Home insurance is incredibly variable so not every provider and policy covers the same thing.

The average basic policy usually covers a limited number of risks like fire, vandalism, theft and covers your appliances and electronics for a limited amount. Most basic cover will not fully cover jewelry, collectibles (like baseball cards), bicycles and other higher value items. So always make sure to read the policy and see what is actually covered. The basic coverage usually will list the things they do cover. Whereas a more comprehensive plan will only name those risks they won’t cover.

A deductible is the amount you must personally pay before your insurance claim can be paid out. For home insurance the deductible ranges from $0 - $3000. The smaller the deductible is, the more your insurance will cost. It’s worth considering how much the policy costs with smaller and bigger deductibles. In many cases a higher deductible can save you money that you can save to cover any future deductible and possibly even more. It’s also worth considering that a higher deductible would mean if you just broke your laptop, tv or bike then you would cover that cost.

Named perils or named risks (which means the same thing) is typically the coverage in a basic insurance policy, which names all the risks your property and all your stuff is covered for. So it’s often very limited, the problem is there are so many damages you may never consider. Many named perils policies will not cover water damage (which is often the most common issue), earthquake damage, natural disasters, electrical failures or plumbing issues they also often won’t cover higher value items like your laptop, art, bikes, collectible cards, appliances, clothing, jewellery and other precious things.

Most policies will let you buy addons, to cover specific items like bikes, art, collectible cards, comics, sports memorabilia. It’s highly recommended if you have items like this to get extra cover to make sure they’re named in your policy.

Houses, condos and seasonal homes. These policies will not cover long term rentals, Airbnb rentals, mobile or movable homes. 

Through Covid-19 many more people have been working from home, so a good question to ask is if you’re covered in this case. The answer is usually yes if you’re usually in an office, and your home is not a place of business (ie you don’t have customers or clients enter your physical home or produce any goods from your home.) Some kinds of businesses ran from your house will need extra cover. These businesses include manufacturing at home , a home tattoo parlor or have staff/colleagues working with you. In these cases its worth looking into business cover, but basic online work is generally ok.

Most home insurance policies will include personal liability, largely this protects you if your house causes damage to someones health or property. So if the mailman breaks his leg on ice in your driveway, or a shingle from your roof hits the pizza delivery guy you’re covered. Also if your dog bites the mailman that’s also covered. Most policies will cover you from $100,000-1 million and would cover you for the lawyer fees and the settlement.

This cover will not help you if you wish to sue someone, you hurt someone intentionally or say sell them an item like a car that is defective. So it’s a limited liability cover. Some insurers will sell an add on for ‘litigation’ that covers more cases  if you’re sued.

Insurers will consider a number of factors when pricing your policy, basically they work out how risky you are and your property is and the less risks they foresee the cheaper your policy. So if you smoke your policy is going to cost more as you’re more likely to have a fire. The factors to price your home insurance include: 

If you are a tenant, you may think that the building owner's home insurance will cover your belongings in the event of a loss: this is not the case. You must have your own policy for your property to be insured.

In addition, home insurance offers civil liability protection. This protection protects you if you are held liable for damage caused unintentionally to someone else.

Often if you bundle your car, life and home insurance you’ll get a discount. Also your age, job type, claim history (have you used insurance) can net you discounts from 5-20%.

In Canada some insurers will only offer coverage in certain states. There are a number of insurers that work exclusively in Quebec or Ontario. If you have properties in more than two states you want to cover, it often makes sense to go with a Canada wide insurer.

Legally you do not have to home insurance in Canada. However if you have a mortgage or rent a place the bank or landlord may require you to take out a policy.

Not always, it pays to call your provider, you may need to empty the water pipes or turn of the power from the mains. It’s always good to have a pre-holiday ritual to clear water pipes (so they don’t freeze) and turn off expensive gadgets.

Often it isn’t covered in the basic plans and even in some comprehensive ones so make sure you check this as it can happen.

Again it may not be, floods from say a burst pipe may be covered by a basic policy but a flood from rain or weather is often excluded.

In many cases no, it’s an extra addon, some may cover “fires caused by earthquakes” but not the actual damage of an earthquake.

Often it will not be unless specifically listed or if you ask for this. Obviously if your home has a lot of wood they pose a more serious risk.

It does cover the windows, roof of the building and common areas, but it will not cover anything inside your unit.

In most cases you’ll get the rebuild cost, which is lower than the market value. That’s because the land isn’t priced in. So you’ll be covered to rebuild the house as it was but you won’t get the value of the property. If you’re 45+ or 50+ depending on the insurer you can choose to take a cash settlement instead of rebuilding.

Be careful where you buy insurance, only licensed brokers or agents working for insurers can sell you a policy, we provide details on each insurer but we don’t sell insurance! Once you make your pick of which home insurance you’d like, you should typically speak directly with the company. A broker can also be useful if you want a human touch point or to  pick someone’s brain.

What are the reasons you'd want to cancel home insurance?

1. Your have paid off your mortgage–  Once you no longer have a mortgage you aren't required to have home insurance any more. It's always advisable to have home insurance but if you'd rather save the money and put it aside for repair that is a legitimate call.

2. Your rates have gone up - If your policy changes and is now more expensive it may make sense to change policy or provider, if this is the case check out the full list of vendors you can switch to here.

3. You've sold your house - If you're now renting instead or in between places it makes sense to cancel. I

4. You're moving house - If you've moving to a new home your old policy will no longer be applicable, as the house's location or features of the house will change.

When is it possible to cancel home insurance?

You can cancel for any reason even if not listed above, you can cancel anytime but dependent on when you cancel you may have extra fees. 

-If you decide to break your contract in the middle of its duration you can be charged a penalty fee. 

-Cancelling home insurance when the contract is up for renewal is the idea time to do so.

-Cancelling home insurance during the 'rescission right period' which is 10-15 days is also penalty free.

What's the process of cancelling home insurance?

Because you're able to cancel anytime it makes sense to follow a bit of a checklist to make sure you minimise any fees and or don't lose any benefits.

- Check the details on your policy - it pays to check what happens if you cancel early and what the fees are, how  to document the process and cancel the paperwork.

-Think about what coverage you're losing - it makes sense to check what your coverage actually covers and winter is coming think again about cancelling that coverage might mean if there is heavy snowfall or flooding.

- Check out the full list (here) of other providers to find a cheaper or better policy. 

Costs of cancelling home insurance

- Cancellation fee - If you cancel mid term you may have to pay a fee, call your insurer to enquire or it will be in your policy document.

- Loss of discounts - If you change insurers you can lose benefits you have built up like accident forgiveness, loyalty points or no claim bonuses.

- Admin fees - your new insurer may charge admin fees for setting you up a new contract like a new policy fee.



Alternatives to cancelling home insurance

- Put your deductible up - you can save a lot if you choose a higher deductible.
- Negotiate or ask for a discount - many insurers will give discounts or let you negotiate especially if you intend on leaving, they'll typically offer better rates to keep you.
- Limit coverage - remove coverage for things you may no longer need like art or jewelry.

RBC Gatineau / RBC home insurance

RBC Insurance's personalized home package will help you protect your house, cottage, condo, and other seasonal properties. Features base coverage of repairing damages made to your home and its detached structures, while also offering coverage on both water and earthquake damage as optional policy add-ons. RBC Insurance's home package will also protect personal property found within your vehicles.

Sonnet home insurance

Sonnet offers personalized home insurance that will help you protect your house, cottage, and other seasonal properties. Features base coverage of repairing damages made to your home and its detached structures, while also offering coverage on earthquake damage as an optional policy add-on. Sonnet also provides an opportunity to save on home insurance by bundling both your home and auto policies together.

Belairdirect

Make use of Belairdirect's personalized home insurance to help protect your house and condo. Features base coverage of repairing damages made to your home and its detached structures, while also offering coverage on both water and earthquake damage as optional policy add-ons. Belairdirect also provides an opportunity to save on home insurance by bundling both your home and auto policies together.

BCAA home insurance

CAA offers a home insurer package for BCAA members with 20% off.

CAA also offers an  AMA home insurance policy for AMA members.

Home insurance BC

Sonnet,  TD, Intact, CIBC, Belairdirect and many others offer home insurance to BC residents.

Home insurance Alberta and Edmonton

Alberta home insurance is offered by many insurers including: Sonnet,  TD, Intact, CIBC, Belairdirect, Desjardins, The Personal and many others offer home insurance to BC residents.

Home insurance Winnipeg

Manitoba home insurance is offered by TD, Intact, CIBC, Scotia, Personal many others offer home insurance to BC residents.

1. Before making a home insurance claim

It pays to check your policy again and see if the damage is covered and most importantly see what your deductible is. Let's say your windows are broken by a storm and the damages cost $700 and your deductible is $500. This means you'd only get $200 back and your no claim bonus (ie the discounts for no claims on payments) would disappear which over a year or two could be worth more than $200.


2. Home insurance claim process

1. Call your broker or email them asap, the sooner generally the better as it can take some time to organize payouts.
2. If you can't live in your home due to damages you may be entitled to costs living in a hotel, so keep all receipts related to having to live elsewhere.
3. A claims specialist will come and investigate the damage and try and ascertain a payout amount and what will be covered.
4. You'll need to complete a proof of loss form, be very careful on this form any untrue statement like damages or prices of items can void your policy. You'll need to make a list of what's damaged, stolen or lost with photos, receipts, prices and warranties. You'll need photos of the damaged items and keep them until your insurer says you can get rid of them. You sign the form and state that it is true.

Home insurance for a condo is not mandatory in Canada, but if you have a mortgage your lender would likely require you to have to it.


All condo associations (they are basically an association owned by all the owners that maintain common property like halls, elevators, garage space, the outside of the building and the lobby) will have some form of insurance. It varies greatly between condo associations. Some will just cover the common areas, with others covering some appliances, carpets or interior walls. Although your personal items laptops, clothes, art etc won't be covered by your condo association's policy and in some cases damage to the condo's roof (from hail), or personal liability if a guest slips by the pool or on ice outside may not be covered so it does make sense to understand your condo associations policy and work out where the blind spots of coverage are.

1. Why do you need condo insurance?

To cover renovations - if you renovated your unit added new appliances and they're destroyed in a fire, the condo association's policy won't cover the renovations you've made (be they new floors, appliances, walls etc.)

To cover your contents - all your contents be they furniture, jewelry, bikes, laptops, art or others won't be covered by your condo association's policy either.

Extra living costs in case of emergency - if your condo burns down and you have to live in a hotel only personal home insurance will cover some of these living costs whilst your condo is being rebuilt.

Common area damages - if the condo association submits a claim after damage is done to common area, you may need to pay your share of the deductible , with condo insurance you'll be covered and in the case your shower leaks and your responsible for the entire deductible that too would be covered.

Contingency cover - if your condo association's policy is not enough or doesn't cover certain aspects of damage home insurance for your condo could help in this case.

Personal liability claims cover - if a guest of yours or even someone delivering a package to you slips on ice or is hurt by a falling brick you could be liable to cover the medical and other fees. With personal liability cover you would not be liable for these bills.

2. How much is home insurance for a condo?

Home Insurance for a Condo can cost from $20/month to about $33 a month depending on the type of coverage, the price of the condo, deductible amount, age of building and a number of other factors.

What is unoccupied home insurance?

Generally if your home is unoccupied across Canada your home-insurance provider can void your insurance policy if it's for more than 30 days. The best idea if you're planning being away for more than 30 days is to call your insurer, they may require a neighbor, friend or family member to pop in on a daily or weekly basis to check in on the property. If you're renovating or building a home it  also pays to follow up with your insurer and see what changes need to be made for your coverage to be active.

If you rent your home and can't find  a tenant within 30 days you'll also need to apply for a vacancy permit from your home insurer. This needs to be done within those 30 days to get coverage.


Is a summer home considered unoccupied for home insurance purposes?

If you have a summer home you close over winter, then this typically is insured as a holiday home and wouldn't be considered unoccupied provided it isn't insured as a primary residence.

Is there a difference between unoccupied home insurance and home insurance for a vacant property?

Typically unoccupied homes are homes that are lived in with appliances , furniture and utilities (internet, power, gas etc) working. Unoccupied home insurance can be covered under your normal home insurance policy with an extra cost usually by adding a $10 endorsement added.

Vacant property is a house that has no utilities connected and is empty for a longer period of time, vacant homes are more vulnerable because when something goes wrong it's likely to go unnoticed for some period of time. A home left unattended will begin to deteriorate and cost more to repair when issues are found. To get Vacant home insurance you'll need a separate policy outside a normal home insurance policy. There are a number of ways to lower the cost of a vacant property home insurance policy: Install locks on all windows, have a gardener or landscaper come by monthly, cover windows with curtains, check the property regularly. 

High risk home insurance is usually for homes where there have been multiple claims, your policy was cancelled due to missed payments, multiple mortgages, you haven't had insurance before or there was a long time between policies. It can also be when you live more than 100km from your rental property.

Check out our full list of home-insurers.

Home insurance is specific to the home so it's not possible to transfer to it a new home. Also you cannot transfer it to the new owners as they may have a different risk profile (Ie they smoke, have more children in the house, or work from home.)

So in short no you cannot transfer home insurance.

Motor home insurance is different to home insurance, it's a riskier thing to insure. You can find motor home insurance from Intact, Aviva and Allstate and many others.