Home Insurance That is Right for You

Caliber Insurance Solutions can provide Home Insurance coverage for people who are renting houses or apartments. Not only do you require insurance coverage for your contents, but also personal liability insurance and additional living expenses. These coverages can all be provided under a Tenants’ Insurance, Apartment Insurance or Home Owners Insurance policy.

We offer Home Insurance in Edmonton and throughout Alberta delivered with a superiour level of service and focus on your needs. We also provide the same level of claims management that we offer our commercial clientelle.

Home Insurance Coverage You Didn’t Consider - Additional Living Expenses

As an insurance broker, we are used to having conversations with business owners about continuity plans to resume their operations following a loss. Interesting enough, this should be a standard exercise for homeowners and families as well. Unfortunately, this is often an afterthought that occurs, after somebody has suffered a loss to their home. They likely considered their contents, valuables and even liability coverage, but now a new question arises:

“Where will I live now?”

Fortunately, there are ways to address that question and provide additional peace of mind, before a loss occurs. Just like a business, a disaster recovery plan for a family will assist greatly in dealing with the mental and physical hardship, resulting from a loss to your home.

A typical insurance policy will state:

” If, as a result of damage… by a an insured peril, your dwelling is unfit for occupancy, or you have to move out while repairs are being made, we insure any necessary increase in living expenses, including moving expenses incurred by you, so that your household can maintain its normal standard of living. “

There are several important key factors to this wording:

    The damage must have resulted from an insured peril. Therefore, if your insurance policy does not include coverage for flood, there would be no coverage for additional living expenses, in the event of a flood.

    The insurance coverage applies for any necessary increase in living expenses. Normal everyday living expenses that would have been incurred anyway are not covered.

    Coverage is provided to allow the household to maintain its normal standard of living. This goes back to one of the main principles of insurance, where the insured is not supposed to benefit from a loss. The function of insurance is to put you back to a position that you were before a loss occurred.

Even in the event that a loss to your home is not insured, a plan of action is still a vital exercise that we engage with our clients. This may include arranging a reciprocal agreement with another relative or friend and agree to provide accommodations to each other, should one find themselves in a position with no place to live. This will reduce potential mental stress or the possible embarrassment of having to approach someone and feeling you are putting them on the spot.

Condo unit owners and tenants are often looking to their condo corporation or landlord to cover these expenses. While that may be possible in some cases, this is insurance coverage that must be purchased under their individual insurance policies. There is also a degree of social responsibility that comes with purchasing insurance for alternate accommodations, which in turn relieves strain on organizations such as the Canadian Red Cross. A great deal of stress can be alleviated by purchasing insurance that can cost as little as $20/month.

Some things we encourage clients to consider in determining their potential Additional Living Expenses exposure:

  • Alternate transportation options and costs for family members to get to school or work
    Additional costs for food and meals
  • Temporary storage solutions for your belongings and contents that have not been damaged
    Boarding accommodations for pets
  • Cost for hotels or other short-term rental scenarios

We also recommend that clients review the limit of coverage provided under their insurance policy for Additional Living Expenses. That can often be limited to a proportional percentage of their contents coverage. One thing people often do not consider is that they may require a higher limit of coverage than that which is automatically provided under the policy. A thorough insurance review will go a long way to achieving peace of mind.