Insuring a Tiny House
Blog, Insurance
September 13, 2018 | Kristan Weaver - Hondros College Contributor
One popular trend in residential real estate today is the tiny house. According to tiny house expert The Tiny Life, a typical tiny house has between 100 and 400 square feet, while a traditional American home has an average of 2,600 square feet. Tiny homes offer people the ability to be sheltered and protected without overusing economic or environmental resources.
Despite being small in size, tiny houses come with responsibilities that are similar to regular homes. One of those responsibilities is getting insurance to protect the house, the people, and things inside it.
If you’re an insurance agent who’s coming up with a quote for a tiny house, there are some things you should keep in mind before coming up with what type of policy the house needs. Here are some of the most important.
What Type of Insurance Should Cover a Tiny House?
Tiny houses are in a murky area when it comes to insurance. Many agents have yet to learn about the field because the trend is so new. However, it can help to ask yourself the following questions to figure out what type of insurance will adequately cover the house.
Is the House on Wheels?
To figure out what type of insurance policy should cover a tiny house, first consider if the house is on wheels.
If your tiny house is on wheels and you’re going to move it, the house may be able to be covered by RV insurance. However, some insurance policies will only cover tiny houses on wheels if they’re made by a certified RV builder.
Alternatively, if you’re going to stay put in your tiny home (even if it has wheels), the tiny home may be covered by personal property insurance. To ensure that it can be covered this way, the homeowners should be sitting on some type of permanent or semi-permanent foundation.
Finally, you may opt to seek out a tiny home insurance company in order to get proper coverage for the home. Companies like this one are devoted to only covering tiny properties, and they’ll be a good resource for a policy that fits the needs of a tiny house owner.
Who Built the Tiny Home?
The type of insurance coverage that a tiny home needs can vary based on whether it was manufactured by a certified builder or not. If a tiny house was built by a certified builder, it is easier for insurance companies to understand the quality and value of the house and insure it. If you built the house yourself, it can be trickier getting coverage. You may have to seek out extra liability or personal property coverage. Before you figure out how much a tiny home insurance policy will cost, it can be useful to have the home inspected for safety.
Is it a Permanents Residence or a Rental?
Another important question to ask is whether it’s a permanent residence or a rental property. If the home is a structure that guests are going to be coming and going from regularly, it may need special rental property insurance coverage.
It’s important to know a lot about a tiny home before you decide what kind of coverage is right for it. Once you understand who built it, whether it’s permanent, and who lives in it (and when), you can offer the owners the appropriate insurance to keep them and their property safe.