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Turning your existing house into your dream home is an obsession for many a homeowner. Building an addition, installing a pool or finishing the basement are just a few of the many ways to beautify your home and increase the value of your property. It’s also a good way to unknowingly void your existing home insurance policy.

Even small changes to your home can affect your insurance in fundamental ways. Big changes, however, may require you to purchase separate, temporary coverage like Builder’s Risk Insurance. So, it is important to keep your insurance broker updated as to what modifications you’re making to your home before you ever get that toolbox down from the shelf.

Whether it just slips their mind, or they are worried about an increase in their premiums, many people neglect to keep their insurance provider informed of home renovations. And this leaves them vulnerable to having a future claim denied.

Before you take a sledgehammer to that living room wall to open up more space, or begin work on that addition you’ve always wanted, be sure to contact your insurance broker to find out if your policy will still be valid. What may seem like a minor change could have an effect on your coverage, so it’s always best to double check!

With that in mind, let’s look at the ways in which home renovations can impact your home insurance policy.

Perhaps the biggest concern is the many contractors and subcontractors that may be coming and going along the way. Should they get hurt inside your home, are you covered for liability? Third party liability is pretty standard in home insurance policies, and protects you for injuries sustained by the odd guest or repairman that comes to your home. But you may not be covered for a multitude of workers showing up and turning your home into a construction zone.

It is important to find out if your contractor is bonded and registered with the WSIB, and if they have insurance that protects both their tools and liability over and above worker’s compensation. Also, whether they will be using subcontractors who are also insured. You have a right to this information, so don’t be afraid to ask.

Depending on how extensive the work is, you may still have to buy additional insurance since professional liability isn’t standard in a home insurance policy. Ask your broker if your existing policy covers you while you’re doing the renovations yourself.

Leaving your home vacant for more than 30 days could be a violation of your policy. Empty houses are magnets for thieves and vandals, and absent homeowners can miss things like developing water damage. While checking in everyday may be sufficient, you might have to purchase a vacancy permit for an extra $30 – 50 a month. Ask your broker.

Once these initial questions have been answered, you may find that you’ll need to obtain Builder’s Risk Insurance. When doing structural renovations on your home, your existing policy won’t cover the section under construction if a “permission to renovate” endorsement, or this type of construction insurance, hasn’t been put into effect.

While your contractor may be insured with a commercial general liability policy, this does not cover the actual building being renovated. Make sure your contractor has Builder’s Risk Insurance before you begin. If not, you can purchase it yourself.

This kind of policy is designed to cover you for weather damage, theft and vandalism during the course of the renovation period. It includes coverage for:

Before you call your broker, have the answers to these questions ready:

Fear of increased premiums make many people reluctant to inform their insurance provider about changes they’ve made to their homes. But being worried about a slight increase in premiums could leave you paying for a policy that no longer covers you after renovations have been done anyway.

Besides, not all renovations will lead to an increase in your premiums. In fact, there are some things you can do that will actually decrease your premiums. And you might as well do them while you are doing all that other work on your home anyway!

Of course, these aren’t the kinds of things people usually consider when they dream about renovating their homes. Usually, it’s about making their home more beautiful and spacious, and that can put upward pressure on those premiums.

Renovations that increase the replacement value of the home have the biggest effect on premiums, as do those that are done to generate new revenue, such as renting out a newly finished basement to a permanent tenant or to Airbnb guests.

Regardless of the kind of renovations you do to your home, whether they are extensive or not, be sure to talk to your broker before the work even begins, just to see how your home insurance rates could be affected.

Together, you can ensure that your coverage extends through the renovation period and any necessary changes to your new policy are ironed out before the work is completed.

That way there will be a seamless transition from one policy to the next, and you can focus on turning that dream home into reality without the added worry of something going wrong.

Call Mitch Insurance now at 1-800-731-2228 and let’s get those renovations safely underway today!

While wood burning stoves have become safer and more environmentally friendly, they still provide enough of a fire hazard to put upward pressure on insurance premiums (about 10%). That’s if your stove is properly installed and inspected. A wood stove that’s not installed to code could render your cottage uninsurable.

What is cottage nightlife, after all, without the smell of burning wood? Efficiency be damned, you say, when it comes to sprucing up your little cabin with a fireplace or, more specifically, a quaint little wood burning stove. They look great, they provide hours of simple pleasures and sticky treats, and they help bring you that much closer to nature in its purest form.

Still, there’s the question of just how much these cozy contraptions affect your cottage insurance, and just what you have to do to make sure they are safe and up to code.

Few people are likely shocked to learn that having an open flame burning for hours each night inside your cottage is going to heat up your premiums as well. That’s not to say that modern wood burning stoves are inherently unsafe, or that getting one is a bad idea, because a lot of pleasure can be gained by having one when it’s been installed and used correctly.

But even if you consider yourself extremely safety conscious and a stickler for detail with a lifetime of experience around open flames, the simple truth is that some people are less safe than others.

Expect your premiums to rise from 10% to a set amount of about $100 or more.

When insurance companies calculate risks, they tend to base the price of premiums on the broadest set of data they have, as well as the amount of claims they have paid out over recent years. Since not everyone is as careful as they should be around fire, we all end up having to pay more for coverage.

Costs will vary from company to company, and will depend on the type of wood burning unit you have and whether or not it is the main heating source for your cottage, but expect your premiums to rise from 10% to a set amount of about $100 or more.

Whether you are installing a new wood burning stove, having it installed professionally or buying a cottage that already has one, your insurance broker may require you to get it inspected and certified by a WETT technician or complete a solid fuel heating questionnaire and send photos of the stove.

This is not solely for the purpose of protecting your cottage. It is also protecting your family’s health since an incorrectly installed wood stove can release harmful pollutants that can make you and your loved ones more prone to respiratory diseases.

The requirements for WETT certification are as follows:

If you are considering purchasing an older cottage with a wood burning stove already installed or have plans to install one after you take over the deed, consult Mitch Insurance to see what kind of upgrades or changes may be needed before you can obtain coverage.

After all, you may want to factor those changes into your offer before you buy.

Call Mitch today at 1-800-731-2228 and let us help you get a good fire going safely in the comfort of your little cabin in the woods.

Special thanks to Shane Rosenberg, account manager at Mitch, for his help on this article.

In a word… Yes. While some insurance providers will let you add yourself to a roommate’s tenants insurance policy, allowing you to share the cost of the premiums, do NOT assume that you and your belongings are covered under their plan. Because the cold hard truth is that you are likely not.

Tenants insurance is designed to protect you, the policyholder, from damage or loss of property, as well as from liability should a guest get injured on the premises. It does not automatically cover the possessions and liability of a roommate just because you live under the same roof.

That’s why it’s best to have your own tenants insurance policy.

Moving into a new apartment with an old friend, or even someone you met through social media, can be an exciting experience. It can also be a disaster. Many a lifelong friendship has been made (and lost) while sharing a home together.

And while it may seem as though you can trust your mates not to sue you, or generally mess your life up in any way, when it comes to insurance, it’s best to maintain your own claims history and purchase your own independent policy.

Let’s delve into some of the reasons for this.

First of all, it’s important to make clear that you’re not covered just because you moved into an apartment with a roommate who already has tenants insurance. Your roommate’s policy only covers them and doesn’t extend to everyone else living under the same roof.

Yes, some insurance providers will allow you to put your name on a roommate’s policy, but others may insist on separate policies for each individual, and their reasons for this might just convince you that this is by far the better option for everyone. Here are some of the risks they highlight:

Perhaps the biggest reason why you should not add your name to a roommate’s policy is that any claim they make will affect your claim history going forward. If they make a claim for a lost or damaged laptop, basically you just made a claim for a lost or damaged laptop, whether you know about it or not. Any claim on your record affects your premiums for five years.

Even more serious, if your roommate’s guest gets injured on the property, or is even bitten by their skittish Rottweiler and subsequently sues, the resulting suit could be astronomical. This would affect your premiums far into the future, well beyond your present living arrangement.

Risk: Their claim history is now your claim history.

If you make a claim, the payout will go to both of you, regardless of whether you made the claim together. So, you’ll need your roommate’s signature before you cash that cheque to cover your own lost or damaged property.

And if you make a claim together for a variety of lost and damaged items at the same time, there could be complicated arguments over how to divvy up the money fairly.

Risk: Payments for claims are made out to both you and your roommate, regardless of who made the claim.

It may seem like you’ll always be besties and will live together for quite some time, but people fall in love and get married, and friends do fall out with one another. And some roommates just move on to better opportunities elsewhere and forget to do something about that old insurance policy.

If your roommate moves out during the life of the policy, you may be on the hook for the rest of the premiums as you will need their signature to take them off the policy, or to cancel the policy altogether.

Risk: If your roommate disappears, you will be responsible for the life of the policy.

Quite simply, your roommate might have more stuff than you, have a more aggressive dog than you do, or have more guests over who could possibly injure themselves in your apartment. In short, your roommate might carry more risk than you. So how do you split the cost of the premiums fairly?

Also, how are you going to pay the premiums? All up front or on a monthly basis? If your roommate leaves, you could be left making the monthly payments yourself, or you may have to refund a prorated share of the premium to what is now your ex-roommate.

Risk: The size of your roommate’s property and potential liability might be greater than yours.

A separate policy just might be the best solution for the both of you.

Your landlord most certainly has an insurance policy for the apartment they are renting out. But it’s important to remember that your landlord’s policy basically covers them for any damage caused to the premises by fire and water, etc. It doesn’t cover your belongings or your personal liability.

In fact, many landlords will insist that you obtain tenants insurance before you even sign the lease. This isn’t necessarily because they care about your well-being, but because of any mishaps that might happen while you’re living there.

Young adults who are still dependents while attending college or university are usually covered on a parent’s home insurance policy. But keep in mind that some policies limit the value of the child’s belongings that are covered, and usually only cover you if you’re away from home temporarily.

So, if you’re living away from home year-round, including summers, holidays etc., you probably are NOT covered under your parents’ policy.

Having your own policy will not only give you peace of mind and save you from some potential headaches and arguments with your new roommate going forward, it’ll also cover you for the following:

Due to the fact that each person added to a policy increases the likelihood of a claim, it should be clear why you’re not automatically covered under a roommate’s tenants insurance policy.

And because of the numerous things that can go wrong while sharing one policy with a roommate, it’s highly recommended, and sometimes insisted upon, that you purchase your own individual policy.

Call Mitch today at 1-800-731-2228 to find low-cost tenants insurance that will help make your new living arrangement an experience to look back on with no regrets.

Home insurance is essential protection for anyone who owns their own home. It’s not mandatory, but if you have a mortgage, your bank will insist that at least the structure itself be insured. So if you’re buying for the first time or looking to move, you might want to know how much you’re likely to pay for home insurance in your area. Across Ontario, the average cost is approximately $121 a month. In Toronto and the GTA, it’s a little higher.

If you’re looking to rent an apartment in Toronto or elsewhere in the GTA, you can usually get a tenants insurance package for $20-40 a month. And if you drive, which most of us do, your tenants or renters insurance could pay for itself by getting you a 5-15% multi-line discount on your auto insurance.

Of course home insurance covers fire. It is the reason home insurance was invented back in the 1600s, and until quite recently, was the most common type of home insurance claim. The fire insurance in your policy typically covers not only the building, but also your possessions, if they are lost or damaged in a blaze. The only reasons a fire in your home would not be covered is if you set the fire on purpose, or if you are grossly negligent in fire safety.

The price of insurance seems to always be going up in Ontario. As it pertains to home, condo and tenants insurance, the main reason for price increases over the last several decades has been a sharp increase in the number and cost of claims related to water damage. This is to be expected in an age when climate change is leading to increased frequency and severity of storms all over the world.

If you’re like most of us, you’ve been working from home since the pandemic began. If you’re an employee just plugging away on your laptop, working from home shouldn’t affect your home insurance. But if you run your own business, or if your job requires interacting with clients, making or receiving deliveries, or having expensive business equipment at home, you should check with your insurance broker to make sure you have the coverage you need.

You don’t want to find out after a break-in that your stolen jewelry was not fully covered or covered at all by your insurance policy. It’s a good idea to take time now to figure out if jewelry insurance would be a wise investment.