You’re Covered

By Joshua Ayers, Senior Editor

Multifamily properties of all sizes are serious investments and because of that, protecting those assets against the unforeseen should be a top priority for any owner, manager and renter. MHN has compiled a short list of insurance companies that are helping multifamily owners and operators protect themselves against everything from minor to catastrophic damage.

Assurant Specialty Property provides a wide range of insurance solutions including services that cater to specific property markets such as multi-housing. The company’s offerings range from renters insurance via its Residents Insurance platform to security deposit alternatives via its SureDeposit product. With SureDeposit, property owners and managers can offer the program to residents upon lease signing and if residents do not live up to standards outlined in the lease, SureDeposit reimburses the community up to the bond amount and then handles repayments from the resident for any outstanding balances like unpaid rent or unit damages (www.assurantspecialtyproperty.com).

Bader Co. offers several different products geared toward the multifamily industry including renters insurance and property-wide insurance. Bader multifamily insurance provides property owners and management companies the option of primary liability coverage. The difference in Bader’s approach to insuring a property and renters is providing underwriting for the entire community, where most companies tend to offer policies that are geared to the individual. By using Bader’s unique approach, owners and operators can offer their residents insurance while transferring risks associated with resident damage from the owner/operator to Bader
(www.baderco.com).

CoreLogic/SafeRent for multifamily offers a host of different products including resident and criminal screening, in addition to renters insurance. The company’s insurance offers owners four different products that can be selected based on the specific needs of the community. The Community Blanket Policy, which has no deductible, covers the apartment community against resident damages and serves to fill in the gaps of traditional property insurance. The Renters Insurance Select product provides full renter’s insurance policy to residents without the need for residents to qualify—if they’re approved to live at the community, they’re approved for coverage. The other two options, Renters Liability Policy and Renters Allowance Policy, offers affordable resident liability coverage without contents coverage and resident liability coverage that includes optional contents coverage, respectively (www.residentscreening.net).

ResidentShield offers property managers and owners two choices for resident insurance to help a community or portfolio achieve 100 percent renter’s insurance compliance. The primary product, Master Policy Program, lists the property manager as the primary insured with residents included on the policy as additional insured, which allows for residents to obtain affordable insurance, while protecting property managers and owners’ liability claims from resident-related damages. Optional coverage is available for losses such as pest remediation, pet damage, business income loss and other damages.  Policies are available for individual properties, portfolios as well as individual renters through the ResidentShield website (www.residentshield.com).

Wells Fargo took a huge step forward in coverage for affordable housing when it unveiled its Multifamily Affordable Housing Insurance Program (MAHIP). The product is available in all 50 states and is designed with the affordable housing community in mind by helping to fill in gaps that traditional policies tend to not cover such as low-income housing tax credit liability, bed bug infestations and tenant discrimination. The program is directly accessible to affordable housing providers and has the endorsement of the National Affordable Housing Management Association (NAHMA). Communities designated as Communities of Quality by NAHMA are eligible for additional discounts (www.wellsfargo.com).