Home Sharing - have you considered this..

Well summer informally ended last week!    I was chatting with a friend at the Labor Day BBQ and learned that she had vacationed out west at various Airbnb’s (home sharing) and considered renting her home too!  Whoa I thought!   From an insurance standpoint, that’s a horse of a different color! 

In addition to renting out primary homes, some people have secondary homes, some in resort or vacation destination locations and considered renting those homes out while they aren’t being used by the owner or family. 

So what’s the problem?  Well there are several considerations…

In addition to local regulations and taxes, the insurance needs to be considered.  Most homeowners carry homeowners insurance which protects their home, personal belongings and includes liability.  But homeowner insurance requires a home be owner occupied, not tenant occupied.  If she rents her home to others (for an exchange of money), it’s now a commercial exposure.  This could mean the homeowner policy could be voided or cancelled for an increase in hazard.  Or a claim could be denied for damage to the home, theft or damage to personal property or worse - liability for injury! 

So what do you do? Contact your insurance agent and check.  Since home sharing has become more popular (yes, even in Pittsburgh – remember we had the US Open and have other big sporting events here!), companies have begun addressing the issue.  Not all companies have an option, and some may be more expensive, but NOT informing the insurance agent, could be disastrous. 

So now that schools are back in session and it’s” back to business,” contact your agent and review your coverage. 

And while it’s sad to see the pools close and summer hours end, time moves on and autumn’s beautiful colors will be upon us shortly!