Shared Accommodation Property Insurance
Shared Accommodation Property Insurance
With the housing crisis that we have in Ireland currently, more and more people are turning to Shared Accommodation as a solution. There are many different ways in which a property owner can use their space in order to offer Shared Accommodation to tenants. A homeowner may choose to rent their spare room to a student under the Rent A Room scheme, or to Ukrainian tenants under the ARP (Accommodation Recognition Payment) scheme. A Landlord may rent their property to a Company who will house a number of their workers in the shared accommodation property rather than to a single family to accommodate more people seeking a place to live. Or they could choose to rent shared rooms to students who are finding it nigh on impossible to obtain a place to live during college term, having to resort to long commutes instead. Added to this, a tenant may choose to sublet rooms which are empty in their rental home.
In a recent article written by Colm Keena for the Irish Times, Barrister Martin Canny Advises that under the residential Tenancies Act, a dwelling that qualifies as a tenancy must be a self-contained unit and must have its own kitchen and bathroom. If not, then it cannot be registered under the Act. Therefore anything that falls outside of this definition is considered to be a Shared Accommodation Property.
But what does that mean from an insurance perspective when it comes to Shared Accommodation Property Owners Insurance / Landlord Insurance.
Many insurance policies for Landlord or Property Owner risks written on a Shared Accommodation Property or other basis will have a condition, acceptance criteria or stipulation that there must be a lease agreement in place directly with the tenant for a minimum period of 6 months. If you do not advise your broker and underwriting insurance company of the exact circumstances of the agreement and it does fall outside these policy requirements, then you MAY be in breach of the conditions and the insurer MAY choose not to pay out in the event of a claim. There are insurance providers out there who will be provide cover in 99% of situations but they cannot insure what they do not know about. However, our Property Owner Scheme provider DO cover Shared Accommodation Property insurance risks that have licence agreements in place rather than lease agreements.
You as the client are under duty to give full and honest information to your broker and insurer so that they are fully aware of the risk being insured. Don’t be caught out, check with your insurance provider today that you are covered correctly by your Shared Accommodation Property Insurance policy.
Click HERE to read about the types of tenancy agreements and Leases with the RTB
Contact S.A. Faughnan (Brokers) Ltd. on 01 8245555 or at newbusiness@safaughnan.ie or visit us at www.safaughnan.ie
