Idaho Landlord Insurance
Get a full analysis of Idaho landlord insurance costs, coverage, and companies.
Written by
Ann Herro has been writing about insurance and employee benefits for over 15 years. She has covered topics as easy as insuring a car, and as difficult as transparency in healthcare costs.
Reviewed by
Jeff Green has held a variety of sales and management roles at life insurance companies, Wall street firms, and distribution organizations over his 40-year career. He was previously Finra 7,24,66 registered and held life insurance licenses in multiple states. He is a graduate of Stony Brook University.
Find the Best Landlord Insurance Options in Idaho
Nearly 2 million people live in Idaho, with about 28% living in rental homes. If you own a rental property in Idaho, you need to ensure that it is protected against disasters, severe weather, fire, or theft that could leave you in a financial bind. You also need to protect your assets if you are sued for negligence.
Landlord insurance in Idaho protects your rental properties with property coverage and liability coverage. A local independent insurance agent can help you get quotes from multiple insurance companies in Idaho so you can find the policy that best meets your needs and budget.
Best Landlord Insurance Companies in Idaho
There are several insurance companies that offer highly rated Idaho landlord insurance. The following are some of the best landlord insurance companies in Idaho. These companies provide a mix of valuable coverage offerings and competitive pricing.
- Travelers: Travelers offers highly rated landlord insurance in Idaho. It can meet your additional personal insurance needs with a full line of products, including homeowners, auto, boat, identity theft, umbrella, and other coverages.
- Safeco: Safeco has been protecting individuals and families since 1923. The company offers landlord insurance in Idaho, as well as a comprehensive range of other personal insurance policies. Working through independent agents, Safeco makes it easy to get the best mix of coverage and pricing.
- Stillwater Insurance Group: Stillwater is a national personal and commercial lines carrier with rock-solid financial stability. The company can help you with your landlord insurance needs in Idaho.
- Foremost Insurance Company: Foremost was founded in 1952 and offers a wide range of coverage, including landlord insurance, in 50 states.
- Central Insurance Companies: Central Insurance Companies is a well-established carrier with more than a century’s worth of history in the insurance industry. It provides a wide range of coverage options, including landlord insurance, in 24 states.
An independent insurance agent in your area can help you learn more about other landlord insurance companies in Idaho. A local agent can help you get competitive quotes for the coverage that fits your insurance needs.
What is Landlord Insurance?
Landlord insurance is similar to homeowners insurance in that it protects your property if you experience a fire, storm damage, or other property loss.
Landlord insurance differs from homeowners insurance because its protection is designed to protect landlords specifically. While it covers damage to the structure of a rental property, it does not cover the tenant's personal property. And while landlord insurance and homeowners insurance both provide liability coverage for the property owner, the liability coverage in landlord insurance is designed for the increased risk of lawsuits that landlords face.
Is Landlord Insurance Required in Idaho?
Landlord insurance is not required by law in Idaho.
If, however, you've worked with a lender to finance the purchase of your residential rental property in Idaho, the lender will require you to have landlord insurance as a condition of your loan.
An independent insurance agent in your area can help you determine how to cover your particular rental property appropriately.
What Does Landlord Insurance Cover in Idaho?
Landlord insurance in Idaho provides several different types of coverage:
- Dwelling coverage: Covers the building itself for any physical damage caused by fire, lightning, wind, hail, ice, snow, or other covered perils.
- Other structures coverage: Helps pay to repair detached structures (e.g., a garage or shed) on your rental property if they're damaged by a covered loss.
- Personal property coverage: Covers the landlord's personal property used to service the rental (e.g., lawnmowers, snowblowers, maintenance equipment) left on site if it's damaged by a covered loss. (This does not cover your tenants' possessions.)
- Landlord liability coverage: Protects you if someone is injured on your property or if you are responsible for damaging someone else’s property. Landlord liability insurance covers the costs of any required medical treatment or property repairs. If you're sued, it also covers legal costs (e.g., attorney fees, court costs, and financial settlements or judgments).
- Loss of rental income: Coverage for your lost rental income if your tenants have to move out so you can repair your building after a fire, storm, or some other covered peril. (This does not provide coverage if your tenant can't pay the rent because of a job loss or financial problem.)
A local independent insurance agent can help you decide if you need additional types of coverage for your rental property.
What Else Can Idaho Landlord Insurance Cover?
Some insurance companies offer additional coverage options that you can include in your Idaho landlord insurance policy, such as:
- Non-occupied dwelling coverage: This provides coverage during the times that your rental property is vacant. Many insurance companies will not honor claims for damage that occurred in a home that had been vacant for more than 30 days unless the landlord carries this optional coverage.
- Building code coverage: This is most beneficial if you own an older property. Building codes may have changed since it was built, so if it is damaged, contractors doing repairs may identify additional renovations that are necessary to bring it up to code. This insurance can cover these unexpected extra costs.
- Rent guarantee insurance: This offers you some protection if a tenant fails to make rent payments. Your policy can cover the revenue losses for a set period, which is typically long enough for you to complete the eviction process. Rates are based mainly on how much you are charging in rent and the creditworthiness of your renters.
Rent guarantee insurance is sometimes referred to as eviction insurance, as it may cover the cost of evictions. Just keep in mind that this coverage is very expensive, and you won't likely recoup all of your losses. You'll have to pay a deductible, and it will typically only cover a percentage of the monthly rent up to a set limit.
Landlords in Idaho should be aware of the various available coverage options so you can be sure you are getting all the coverage you need to protect your investment and your income. An independent insurance agent can help with your landlord insurance in Idaho.
Save on Landlord Insurance
Our independent agents shop around to find you the best coverage.
What's Not Covered by Landlord Insurance in Idaho?
As with all insurance policies, landlord insurance has some limitations. Your Idaho landlord insurance policy will not cover:
- Flood damage: This isn't covered even if the flood is the direct result of a covered storm. To be covered, you will need to supplement your landlord insurance policy with a flood insurance policy.
- Intentional damage caused by tenants: Sometimes, tenants act badly out of spite or in retaliation for an eviction notice. If they damage your property on purpose, most landlord insurance policies will not provide coverage. You will instead need to sue the tenant to get compensation.
- Normal wear and tear: Things break. Unless they broke because of a covered event, your landlord insurance policy will not cover them. If the refrigerator in your rental property suddenly stops working or if the hot water tank fails, you will need to cover repair or replacement costs on your own.
It is important to be aware of what your policy does and does not cover so that you do not face any unfortunate surprises later. When you work with an independent insurance agent in your area, your agent can help you review your policy and understand when your coverage doesn’t apply.
How Much Does Landlord Insurance Cost in Idaho?
Owning a rental property can sometimes be riskier than owning a private dwelling. For that reason, some landlord insurance policies may cost more than traditional homeowners insurance. In general, landlord insurance costs about 25% more than a standard homeowners insurance policy in your area.
However, the cost of landlord insurance can vary considerably based on your unique property and risk factors. Some of the factors that will affect your landlord insurance costs include:
- Your geographic location and the crime and weather risks for your location
- The age, size, condition, and construction of the building
- The number of rental units
- Whether you allow smokers to rent from you
- Whether your complex has a swimming pool
- The type and amount of coverage you are purchasing
- Whether you have fire sprinklers, burglar alarms, gated access, or other security systems installed in complex and rental units
Your best bet is to work with an independent insurance agent who can get quotes from multiple insurance companies. You can compare costs and coverage and choose the landlord insurance policy that offers the best fit.
Idaho Landlord Insurance FAQs
Landlord insurance in Idaho provides several different types of coverage:
- Dwelling coverage: Covers the building itself for any physical damage caused by fire, lightning, wind, hail, ice, snow, or other covered perils.
- Other structures coverage: Helps pay to repair detached structures (e.g., a garage or shed) on your rental property if they're damaged by a covered loss.
- Personal property coverage: Covers the landlord's personal property used to service the rental (e.g., lawnmowers, snowblowers, maintenance equipment) left on site if it's damaged by a covered loss. (This does not cover your tenants' possessions.)
- Landlord liability coverage: Protects you if someone is injured on your property or if you are responsible for damaging someone else’s property.
- Loss of rental income: Coverage for your lost rental income if your tenants have to move out so you can repair your building after a fire, storm, or some other covered peril.
Having landlord insurance is not required by law in Idaho. It's important to know, however, that if you've worked with a lender to finance the purchase of your residential rental property in Idaho, the lender will require you to have landlord insurance as a condition of your loan.
Whether or not you'll need landlord insurance or homeowners insurance is usually determined by how you use your property and the insurance company you select.
On average, landlords in the U.S. spend about $1,083 a year on their landlord insurance policies. Landlord insurance generally costs about 25% more than a standard homeowners insurance policy in your area.
Yes, landlords in Idaho can require their tenants to have renters insurance as a condition of a lease.
We recommend several top landlord insurance companies in Idaho, including Travelers, Stillwater, Safeco, Foremost, and Central Insurance Companies.
Your landlord insurance in Idaho covers damage caused by tenants in some circumstances.
Landlord insurance will usually cover sudden and accidental damage caused by a tenant. So, if a tenant accidentally causes a kitchen fire, any damage to walls, countertops, cabinets, and other covered parts of the building should be covered by your landlord insurance.
Any fire damage to your tenants' furniture, cookware, or other possessions will not be covered by your landlord insurance. It will be covered by the tenant’s renters insurance if they have it.
If an appliance that you own (e.g., the oven) is damaged in the same fire, it would likely be covered under the landlord insurance policy.
Any intentional damage caused by a tenant will not be covered by landlord insurance in Idaho. A standard landlord insurance policy won’t protect you if a tenant punches in a wall, kicks in a door, paints graffiti, or otherwise intentionally damages some part of a unit.
Standard landlord insurance in Idaho typically won't cover the cost of evictions. However, eviction insurance, or rent guarantee insurance, can be purchased separately from some insurance companies. It will cover some of the costs involved in an eviction, as well as some of the rent you miss out during the eviction process.
No, landlord insurance does not cover floods in Idaho. But you can purchase flood insurance designed for landlords from the National Flood Insurance Program and some private carriers.
A local independent insurance agent can help you find a competitively priced landlord insurance policy that meets your needs. Independent agents aren’t tied down to one carrier. They can get quotes from multiple insurance companies so you can choose the Idaho landlord insurance policy that best fits your needs and budget.
Contact an independent agent in your area today for a free, no-obligation consultation.
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/ID,US/PST045223
https://www.iii.org/article/coverage-for-renting-out-your-home