How Much Is Landlord Insurance in Florida and What Does It Cover?

Are you a Florida landlord without landlord insurance? While landlord insurance isn’t required by Florida law, you could be putting yourself at risk for severe financial losses without it. This is because landlord insurance protects you against certain types of losses. Let’s take a look at what landlord insurance is, what it covers and how much you can expect to pay for a policy.

Landlord Insurance in Florida

Landlord insurance is specifically designed to protect the buildings you rent to tenants. It typically covered the rental building for certain perils. Examples of perils commonly covered include fires, explosions, earthquakes, storm damage, theft, vandalism and malicious damage to the building or unit.

  • Property Damage – Landlord’s property damage insurance helps financially protect you if your rental house, building or unit is damaged by a fire, certain types of severe weather or certain criminal acts, like burglaries. It’s also typically designed to cover some outbuildings, like unattached garages and sheds.
  • Liability – If someone is hurt on your property while either living there are visiting the property, this coverage helps pay for the individual’s injuries.
  • Loss of Income – If your rental property is damaged by a covered event and you cannot rent it until repairs are made, this coverage helps reimburse you for lost rental income.

Landlord Insurance Optional Coverages

When customizing your landlord insurance policy, you may be able to add certain optional coverages.

  • Vandalism – If malicious damage or vandalism isn’t included in your standard landlord insurance coverage, you’ll want to add it.
  • Burglary – Covered any damage to the property that occurred because of a burglary. This could include fixing doors and/or broken windows.
  • Under Construction Rental Property – If your rental property is under construction or still being built, this insurance helps financially protect it until it’s ready to rent.
  • Building Code – If your building is damaged due to a covered event and the repairs are subject to the current building codes, this coverage helps pay any building code related costs.

What’s Not Covered Under Landlord Insurance

Landlord insurance does not typically cover anything your tenant owns or brings onto the property, maintenance repairs, floods, water backups or earthquakes.

Your Tenant’s Belongings

Landlord insurance does not cover anything your tenant owns or brings into the unit. If your tenant needs insurance in order to protect their belongings, you should recommend that they find and activate a renters insurance policy.

Maintenance

Your landlord insurance policy will not cover maintenance repairs as a general rule. For example, if your tanked water heater develops a leak and floods the unit, your landlord insurance will not cover the replacement of the water heater. However, your landlord insurance might cover the costs associated with the water damage, like replacing the carpets or hard-surface flooring.

Floods and Earthquakes

Landlord insurance does not typically cover floods, earthquakes or hurricane damage. The good news is that you can purchase separate policies for these events, including flood insurance and earthquake insurance.

Sewer or Drainage Backups

If your sewer backs up and floods the unit, your landlord insurance will not cover the damage because this is generally considered a lack of maintenance, meaning, you did not have your drains and sewer pipes cleaned out frequently enough by a professional plumber.

What Can a Landlord Expect to Pay for Landlord Insurance in Florida?

Landlord insurance in Florida tends to range in price from $900 a year to $2,400 a year. The national average, by contrast, is about $1,700 a year. It’s important to understand that the cost of your landlord insurance will be influenced by many factors, including:

  • The Value of the Property
  • The Monthly Rental Price
  • The Number of Rental Properties You Own
  • The Properties Risk of Experiencing a Natural Disaster
  • The Age of Your Rental
  • The Condition of Your Rental
  • The Crime Rate in the Rental Property’s Geographical Location
  • Your Level of Coverages and any Add-Ons

In general, you can expect your landlord insurance to be between 10 and 20 percent higher than your homeowner’s insurance policy.

Getting Landlord Insurance with Help From Fearnow

If you need affordable landlord insurance for your rental properties, let our agents at Fearnow help you. We can listen to your needs and look through our vast inventory of landlord insurance policies in order to help you find the right level of coverage. Our agents will answer all of your questions and explain what landlord insurance covers and does not cover. If you need additional coverages, like homeowners insurance or flood insurance, we can also give you quotes for those insurance policies.

To learn more about landlord insurance and to get a quote, contact us today at (813) 689-8878.