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VRS294 – Are You Covered If A Vacation Rental Guest Makes A Liability Claim?

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The moment we exchange our property (or a part of it) for money, we are operating a business, and that brings with it all manner of risks. And if you don’t cover yourself for those risks it could become very costly – in fact, it could mean the loss of your business altogether….and more. We are talking about insurance today, and it has never been more important.

When you watch commercials on TV from law companies that specialize in ‘no win, no fee’ claims, it brings it home how easy it is to bring a lawsuit against an owner or a company. We know this as we are in the middle of such a suit and it is no fun, believe me, even though the owner and our company are well insured.

I can’t imagine what it would be like to be hit with a $1M claim and not be insured to fight it, yet I hear every day on forums and groups from owners, co-hosts, and managers who are not adequately protected.

In a recent Facebook post, a co-host wrote that a guest had called to say she had fallen out of a hammock and hurt her back and would need to see a specialist.

Comments on the post ranged from the most sensible and practical – ‘Call your insurance company now and don’t make any response to the guest other than an acknowledgment of the incident’, to ‘this will never stick – she’s just making it up to get money’.

It really makes no difference what the guests motives and intentions are, whether it’s genuine or fabricated – if a lawyer thinks there’s something in it, you’ll wind up with a knock on your door and a service of papers.

And this can be up to 2 years after the incident took place.

In today’s episode, Kate Birtch from Property Protect joins me to share the importance of having good insurance cover.

Whether you share a home with your guests, rent the whole house, co-host or run a property management company, the message is the same.

You must have general liability cover.

Then there is the potential for damage to your property and the protection for that.

Kate is the owner of multiple properties she rents out so has a thorough understanding of the risks involved and how to alleviate them. Her company offers a range of products and can even provide insurance for those hard to cover places – in wildfire and hurricane zones.

She shares:

  • The major risks owners face when renting out a property
  • What personal liability is and the types of claim that are covered
  • When to make a claim on your policy and what to accept as the cost of doing business
  • The difference between landlord policy and short-term rental cover
  • Her views on apps offering protection against overcrowding, noise etc.

Property Protect

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