Property Insurance

You’ll often hear the phrase “your home is your biggest investment” given as a reason to protect the value of your home. Throw in your personal belongings and financial wellbeing, and you’ll see why property insurance is so important. 

Property insurance is designed to cover your house, structures and add-ons to your property, and your personal belongings in the case of damage, helping with the costs associated with repair, rebuilding, replacing, and more. If you lose your home and its contents, property insurance can cover your living expenses until you have suitable replacements. It can also cover you in the case that someone else is injured or suffers loss of property because of your actions.

There are four things that property insurance is meant to cover: your home, your belongings, liability claims and living expenses.

Coverage for your home includes detached structures on your property, such as garages and sheds.  Your belongings include contents inside your home such as furniture, electronics, clothing, and other personal property. 

Liability coverage protects you financially from bodily injuries or property damage to others while they’re on your property. Living expenses covers costs such as hotel rooms, storage costs, restaurant meals, and other additional living expenses for time away from your home due to an insured loss.

Additional premium endorsements are available to extend your home insurance coverage to include certain exclusions or situations not covered by a standard home insurance policy. Important endorsement to consider are:

• Protection against sewer back-ups
• Flooding from overland water
• Scheduled personal articles
• Home based business
• Watercraft endorsement
• Identity theft

What Determines the Cost of Property & Homeowner Insurance?

There are several factors which can influence the monthly premiums associated with your insurance policy:

• Location - Some areas are deemed a higher risk than others. This could be because of the relative chance of natural disasters, crime rates, and proximity to fire stations and hydrants
• Home Size and Cost to Rebuild - Since an insurance policy might have to pay out to replace part or all of a home, the size of the home is considered.
• Home Age and Condition - The type of construction, electrical, plumbing, heating, and age of roof
• Basement - Many basements are no longer just used primarily for storage ad laundry. Many are finished and used for recreational purposes often with expensive furnishings.
• Special Items - You can opt to have special coverage for specific items. For example, an expensive work of art, collectibles, or jewellery.

Given that these are some of the factors relevant to the specifics of your insurance policy, you should be ready with information to give to your insurance provider. Some things which you might need to know include what your home is made from, what your past claim history is, what the history of your home is in terms of additions and renovations, the distance to the nearest fire hydrants and emergency services, additional buildings and property features. 

In addition to all of these, your personal risk profile is an important factor. Your age, credit history, and past claim history will all factor in your insurance policy’s final cost.

Our highly trained and professional property insurance brokers will work closely with you to develop a personalized and competitively priced insurance package to protect everything that means the most to you.

Opting for a higher deductible

A condo, also known as a condominium, is a housing or residential complex in which there are separate units, with each unit being owned by an individual. When someone rents a condo, they're renting directly from the condominium owner.  While it’s not the same as owning a home, your condo policy will protect you from; damage to your personal property, improvements you make to the condo, liability coverage in case you accidently injure someone or damage their property and additional living expenses.

Your condominium corporation’s insurance typically covers:

• The building and common property such as hallways, stairs, roof, pools, garages, driveways, etc.
• Fixtures built or installed as part of the original or standard construction such as floor and wall coverings, electrical and plumbing fixtures. Some condominium corporations have specific definitions for what is considered an “original” or “standard” unit.
• Condominium assets such as furniture, equipment, etc.
• Liability for claims of property damage and bodily injury suffered by others that occur on common property.

As a unit owner, your condominium unit owner’s policy typically covers:

• Your personal property such as clothing, appliances and furniture as well as items stored in your locker.
• Additional living expenses, over and above the normal cost of living, in the event of an insured loss.
• Your personal liability for any bodily injury or property damage unintentionally caused to others.

There are all different shapes and sizes of condos, but no matter if it’s high-rise or low-rise, Haldimand Insurance Brokers has the experience and knowledge to provide you with personalized and competitively priced condo insurance package.

Tenant insurance can also be referred to as contents insurance or renter’s insurance.  Tenant insurance covers your personal belongings in the building, additional living expenses in the case your home is uninhabitable and liability lawsuits.

While landlords have relatively few legal obligations to compensate tenants for any damage to or loss of their tenants’ personal possessions, tenants are responsible for damage they may cause to any part of the building in which they live or to others who live or visit there.

Basic liability and coverage for your belongings are essential. A fire caused by a defective toaster could cause a great deal of damage not only to your unit and personal property, but to the entire apartment complex, potentially leaving you liable for the full amount of damages.

Whether you are renting a home or an apartment, Haldimand Insurance Brokers has the experience and knowledge to provide you with a personalized and competitively prices tenant insurance policy.

If you own a cottage or seasonal home, you may need to insure it separately from your existing home insurance policy. Coverage is usually more restrictive than with homes that are occupied year-round. While your seasonal policy may protect you from perils such as fire, it may not cover other perils such as theft.  At Haldimand Insurance a knowledgeable broker can discuss coverage options and help provide you with a personalized and competitively priced seasonal dwelling insurance package.

Cottage insurance rates and coverages are affected by many factors including how often the property is occupied, the location of the property, the accessibility of the cottage, the construction and age of the home and much more.

We understand that every cottage is unique and it’s our goal to help provide the best protection so you can relax and sit on your deck.

Looking to travel this summer and want to protect your investment?
Haldimand Insurance has multiple options to insure your Trailer.

A trailer is not a motor vehicle and does not require its own auto insurance policy. The liability insurance coverage from the towing vehicle is extended to the trailer while it is being towed.  Collision and comprehensive coverage that you would typically see on an auto policy are not extended to the trailer.

This is why we recommend a specialized travel trailer package that serves as it’s own policy.  Coverages often included in a trailer package are damages to the trailer itself, contents of your travel trailer, liability coverage and emergency vacation expenses.

The most common types of trailers that would fall into this category could be Travel Trailers, Tent Trailers, Truck Campers, toy hauler of fifth wheel.
Premiums in this category can vary greatly as often the purchase price of Trailers can vary from $1,000 to over $200,000.

Recreational vehicles are all unique.  When it comes to insuring your travel trailer, why not have a broker on your side so you can enjoy all the benefits of travelling.

An umbrella insurance policy allows you to extend your third-party liability coverage beyond the limits in your existing property, auto, boat and rental property insurance policies.  It pays out if you’re at fault for injuries or damage and your other policies are not enough to cover the costs.  In addition to providing excess third-party liability coverage, an umbrella policy may also provide additional coverages that aren’t already included in your home or car insurance policy (e.g., protection in the event of false arrest, slander, or an invasion of your right to privacy).

An umbrella policy is an affordable way to make sure you have enough liability coverage to protect your financial security.  If you have expensive assets or investments you want to protect, an umbrella policy should be considered.  An umbrella policy is also worth considering if you participate in any activities that could increase your chances of being sued.  Some examples could be volunteering for school trips, frequent traveler, coaching kid’s sports teams, participating in sports where you could injure others, renting out property or you own pets.  Anyone can benefit from an umbrella policy – it’s impossible to predict an accident that might result in a lawsuit, and lawsuits are becoming more and more expensive.

If you are interested in learning more about umbrella insurance or wish to add umbrella coverage to your existing home or tenant policy, contact Haldimand Insurance and one of our experience and knowledgeable brokers will help to provide you with a personalized and competitively priced umbrella policy.