5 Best Landlord Insurance Providers 2023

Getting insurance through Obie is simple and fast. Enter a few bits of information about your property and it will almost instantly provide quotes. The quotes come in a tiered structure with increasing coverage and cost. For this article, we received the following quotes for a single-family home:

• Basic: $1,103 annually. It included a $5,000 deductible for all other perils and $5,000 for wind and hail. Among other coverages and features, it carried $500,000 in general liability per occurrence $1 million aggregate, and 3% inflation guard.
• Complete: $1,348 annually. The primary difference for this was the deductible for all other perils and wind and hail was lowered to $2,500 each. The liability increased to $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate and the inflation guard also increased to 6%.
• Premium: $1,448 annually. Similar to the above ones, some of the main differences were in a lower deductible of $1,000 and the inflation guard increasing to 9%.

Its policy covers the structure and water backup and comes with a host of optional enhancements. You can purchase the policy online or call to finish the process.

It offers insurance for one-unit (or home) and multifamily properties, apartment buildings, and condos. Obie claims to save people an average of 25%.

Obie Private Client is its specialized insurance for real estate investors. There is no cap on owned properties, and it can insure up to 10,000 units.

Although Obie is a newer carrier, having been started in 2017, it has already expanded to include coverage in all 50 states and claims to have over $4 billion in property insured. There are limited reviews for it online at this time, but Google has nearly 200 reviews, with an average rating of 4.7 out of 5.

For convenience, Obie provides insurance and documentation instantly upon purchase of the policy. Once you have insurance through it, you’ll have access to an online account where you can manage your policy and claims.

Usually, for The Hartford, you can get a quote online. For landlord insurance, it instructs you to give The Hartford a call or to reach out to an independent agent it works with.

It offers Rental Property Protection Plus. This is an endorsement for a homeowner’s policy letting you rent the home out and still have coverage. It includes liability, property, and lost income if something happens to the building making you unable to rent it.

The Hartford is an established carrier with a robust customer service and claims department. It is available 24/7 and utilizes its own in-house adjusters to handle claims.

Its customers are happy: It has lower-than-expected complaints for a company of its size as monitored by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Users can also leave reviews on its website of their claim experience—a risky chance for a provider since usually people aren’t happy with a claim—but the reviews are overwhelmingly positive. For homeowners, it has 4.6 out of 5 stars and for commercial property, it has 4.8 out of 5 stars. Both categories have thousands of reviews.

You can manage your account online, get an instant COI, and file a claim online.

Hiscox usually provides quotes online and the option to purchase the policy online too. Many times this is for same-day coverage. You can always call and speak with an agent if you prefer, and sometimes to get a higher limit you will need to do that.

We received a quote for a property manager that costs $350 annually. You could also pay $58.40 down and 10 monthly payments of $29.16. It was a general liability policy with $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate and it carried, oddly for general liability, a $1,000 deductible.

While Hiscox is not open 24/7, it does give you 24/7 access to your account where, among other options, you can manage your policy, create a COI, and file a claim.

In terms of customer service, Hiscox has an improving reputation among its customer base. The level of complaints has been dropping year to year, and users have left thousands of reviews on its website with an average rating of 4.7 out of 5.

Steadily’s quote system is similar to Obie’s system except instead of offering a tiered and customizable presentation, you get one quote. The quote does have some options for customization.

We received a quote for a single-family home (same home as Obie) that costs $1,015 annually. Outside of coverage for the structure, the limits were low: $300,000 in liability with a $2,500 deductible. It also carried, among other coverages, $25,000 in medical payments.

It gives you the option to purchase the policy online or over the phone.

Steadily may be the newest carrier we’ve ever recommended, having been founded in 2020. However, it is already available in all 50 states. Its customers are happy with their experience. On Trustpilot, there are nearly 1,000 reviews with an average rating of 4.7 out of 5.

It is still building out its service but it does have an online account where you can manage your policy. The extent of online management isn’t clear: In its frequently asked questions (FAQs) section for billing, it asks you to give it a call. It does not offer a 24/7 claims or customer service line, and claims would be handled by whichever carrier underwrites the policy.

While Allstate does offer quotes online, for its landlord insurance, it directs you to either call it or contact an agent for a quote. When you visit the Allstate page for landlord insurance you’ll see these two options:

Coverage and Policy Information for Landlord Insurance

The coverage and policies section reviews what coverages it offers, including liability, lost rental income, and property coverage. There are additional coverages that can be added like renovation and construction property, which is a vacant home insurance policy for situations where you are doing some sort of construction project on the home.

Unfortunately, vandalism is not included in the base landlord insurance package.

Allstate is available in all 50 states. Unfortunately, it does not have a 24/7 call center for claims or customer service, offering instead weekday hours. Online you can pay your bill and manage your policy. To file a claim you can call, do it online, or let your agent know and they’ll report it for you.

Another standout feature with Allstate is the “know your policy” link with the landlord’s insurance. When you click that, it brings up images of a policy template with key areas identified including coverages. Being able to not only review your coverages but also understand your policy is a useful service for policyholders.

According to the US Census Bureau, there are 20 million rental properties in the US. These 20 million properties consist of 48.2 individual units.^[1]

Short-term rental differs from landlord insurance because it is insurance for a property that is rented out on a short-term basis, usually as a vacation house or through a home-sharing platform, such as Airbnb or Vrbo. The property is often the main residence of the person renting it out.

Standard homeowner policies do not cover rental properties because they are written on the basis of the home being occupied by the owner. However, many providers do offer endorsements that add rental coverage to the existing homeowner policy.

No, landlord insurance is for the owner of the property. It is similar to a business owner’s policy (BOP) and has coverage for the dwelling or structure and liability coverage in case a tenant or someone else on the property gets hurt. The tenant will need renters insurance for their own personal possessions.