One roof, forty households, and every one of them a potential plaintiff.
Cover for apartment and multifamily owners — building, rents, liability across common areas, and the habitability and discrimination exposures that come with being somebody’s landlord.
Tell us the situation.
One licensed human replies the same business day — not five agents, not an auto-responder. If the policy you have is already the right one, we will tell you.
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What apartment building businesses actually need.
Building and common areas
The structure, common parts, and landlord-owned appliances and fittings.
Without it — Tenant contents are theirs; everything else is yours.
Premises liability
Injury in stairwells, lots, laundries, pools and walkways.
Without it — Common areas produce most apartment claims because that is where everyone is.
Loss of rents
Rental income while units are uninhabitable, across a realistic rebuild.
Without it — A fire in four units stops the income from all of them for a year.
Habitability and discrimination claims
Suits over conditions, mould, notice, deposits, eviction and fair housing.
Without it — The fastest growing claim type against residential landlords, and not a property claim.
Equipment breakdown
Boilers, lifts, HVAC and building systems, plus the resulting damage.
Without it — A burst boiler in winter damages the building and empties it.
Water damage exposure
Escape of water, the most frequent large loss in multifamily by a distance.
Without it — One supply line on a top floor reaches every unit below it.
What apartment building operators ask us.
What is the most common large loss in apartments?
Water, not fire — and it is not close. A supply line, a water heater, a failed washing-machine hose or a frozen pipe on an upper floor damages every unit below it, and the claim is the building, the tenants’ belongings, the alternative accommodation and the lost rent at once. It is why insurers ask about the age of supply lines and water heaters, why leak detection earns real credit, and why a policy for a building with a shared laundry looks different from one without.
Do I need employment practices cover if I have no employees?
Probably yes, for a reason that surprises owners: the third-party extension is the one that matters here. Fair housing, discrimination, harassment and habitability claims from TENANTS are the growth area for residential landlords, and they are not property claims and not general liability claims. A landlord with no staff can still be sued by an applicant they declined. Ask specifically whether third-party coverage is included, because the employee-facing part alone does not answer this.
Should tenants be required to carry renters insurance?
Yes, in the lease, with evidence and a minimum liability limit — and it is worth enforcing rather than filing. It moves tenant contents and tenant-caused liability off your policy, which keeps your claims record clean. A tenant’s cooking fire recovered from their insurer instead of yours is the difference between one bad year and three years of a loaded renewal.
How does an insurer look at the building itself?
Age and updates, mostly, and they ask about four systems specifically: roof, electrical, plumbing and heating. A 1960s building with a 2020 roof and rewire prices very differently from an identical one with originals. Knob-and-tube and aluminium branch wiring, federal-pacific panels, polybutylene and galvanised supply lines all restrict the market outright. If you have done the work, document it with dates and invoices — undocumented updates are treated as not done.
Not ready to talk? The guides answer the questions this page raises in more depth. Already insured with us and need a certificate or a policy change? Ask the service team rather than starting a quote — it is faster and it goes to the people whose job it is. We also write home and auto, which is usually cheaper alongside the business policy than apart from it.