57 | How to Properly Insure your Short-Term Rental or Business | with Darren Pettyjohn

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We know adulting is hard but trust us: proper insurance is essential. It is going to benefit you, your guest, and your property (whether you own it or not).

Darren Pettyjohn is a co-founder at Proper Insurance Services, which offers a custom insurance product designed for vacation rental and short term rental owners. After college, Darren bounced around a bit until he ended up in program insurance or niche insurance. When he discovered the world of Airbnb and short-term rentals, he saw that there was a real need for an insurance product specifically designed for this market.

Darren is here to answer all of our questions about insurance as it relates to you and your short term or vacation rental, wherever it is you fall in the process.

Why is it so important to verify the insurance you use for your short-term rental business?

When it comes to insurance, most renters think they are covered — homeowners insurance, landlord insurance — but that’s not enough. When you are renting a property, you are trusting someone else for your property for a short period of time, and this typically causes insurance contracts to break down. You have to verify your coverage to confirm that you are covered in the case of a rental accident.

How does insurance work if you’re a co-host?

In these insurance contracts, you need to be aware of what the coverage looks like for all people involved, whether you are the owner of the property, managing the property, or being involved in any other step of the process.

What would cause a short-term rental property to be turned down for insurance?

There isn’t much, really. Proper Insurance does have a policy to limit exposure in certain high-risk areas, like areas with a high likelihood of forest fire damage. The only other reason that you would possibly be denied is if you had certain liability issues that the insurance company was not comfortable with and you or the property owner were unwilling to remove. Swimming pools, in particular, have certain safety standards that need to be met.

What about Airbnb’s host coverage?

There is no contract between you and the insured, so Airbnb’s policy is not an insurance policy. It does pay out occasionally, but there are several limitations. Your insurance will also work with Airbnb to make sure you get paid out when they are responsible for it.

So where do you get started? You can get an online quote in just five minutes from Proper Insurance’s website. The entire process is around 2-3 hours if you’re asking plenty of questions.

Resources:

• Learn more about Proper Insurance at proper.insure
• "House Fire Prompts $1 Million Dispute With Airbnb"
• "Man says short-term rental policy cost him thousands of dollars"
• #STRShareSunday: @thebrasscactusaz

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