Do I need to change my home insurance to Airbnb my house out?
Airbnb home insurance explained
Before you list your home on Airbnb or any of the other home-share sites such as Homestay or booking.com, it’s important to consider what would happen if any of your possessions are stolen, lost or broken? A toddler may knock a TV over, a burn to your carpet or a red wine stain on the sofa would work out costly, moreover, you could inadvertently rent your home out to criminals who use the rental time to clear out your home of all your possessions. We explain more about Airbnb home insurance below.
The fact is most insurers simply don’t cover renting out rooms or whole home as standard. What’s worse, even if you don’t have any trouble with your guests, if you haven’t told your insurer you are renting your home out on Airbnb you may end up uninsured, even when you have no guests staying.
Anyone who decides to rent out their whole home or even just a spare room without telling their insurance company will very likely invalidate any home cover in place permanently. If you were thinking about making a few extra tax free pounds this summer by AirBnB-ing out your home it’s really important to get the right insurance protection in place.
Buying this type of cover from mainstream insurance companies can be hard work as it is not considered standard cover. This is because insurers consider a rented property a higher risk as you are more likely to claim because there is an increased chance of items being lost, stolen or damaged.
Contacting a specialist or local broker can be the best option to make sure you get the right cover for your Airbnb. For a quote email info@cornwallanddevon.co.uk or call 01566 772282 or request a call back here.
Do I need to change my home insurance to Airbnb my house out?
Step 1. Check your existing home insurance cover
Contact your home insurance provider and inform them that you are considering renting out your home through Airbnb. They may extend the cover to your existing policy for an additional charge. If they are unable to do this, you may need to cancel the policy and buy a new one that does provide the correct cover.
Your insurance company will likely decide on whether to cover you based on if it’s your spare room you’re letting out or your whole home, how often you’re planning to rent it out, how many people are staying and whether you’ve made any claims before.
Be mindful that even with the additional cover added to your insurance, many policies don’t cover theft or accidental damage by paying guests. Make sure you check the small print.
Step 2. Contact a specialist.
The other option to get the best cover in place is to contact a specialist broker. You can do this if your home insurer won’t extend existing your cover, or you feel the extended cover isn’t extensive enough. It’s also worth doing even if it will, so you can compare both prices and levels of cover.
But aren’t I covered under the Airbnb ‘host guarantee’?
In short, possibly not. The Airbnb host guarantee comes with a lot of exclusions. The repair or replacement costs could run into thousands and while you might assume Airbnb’s ‘host guarantee’ will cover your costs, there is a chance that it won’t cover every eventuality. The guarantee comes with many, many exclusions and limitations.
Many people don’t read the details of the host guarantee and do not realise that the following are exempt: cash and securities, pets, personal liability (in case of injury to guests; also known as ‘public liability), shared or common areas, and items such as jewellery, collectables and artwork. Other sites’ guarantees have similar gaps in cover, which is why getting a specialist insurance policy in place is usually the best thing to do to keep your items protected.