Airbnb Insurance Guide
Hosting guests through Airbnb changes your home from a private residence into a commercial property. Standard home insurance won’t cover the risks involved.
If you rent out your home or a second property to short-term guests, you might need specific holiday home insurance in Ireland. This can help protect your building, contents, and liability.
Consequently, specific Airbnb insurance is required. Airbnb has its own insurance (known as Aircover), which is useful but can sometimes complicate matters for new hosts when assessing whether they already have enough cover in place. Aircover for hosts and guests is automatically included in bookings through the Airbnb platform, but in some jurisdictions, it’s often believed it doesn’t go far enough in terms of liability and payout limits.
If Airbnb lettings are something you wish to offer, particularly if you do not live permanently in the property, then you will require dedicated Airbnb insurance from an insurance provider in your jurisdiction.
Why Standard Home Insurance Is Not Enough
Home insurance in Ireland covers standard homes. These homes are either owner-occupied or rented long-term. They have a stable household group and are non-commercial. When you rent your home on Airbnb, you start a new business. This is called a short-term rental agreement (commercial use).
The nature of this change will affect the following:
Liability risks: You are now liable for the safety of your guests while they are on your property.
Risk of property damage: A constant stream of new people in your home raises the chance of accidental damage.
Conditions of vacancy: Most home insurance policies need a home to be occupied for at least 50% of the year. Some insurers also require that your home isn’t vacant for more than 30 consecutive days.
You must inform your insurance company if you use your home for short-term rentals.
If you do not disclose your commercial use of your home, your insurance company may deny a claim if one occurs while you are renting your home to others.
When you accept money to rent your home, your original policy conditions change. This applies whether you live there or not. Therefore, before you start advertising your home on websites like Airbnb.com, contact your insurance agent to determine if your current homeowners’ insurance policy requires a special type of insurance called “holiday let” insurance.
Does Airbnb AirCover Replace Insurance?
Airbnb offers free AirCover coverage with all bookings made through their site; however, it does offer some form of guest or third party liability and limited damages to guests during an active stay.
AirCover will never be enough to replace a standard holiday home insurance policy in Ireland. The primary intent of AirCover was to respond to direct incidents that occurred as a result of your listing being booked. Therefore, you are likely to get no assistance from AirCover for things like:
- Insurance for your building throughout the year (i.e., 365 days).
- Protection for rebuilding or repairing structural issues to your building.
- Comprehensive coverage of the contents of your building.
- Limits to liability that match those of other Irish Insurers.
- Coverage if the incident occurs outside of the period of time that was confirmed by the guest when they booked your listing.
- Additionally, mortgage lenders and/or insurers may not consider AirCover to be adequate to protect the use of your property as a short term rental.
Therefore, many hosts opt to purchase a stand alone holiday home insurance policy so they can have continuous liability and structural cover. Before completely relying upon AirCover, make sure to look at what is not covered and compare that to a stand alone policy written specifically for use with your Airbnb listings.
Who Needs Airbnb Insurance?
The majority of cases, requiring special holiday home insurance, apply to property owners using their homes for short-term paid accommodations either on a regular basis or just on occasion.
There are four areas of concern regarding needing specialised holiday home insurance in Ireland. They include:
When you rent rooms in your main home and still live there, most insurers see it as a commercial use if you get rent from tenants. Contact your homeowner’s insurer. Let them know how you plan to use your rental space. This way, they can check if your coverage is enough for paying guests.
If you are going to allow guests to exclusively occupy your entire property and you are not going to be physically present during these visits the potential for loss increases greatly. Standard homeowner’s insurance does not generally insure against short term rentals.
If you have a second home which is sometimes unoccupied and also has short term renters through a platform like Airbnb you will likely need holiday home insurance to protect yourself against liability claims and damage to the property due to the increased number of people visiting your vacation home and the longer periods of time it is left vacant.
Specialised insurance is often needed for non-traditional accommodations such as: glamping tents/cabins; houseboats; etc. The degree of liability and the potential for physical damage varies greatly depending upon the type of structure and the nature of its usage.
Prior to listing your property for short term rental make sure to check with your current homeowner’s insurance provider to determine if you will need additional coverage for your short term rental.
What will my Airbnb Insurance Cover?
When you take out insurance for your Airbnb or holiday home, you will be protected from specific risks when renting it short term.
The coverage in an insurance policy can differ a lot between insurers. But in saying that, most standard policies cover:
Make sure the building is safe. Have it protected from risks like fires, storms, floods, and damage that may be caused by tenants or guests.
Furniture, appliances, fixtures in the home, and also fittings are likely to be protected against theft or damage. In general, contents insurance does not protect guests’ personal property unless this has something that has been specified in the policy.
Short-term rentals require public liability insurance (also referred to as third-party liability). Public liability protects you, whether you own or rent. If a guest or visitor injures themselves or damages someone else’s property, and they sue you for compensation, this insurance helps cover you. Review the liability limits, as these are significantly different between policies.
If your rental property becomes uninhabitable because of an event covered under your policy, the loss of rental income coverage will reimburse you for lost rent while the repairs/rebuilding are being completed.
How Much Does Airbnb Insurance Cost?
Holiday home insurance is generally pricier than regular house insurance for holiday homes because it comes with greater liability risks and also a faster turn around of guests.
Typical premium ranges are from €1200 to €2400 annually based on factors such as:
- Rebuild cost of your property
- Your property location
- How many times your let your holiday home
- If you reside on the premises
- Your claims history
- The level of public liability you select
Each provider has different excesses and limits of liability. To make sure you have sufficient protection that is priced competitively, compare policies.
Who Offers Insurance For Airbnb’s In Ireland?
There is a range of insurance providers in Ireland providing Airbnb holiday home insurance policies. They include Arachas, Allianz Ireland, 123.ie, Out Insurance, Chill Insurance, Redclick Insurance, Zurich, An Post Insurance and Aviva.
Insurance For Airbnb FAQ
There is no mandatory legal requirement to take Airbnb insurance, but a lender offering mortgages for buy-to-let properties may require it. If you fail to disclose to your insurer that you are offering Airbnb accommodation, this will invalidate your standard home insurance.
Generally, property owners feel that Aircover is not enough to provide protection against damage, repair or rebuild in the face of accidental damage caused by guests. While the cover is wide, it is often not to the levels of liability that an Irish-based insurer would provide. The cover is also for specific time periods, which mirror the dates of a booking rather than providing cover year-round.
Yes, a host of an Airbnb needs public liability insurance to protect against injury to guests or tradespeople, such as cleaners or plumbers that may be entering your property or its surrounding areas.
