Landlords Renting Student Housing Need to Monitor Insurance Needs

Accidents happen all the time, and often they cannot be foreseen in any way. With this in mind, it’s wise for any small business owner to continually examine their insurance needs on a regular basis to determine whether those needs have changed in some way. Otherwise, that could create major problems for them and the people who rely on their operations on a daily basis.

One such issue arose late last year in Barrie, Ontario, as a huge fire ended up displacing several college students who were renting a home from a local landlord, according to a report from the Barrie Advance. In this case, the cause of the fire was undetermined, but the night before there had been a large party at the home. The structure itself was destroyed by the early-hours Saturday fire.

“My mom was woken up by a young lady knocking on the door between 6 a.m. and 6:30 a.m.,” Samantha DeGeer, a neighbor who collected household items and started a crowdfunding campaign to help the displaced students, told the newspaper. “She was in hysterics because three people were still in it. Flames were coming out of the side and front room window.”

College students need housing, but their landlords may need to do more to consider the right insurance options.

What else happened?
DeGeer’s mother called 9-1-1 while DeGeer and her husband ran to help those in the home, but the fire was so hot that they couldn’t get inside, the report said. Fortunately, the five college students inside ended up getting out of the home safely. Two crawled on their hands and knees to stay below the smoke, while the other three jumped out of windows. All escaped relatively unharmed, save for a few cuts and scrapes.

The big problem for those students is that because the fire was so hot and the the damage so great, it’s likely that almost nothing survived, meaning that the residents likely lost almost everything they owned, the report said. That may make it especially difficult for them to recover and still keep up with all their schooling.

Cause for concern?
In addition, the Ontario Fire Marshal was called in to investigate the blaze because a local firefighter broke his foot while dealing with it, the report said. Further, one of the students involved noted that the party the previous night had a particularly rowdy guest who was asked to leave three times, and had in fact threatened to burn down the home. Consequently, the cause of the fire was being treated as suspicious.

There was no immediate estimate as to the actual dollar value of the damage caused by the fire, the report said. Additionally, it also damaged neighboring homes as well, further complicating the matter.

Things like this are certainly something that landlords who own student housing may want to keep a close eye on as they conduct their business, because this type of business may come with inherent risks that others like it simply do not.

“Regardless of who the tenants are, landlords must ensure that their property is in good repair (water hoses, stairs, windows, flooring) and that adequate loss prevention devices are in place and operative, including carbon monoxide & smoke detectors as well as fire extinguishers that are serviced regularly,” stated Karen Roller, Underwriting Director at APRIL Canada. “Having liability insurance is only a portion of the answer. If a landlord is not able to monitor their premises themselves regularly they must enlist the services of a property manager, as providing a safe and stable environment for their tenants should be the primary focus.”

“For all landlords it is important to know who you are renting to especially in the class of renting individual rooms to students,” added Kent Pitkin, National Director Commercial Lines at APRIL Canada. “Selecting the appropriate candidates and ensuring that they understand their responsibilities as a renter is imperative as this is most likely the first time these students are living away for home and on their own. In some cases, students who have damaged or stolen articles have the possibility to submit a claim for these articles via their parents homeowners policy depending on the policy language. Conversely, the liability of the students’ actions are also covered under the parents’ homeowners policy and thus any negligence may be brought back to the students parents for damages to rented property.”

Information about APRIL Canada:

APRIL Canada is an independent MGA backed by worldwide expertise in providing innovative insurance solutions for your hard to place insurance risks. True to its values and commitments, APRIL strives to give meaning to the customer relationship. Providing the best solution for an insured is accomplished with team work between the Broker and underwriter. A relationship built on trust enables us to find the right coverage.

APRIL Canada has more than 130 employees, 4 offices Canada Wide, 45,000 Policy Holders and 2,500 Broker Partners. Choosing APRIL means high quality advice and excellent service.

We do not provide ready made products, but made to order solutions. For us, each risk is unique and deserves an in depth understanding.

Anticipating the needs and expectations of Brokers; maintaining an open dialogue; being innovative with products and services: this is the key to customer relationships at APRIL.

Please find out more about APRIL Canada at http://www.april.ca/.
You can contact as on commercial@april.ca, residential@april.ca or 1-855-745-1010.
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