Renting to students in N.L? Some insurance companies might refuse to cover you

A housing advocate in Newfoundland and Labrador is taking issue with insurance companies that refuse to cover landlords who rent to students, calling it discrimination, a claim the Insurance Bureau of Canada denies.

Sherwin Flight, who runs theNewfoundland Tenant & Landlord Support Group on Facebook, says it's unfair to rule out an entire category of people from coverage.

"Discriminating against students doesn't seem like a good policy," he said.

"Some of the stories that we're hearing are from landlordsthat say they've been threatened or have actually had their policies cancelled because they're renting part of their home to students."

He's heard of the problem arising whenlandlords are shoppingfor a policy, looking to renew, or even in the middle of a term, when companies have called to get more information on tenants.

"And through those discussions, they're being told that because they're renting out a basement apartment or something to students, that the insurance companies won't cover them at all," he said.

Flight isn't sure whether this is a relatively new issue or if members have just become more comfortable talking about it, but says it hascome up more in the last few years.

'Nothing to do with discrimination': IBC

Steers Insurance, an insurance broker in the province, confirmed some insurance companies do not provide coverage if a landlord has student tenants.

As a broker, Steers doesn't set any prices or terms and conditions, but it represents the companies that do.

"We do represent insurance companies which do provide coverage to landlords renting to students and we represent insurance companieswhich do not provide such coverage," chief operating officerBrian Flemingtold CBC News in an email.

"That said, what I've found, in my 26 years in this industry, is that when such questions of coverage come up, as they regularly do, it may be less a situation of the availability of the coverage and more a situation of the price at which the coverage that is available."

To refuse coverage completely leaves people in a bad situation.- Sherwin Flight

Amanda Dean, vice-president of the Insurance Bureau of Canada's Atlantic division, saideach insurance company establishes its underwriting guidelines independently.

"There's a whole menu of questions that an insurer will go through with you to ensure that they are covering you for the right level of risks, offering you the right products," she said.

People looking for insurance arewelcome to shop around if they don't like what's being offered through one company, she said, although she noted Newfoundland and Labrador has fewer insurers overall compared with other Canadian provinces.

According to Dean, the issue isn't discriminatory in nature.

"What it is, is basically insurers looking at risk characteristics, looking at claims history. It has nothing to do with discrimination," she said.

"If a particular insurer has increased exposure to property damage, or potential liability, that's for that insurer to take a look at, and how they can, or cannot, serve that segment of the market," she said.

Flight recognizedinsurance is based on risk and probability,buttakes issue with companies ruling out students altogether.

"To refuse coverage completely leaves people in a bad situation," he said.

"Maybe if we were to look at it from a point of view of any other sort of risk that it could impact your rates that might be better than taking the easy way out and saying we're not offering coverage at all."

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