Why rentals need their own policy
A homeowners policy is priced and written for an owner living in the home. When tenants move in, the risk profile changes — different maintenance patterns, different liability exposure — and policies typically require that the insurer be told about it. Rental properties are covered by dwelling policies (you'll hear DP-1, DP-2, DP-3), which are built for exactly this. If you've converted your old house to a rental and never updated the insurance, this is your sign; a misrepresented occupancy can jeopardize a claim entirely.
The dwelling policy menu, roughly
- DP-3 is the modern standard: open-perils coverage on the structure, typically replacement cost. If you're insuring a decent rental for the long haul, you'll usually land here.
- DP-1 is bare-bones named-perils coverage at actual cash value — cheapest, most gaps. Sometimes right for a low-value property; know what you're giving up.
- Loss of rents: if a covered event (say, a kitchen fire) makes the unit unlivable, this coverage typically replaces the rental income during repairs. For a property with a mortgage, this is the difference between an insurance problem and a personal cash-flow problem.
- Liability: a tenant's guest trips on a broken step, and suddenly the stakes are much bigger than the repair bill. Liability coverage on the landlord policy — and for landlords with multiple properties, an umbrella policy above it — is the part doing the heaviest lifting.
Require renters insurance in the lease
Make your tenants carry their own renters policy (commonly $100,000 liability) and list you as an interested party. It's standard in Arizona leases, it's cheap for them, and it means a tenant-caused kitchen fire or an injured guest routes first to their policy rather than straight to yours. Your future loss history — and your rates — benefit. We can quote your tenant's renters policy too; everyone ends up covered correctly.
Tucson landlord notes
The usual local suspects apply double to rentals, because nobody's home to catch problems early: monsoon roof leaks, water heater failures, irrigation leaks against foundations. Regular inspections (photograph them) protect both the property and your claims record. And if your rental is a short-term one — Airbnb/VRBO — that's a genuinely different insurance conversation than a yearly lease; hosts' platform coverage has real limits, so tell us which game you're playing and we'll set it up honestly.
Tell us the property and how it rents. We'll quote the right policy type and tell you what the lease should require.