If you’re among the many Canadians who are choosing to rent out your home on a temporary basis using a service such as Airbnb, you might want to consider investing in homeshare insurance. If you are not sure where you find homeshare insurance, recently a company called the Co-operators has created a new form of insurance called Duuo. Duuo is an online self-service pay per use homeshare insurance policy. This new insurance option has just been developed and released in Ontario, with Alberta and British Columbia expected to have access to this type of insurance in the near future with other areas such as Atlantic Canada, Prairies, and Quebec expected to follow soon and then the northern territories and provinces.

Many insurance providers such as April Canada, Avia, Wawanesa, and Square One are all offering such coverage but for the most part, only have policies that cover thirty to one hundred and eighty days at a time. How often these policies or a simple add-on to your existing homeowner’s insurance policy. Duuo is the first company, to offer this type of on-demand insurance that allows you to purchase insurance coverage only for those times when you have guests in your home. Typical rates run around $8 per night. However, your premiums are calculated based on the replacement cost of your home rather than its market value. Here in Canada, Toronto has a booming Airbnb Business with over 17,000 Airbnb listing in comparison to only 7,000 listings in Vancouver

Where Can You Find Homeshare Insurance?

Duuo is hosted in the U.S. buy Slice Insurance Cloud Services, a respected on-demand insurance platform and Covers many other things not typically covered under your homeowner’s insurance. This could include but is not limited to vandalism, damage to electronic devices, or theft. Homeshare insurance covers the “full replacement cost of your home and its contents.” Hopefully, you will never have the need for this type of insurance, but, if you have kept up with the many Airbnb horror stories, renting your home out, especially on a temporary basis has serious potential for disaster.

As to where you can find homeshare insurance, all you have to do is visit the Money Expert website. You can access it via both iOS and Android or a computer. All you have to do is enter information such as your name, the address of the property, and the number of nights you need coverage for. This makes it easy for you to purchase coverage only for those nights when your home is rented out. You can purchase coverage one year in advance or up until midnight of the night your guests arrive. Rob Wesseling, CEO, and president of The Co-operators has this to say, ” As more Canadians participate in the sharing economy, new unmet insurance needs will continue to emerge. With Duuo, we have built a collaborative platform to provide on-demand insurance solutions with a high degree of agility and flexibility.” You file your claims via AI Directly through Duuo Rather than with your regular homeowner’s insurance company. Originally Slice began operations in the U.S., but they have now moved their operations north of the border where it forms the backbone of Duuo, which as Tim Attia, CEO of Slice Labs stated, “This is a groundbreaking moment for the Canadian insurance industry.”

Read Your Lease

Although it may sound surprising, few tenants actually read their lease in full. Reading your lease in full is one of the most important things a tenant should do before signing.

Your lease contains important rules that impact your daily living, such as how many people are allowed to live in the apartment, or whether or not pets are allowed. It should also detail who is responsible for replacing or fixing things in the apartment. An example of this can be replacing lightbulbs or fixing window blinds, etc. It should also clearly state who is responsible for maintenance and cleaning. This can include things like shoveling snow in the winter, replacing air filters in the summer.

Simply put: reading your lease in full with help insure you catch problems before they happen. A responsible landlord will work with you on the terms of the lease if you have questions or concerns. You may also get in touch with the residential real estate agent that got you the lease.

Finally, make sure the lease includes a move-in and move-out report. You and the landlord should walk through the property together before and after a move in/move out, with photographs and written documentation of the exact condition of the apartment. This can help you make sure you get as much of your security deposit back when the time comes to move out.