Apparently Home owner associations are “getting into the home rental business”.  Not that the homeowner association is actively listing homes, collecting rent, or processing the application; but, the homeowner association is requiring that the Homeowner Association’s lease to be used.  The HOA lease puts the HOA in control of fines and the ability to evict.

The discussion makes some HOA perspective sense in maintaining the HOAs rules, uniformity, and general decorum.  HOAs work hard at protecting the values of the subdivision.  The premise for this value is strict uniformity and complaince to a myriad of regulatory mandates.

As we discussed and reviewed the property manager’s role in administering the HOA written lease,  the realization of a gapeing hole in the HOA lease became evident.

HOAs work hard at protecting values and positioning the subdivision for standardization.  Protecting the owners in the subdivision would seem to be an equal requirement. Example: The homeowner association would maintain insurance for the pool, tennis courts, and other common areas.  This insurance would protect the homowners against “Loss Assessment” losses.

In the entire process of protecting the homeowners and mandating the HOA lease be used, it is interesting to see no requirement for renter’s insurance.   Renter’s insurance protects the Homeowner’s association too.

In a way, we assume too that the homeowner has insurance and maybe that should be another issue to be reviewed by the HOA as they look for ways to protect the HOA and the future costs and value of the subdivision.

The term landlord insurance is not necessarily used by all insurance carrieres.  Some insurance companies call the coverage: Landlord Liability, Tenant Liability, Fire Policy, and the names can use varieties of these terms.

Home insurance traditionally covers the “Homeowner”.  A Tenant Occupied home requires a new subset of coverages for the “Homeowner”.

To big changes to a policy when converting from “Homeowner” to “tenant occupied” are:

• Liability Coverage… The liability coverage changes from “Family” perspective to “business” liability.  The nuances may be slight…
• Loss of Use vs. Loss of Rent. When an Owner occupies a home and there is a “loss”, the owner is displaced and needing funds for staying somewhere.  When a tenant occupies a home and there is a “loss”, the tenant is displaced and rent is not paid.  The loss of rent is a benefit of the “Landlord Policy”… If your home’s insurance policy does NOT differentiate between to the types of losses, then get the issue defined and MAKE sure you have coverage for “Loss of Rent”.

Landlord Insurance addresses the concerns of Liability and Loss or RENT vs. loss of use.

Give us a call… We can help you more with information on these issues.

Sincerely,

Paul “Matt Locke”

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• No Losses
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• Multi-policy home insurance
• Multi-policy auto insurnace

Low Cost Landlord insurance is available for the stand-alone policy or the customer with multiple policies.   Our agency provides low cost landlord insurance for an array of Georgia property owners from around the world. 

The  agency’s agent has 10+ years of property management experience and has grown up in a home with terms like:

• Subject to
• Wrap Mortgages
• Lease purchase
• Contract in Lieu of Deed
• Fee Simple
• Land Trust
• LLC owned
• etc.

How ever you became a landlord or a owner of a tenant occupied house, condo, or other property, Matt Locke and Associates has solutions to your insurance needs.

Do give us a call or at 1-877-MattLocke or fill-in the online application for your low cost policy.

So, we all need to pay our fair share of taxes… But this year has us all reviewing our expenses and cutting costs every where possible.

I do not know of anyone that has not lost property value in the last year.  If you have the time to appeal your property taxes, you have until April 1st, 2009 to make your voice heard.

A popular website to help you through the process of appealing your property taxes is: www.GAPropertyTaxAppeal.com.

Start your process quickly and efficiently with the information from this site.

Paul “Matt Locke”

The main perils a policy does not inherently provide coverage for:

• Does not include Flood
• Does not include Earthquake
• Does not include Termite or Pest infestation

Each policy is quoted with “Vandalism” and  “Burglery” coverage.  Do to the recent economic conditions Burglary coverage has been added for the theft of A/C compressors, refrigerators, and copper plumbing… It is your choice to accept this coverage or not.  NOTE: Vandalism and Burglary coverage is VOID if the home is vacant or has been vacant of 30 consecutive days or more.

Do let us know up-front if the home is in a subdivision with a mandated Homeowner Association.  There is a special coverage to protect you from the Homeowner Association that could add as much as $15.00 per year to the policy.

Loss of Rent is included in the policy for a term of 12 months… This coverage does not have a limit.

Endorsing an Additional Insured is not a problem and we often times add the property management company to the policy.

This is just a quick synopsis of the coverage.  Do contact us for more details of the coverages our policies provide.