Whether you’re a condo owner, homeowner or a renter, the right insurance will give you protection and peace of mind. It helps safeguard your home and belongings against unforeseen events like accidents, fires or certain kinds of severe weather.
If you’re new to home insurance, you might face some questions you feel ill-prepared to answer. Good news: While obtaining a home or tenant insurance quote involves providing specific information to your insurance company, a little savvy preparation will help you gather what you need to complete the application process.
Key takeaways
- Provide information on your home's construction year, type, square footage, materials used, plumbing and electrical systems, heating type and roofing details. Sources like your property deed original purchase documents or local building department can be helpful.
- Keep a detailed home inventory with receipts, valuations and photos of high-value items like jewellery, electronics, large furniture and collectibles to ensure adequate content coverage.
- Depending on your needs, you may want additional protections like overland water, sewer backup, earthquake coverage, cyber insurance, service line coverage or a disappearing deductible. Discuss these options with your insurance representative to find the best fit for your situation.
1. Personal information
The first step in the quoting process is to provide personal information about everyone who will be residing in the home. This includes not only the homeowners but also any tenants or permanent residents. Expect to be asked for:
- Legal names of the insured and any tenants as this would impact the property’s risk assessment
- Permanent address of the insured property and of the insured customer, if different
2. Insurance history
When applying for home or tenant insurance, you may also be asked about your insurance history. This information helps insurers evaluate your risk profile and determine appropriate coverage and premiums. Here are some of the common questions you may be asked:
- Are you currently insured? The insurance representative may want to know if you have an existing insurance policy. If you do, they may request details about your current coverage, such as the insurance provider, policy number and coverage amounts. This helps them understand your insurance background and whether you’ve had continuous coverage. Consider your auto insurance/car insurance, previous tent or home ownership insurance, etc.
- If yes, for how long? If you’ve had insurance in the past, you’ll need to provide information about the duration of your previous coverage. Insurers are interested in knowing your insurance history to assess your risk level. Continuous insurance coverage can indicate a lower risk and may lead to savings on your premiums.
- Have you ever been cancelled for non-payment? If your previous insurance policy was cancelled due to non-payment, it’s important to disclose this information. A history of non-payment may affect your ability to obtain new coverage and might result in higher premiums.
- Any past claims in the previous 5-10 years? A history of frequent or large claims can impact your risk profile and may lead to higher premiums or limited coverage options.
By preparing answers to these questions, you can help streamline the application process and ensure that you receive accurate quotes for your home or tenant insurance. Understanding your insurance history is an essential part of obtaining the right coverage to protect your home and belongings.
You’ll typically find the information required on your current policy documents and records, but if you’re working with the same insurance company, they may be able to access it via their system records.
3. Property details
Your insurance representative will also request information about the physical aspects of your home to assess risk and replacement costs:
- Year of construction: Helps determine the age of the property and potential issues related to aging structures.
- Type of home: Whether it’s a detached house, semi-detached, condo, strata or apartment.
- Square footage: How big is your home? They may also ask about the number of bathrooms and kitchens.
- Construction materials: Information about the materials used in the construction of the home, such as brick, wood, concrete, etc.
- Plumbing and electrical systems: Details about the materials and age of these installations.
- Heating type: Water heater type and any information about auxiliary heating (like baseboard heaters or gas fireplaces).
- Roof information: The age and type of roofing materials, especially if not a condo or apartment building.
Additional questions you may be asked include:
- Is there a sump pump? Is there back-up power for the sump pump?
- Is there a security system or other safety features?
- What’s the distance to the nearest fire station or fire hydrant?
- Are there any smokers in the household?
All this information is used to calculate the estimated cost of rebuilding your home and evaluate the home's risk factors. It’s also worth noting that insurance covers the rebuild cost, not the market cost of the home.
Not sure how to answer these questions? The information you need can usually be found in a few different document sources including:
- Your property deed
- The original purchase documents
- By contacting your local municipal building department
- Your strata or condo association (if you live in that type of dwelling)
- Receipts and warranties from various home contractors (e.g. roofing companies)
If you don’t have these documents, your realtor or a contractor or home inspector can also provide this information.
4. Your home contents and their value
Keeping a home inventory with an overview of significant possessions and their approximate values is important. This helps ensure that your content coverage is sufficient and accurately reflects the value of your belongings. Key items to consider include:
- High-value items: Items such as expensive jewellery, electronics and artwork should be listed with their approximate replacement value. Insurers need this information to ensure that high-value items are adequately covered in the event of loss or damage.
- Large furniture: Significant pieces of furniture, especially those with high value, should be noted. This includes items like antique furniture or high-end home furnishings.
- Collectibles and memorabilia: If you own valuable collections, such as baseball cards, art or rare coins, these should be documented. Their value can be substantial and ensuring they are covered helps protect your investment.
Note: High-value items may need add-on insurance as there may be sub-limits.
Even if you currently have a homeowner’s insurance policy, it's important to keep your insurer updated about any new or valuable items you acquire. This ensures that your coverage remains comprehensive and up-to-date.
A home inventory can be created as a digital document. Including the following will ensure robust record-keeping:
- Receipts or valuations of objects with their replacement value (which is more important than the original purchase value)
- Photographs of high-value items are a useful addition to your home inventory.
Your insurance representative may ask what contents coverage you need (especially for condo and tenant insurance) and having your home inventory will help you answer that question more accurately.
5. Considerations around add-on coverage
Depending on your needs and the specifics of your home, you may be asked to consider additional coverage options. These add-ons can provide protection for more unusual or specific scenarios:
- Sewer backup and overland coverage: Protects against damage from sewer backups and overland water, which can be costly to repair. Learn more about add-on water protection.
- Earthquake coverage: Essential if you live in an area prone to seismic activity. Learn more about earthquake coverage.
- Cyber insurance: Help keep you and your family safe from digital risks with cyber insurance coverage for your household. Learn more about cyber insurance.
- Service line coverage: For homeowners, this covers certain types of losses to underground utility lines, which can be costly and often aren’t covered by standard policies. Learn more about service line coverage.
- Major renovations: If you’re planning to undertake a major renovation on your property, you should contact your insurance representative as it may change coverages.
- Disappearing deductible: Reduces your deductible over time, which can be beneficial as you maintain a claims-free history.
- What is a disappearing deductible? A 20% reduction of your deductible for every year you don't make a claim. After five years, the deductible will be gone but your premiums will stay the same. Should you make a claim, your deductible will go back to its original amount.
Depending on the add-ons you select, additional information and documentation may be required to secure coverage.
What does homeowners insurance or tenant’s insurance typically cover?
As you work with an insurance representative to determine the coverage you need, it’s important to understand what is typically covered by homeowner’s insurance, versus what may fall under an add-on. The following are usually included in all standard homeowner’s and tenant’s insurance policies:
Personal belongings
Replacing items like electronics, furniture, soft furnishings and various home accessories can cost a lot, especially if you need to replace everything you own at the same time. Tenant and homeowners insurance can help protect your personal property.
Liability coverage
Liability coverage is another important aspect of your homeowner or renters insurance policy. Basically, it means you’re protected if you’re held responsible for injury to others or damage to their property. For example, if a visitor slips and falls in your home and you are deemed responsible, liability coverage may help cover their medical expenses and any legal costs that arise. Overall, liability insurance provides renters and homeowners with financial protection and peace of mind by helping to cover the costs associated with accidents or injuries that occur on their rental property.
Relocation costs and additional living expenses
If your home becomes uninhabitable due to a covered event (such as a fire or covered water damage), homeowner, condo and tenant insurance usually include additional living expenses coverage. This includes costs like hotel bills, restaurant meals and other increased or additional living expenses incurred while your home is being repaired.
It can seem like insurance companies require a lot of information to provide a quote. Providing this information is important to ensure you have the coverage you really need and to have peace of mind that your not underinsured.
While you may not need to supply extensive documentation, you need access to information from various important documents, such as home deeds, leases and your home inventory. Ensuring you have access to these documents will help your insurance representative get you a homeowners insurance quote or tenant insurance quote with minimum delay and with the coverage you really need.
