Habitational
Habitability claims, loss of rents, building code upgrades, portfolio-level umbrella stacking. Coverage structured for how apartment operators actually manage risk.
Coverage types built around the risks your business actually faces.
Commercial Property
Building envelope, common areas, mechanical systems, and landlord-owned improvements. Replacement cost or functional replacement cost based on building age and condition.
Older multifamily buildings often have outdated valuation. A 1970s garden-style complex may cost 40% more to rebuild to current code than its last appraisal suggests.
General Liability
Premises liability for tenant injuries, visitor incidents, and habitability claims. Includes coverage for lead paint, mold, and other environmental habitability issues.
Habitability lawsuits are the fastest-growing liability exposure in multifamily. A single mold or lead paint claim can exceed $1M with class action potential across multiple units.
Loss of Rents
Covers rental income lost when units become uninhabitable due to a covered peril. Includes the fair rental value of vacant units that were expected to be leased.
Standard loss of rents coverage uses a flat per-unit figure. Your actual rent roll has variance: market-rate units, Section 8, loss-to-lease gaps. Your coverage should reflect it.
Ordinance or Law
Covers the cost of demolishing undamaged portions, increased construction costs to meet current building codes, and loss of value from code-required changes after a partial loss.
After a fire in an older building, code upgrades (sprinklers, ADA, energy efficiency) can add 25–50% to reconstruction costs. Without ordinance or law coverage, that gap is uninsured.
Equipment Breakdown
Coverage for HVAC systems, elevators, boilers, electrical panels, and other mechanical equipment. Includes spoilage (refrigeration), expediting expenses, and utility interruption.
A boiler failure in January forces tenant relocation and emergency repairs. Equipment breakdown covers the repair, the temporary housing costs, and the lost rent during displacement.
Umbrella and Excess Liability
Additional liability limits that stack across your portfolio. Covers the gap between underlying policy limits and catastrophic claim exposure across multiple properties.
A single property may carry $1M GL limits, but a portfolio of 20 properties concentrates risk. Umbrella coverage should be structured at the portfolio level, not per-property.
These aren't hypotheticals. They're the claims scenarios we see. Here's how coverage actually responds.
A frozen pipe bursts on the third floor, causing water damage to 16 units across three floors. Tenants require temporary housing for 6–8 weeks during remediation.
How coverage responds: Commercial Property covers the repair costs. Loss of Rents covers the rental income for all 16 units at their actual rent roll values. Tenant relocation expenses are covered under additional coverages.
After repeated maintenance requests about bathroom mold, a tenant files a habitability claim. Two additional tenants join, and an attorney gets involved.
How coverage responds: General Liability covers defense costs and any settlement. The policy responds whether the mold claim is classified as bodily injury or property damage, but only if your policy doesn't contain a broad mold exclusion.
A kitchen fire destroys 8 units in a 1975-era garden complex. The city requires sprinkler retrofit, ADA upgrades, and updated electrical throughout the damaged building.
How coverage responds: Ordinance or Law coverage pays for demolishing undamaged portions that must come down for code compliance, plus the increased cost of construction to meet current standards.
One Habitability Claim Can Undo a Year of NOI
One habitability issue can trigger far more than repair costs. Gaps in loss of rents, ordinance or law, and liability structure can turn a single property problem into a serious NOI hit. We'll review each property and identify where the real exposure sits.