tenant's belongings and does not cover the tenant's liability. That is what renters insurance is for, commonly $10 to $20 a month, and requiring it in the lease and being named as an interested party so the owner is told if it lapses is ordinary practice. It does not cover flood, which is bought separately, or wear and maintenance, which are the cost of owning a rental rather than an insured loss, and in most forms it does not cover rent a tenant simply stops paying, which is a different product where it is offered at all. Coverage, exclusions and limits differ by insurer and by form, so the policy document rather than any summary is what decides a claim. Kouzr does not sell insurance and this is general information, not insurance advice.
A worked example
A Las Vegas house rented at $1,900 a month, insured on a DP-3 with $300,000 of liability and 12 months of loss of rent. The premium is higher than the homeowners policy it replaced; how much higher is a quote rather than a rule. A kitchen fire makes the unit unlivable for three months, so the policy pays to rebuild and pays $5,700 of rent that was not collected. The tenant's ruined furniture and the hotel bill in the meantime are claims on the tenant's own renters policy, not on this one.
What renting out your house involves
Questions people ask
Do I need landlord insurance to rent out my house?
No Nevada statute requires it, but a mortgage almost certainly requires property coverage, and the homeowners policy on a house you no longer live in may not respond once it is let. Telling the insurer the occupancy has changed is the step that keeps a claim payable.
Does landlord insurance cover the tenant's belongings?
No. The tenant's furniture, electronics and clothes are the tenant's to insure, which is what renters insurance does, and the tenant's own liability sits on that policy too. Leases commonly require it and name the owner as an interested party so the owner is told if it lapses.