Ontario homeowners insurance

All home insurance has exclusions or types of damage that are not covered. Some common exclusions include:

Some other types of loss are generally excluded but can be covered by purchasing an endorsement or a separate policy, for example:

• Builder’s risk insurance covers your home while it’s under renovations
• A sewer backup endorsement adds coverage that’s usually excluded if your plumbing backs up.
• Overland flooding and groundwater endorsements cover other types of water infiltration that are usually excluded
• Earthquake damage is not ordinarily covered, but you can add it through an endorsement.

Learn more about home insurance exclusions.

What you paid for your home, and how much it would cost to rebuild it after something like a fire, are different in terms of price and value. What someone is willing to pay for a home drives the selling price and value, whereas the cost of materials, labor and compliance with building regulations impacts the price to rebuild your home after a claim. Your insurance coverage is based on how much it would cost to rebuild your home, not how much your home would sell for.

Most banks and financial institutions prefer that your home is covered by a comprehensive homeowners policy. This coverage protects your home against most kinds of loss or damage. While a comprehensive homeowners policy doesn’t cover every possible type of loss, it certainly covers those that are most likely to happen. It’s also common for banks to ask if you have Guaranteed Replacement Cost coverage. This inexpensive, optional coverage will pay out whatever amount is required to completely rebuild after a major claim – regardless if the cost is higher than the limit shown on your policy documents. Guaranteed Replacement Cost also includes costs for removing debris from your existing home. This is a great coverage to have, as the cost of removing wreckage and constructing a new home from scratch can often be difficult to estimate given the number of variables. Guaranteed Replacement Cost gives you and your bank total peace of mind. We can help you determine if this endorsement is available for your home.

Unlike auto insurance, home insurance is not a mandatory coverage in Ontario. On the other hand, it’s usually required for a mortgage. Before a bank or financial institution lends you money to buy a home, they’ll want to make sure that your mutual investment is protected through a homeowners insurance policy.

When a mortgage is paid off, insurance is no longer needed from the bank’s point of view. But even if you’re mortgage-free, you’ll probably still want homeowners insurance to protect one of the largest financial investments of your life.

Depending on the specifics of your home’s construction, the area of Ontario that you live in and your insurance history the cost of insurance can vary greatly. While most Canadians pay between $1,000-$2,500 a year, some policies can be much more. This amount differs from home to home.

Yes! There are lots of discounts that you might be able to take advantage of depending on what insurance company you’re with:

• Home and auto bundle discount – For having your home and auto insurance with the same company
• Non-smoker discount – If you and your family are non-smokers (that includes cannabis and vapes)
• Mortgage-free discount – Pretty self-explanatory
• Home security discount – If you have a monitored home alarm system
• Mature homeowner discount – If you’re over a certain age, usually 55
• New home discount – If your home is below a certain age

Basic homeowners insurance will not include cyber theft. You may be able to purchase an endorsement or a rider to include cyber protection. Some insurers will also offer identity theft coverage, which is usually only $15-$25 extra to add and offers protection for the costs associated with reversing/recovering from fraud. Household cyber liability insurance goes a few steps further and may cost $25-$60 a year to add.

Absolutely it does. The key difference is that homeowners insurance protects the physical building itself (the dwelling) as well as other structures on your property like a fence, detached garage, pool, sheds etc. Tenants insurance only covers liability and a certain amount for your contents or possessions. Condo coverage, on the other hand, does include some protection for parts of the condo unit that aren’t covered under the condo corporation’s policy, but it’s nowhere near the amount of coverage for physical damage under a homeowners policy.