Use These Landlord Resources to Protect Your Insurance

NYC landlord resources — NYC Landlord resources for managing risk, maintaining compliance, avoiding costly claims, and protecting your building insurance coverage.

Owning and managing a building in New York City can be complicated. Regulations change frequently. Obscure compliance issues can cause premium increases and dropped coverage. Managing risk can feel like a game of whack-a-mole.

We’ve made it easy for landlords to find the information they need in one place. The new online Landlord Resources Center includes guides, compliance references, planning tools, and curated articles for landlords and building owners navigating the insurance and risk realities of New York City.

Here’s how to get the most from this valuable resource.

Guides to Getting the Best Insurance Rates

These comprehensive reference guides cover the insurance decisions that matter most to owners of brownstones, small apartment buildings, and mixed-use properties in NYC.

From managing risk to understanding the many insurance options available to NYC building owners, the Landlord Resources Center includes nine guides to understanding and managing the entire insurance process, including the following:

Understanding Basic, Broad Form, and Special Form Coverage. How coverage forms differ and which provides the strongest protection.
A Guide to Insuring Mixed-Use Buildings. Coverage considerations for properties combining residential and commercial tenants.
A Guide to Understanding Multi-Family Building Insurance. How insurance works for small apartment buildings and what owners need to know.
How NYC Landlords Manage Risk to Maintain Insurable Buildings. The foundational guide to how building risk affects insurance eligibility and pricing.

Other guides help owners of small buildings battle rising insurance rates, provide critical tips for owners of brownstones, and explain how an insurance expert evaluates policies, and more.

Tools to Help Building Owners Make the Best Insurance Choices

Use these practical tools and downloadable resources to evaluate coverage, prepare for renewal, and manage building risk.

Coinsurance Risk Calculator. Estimate coinsurance exposure based on building value and replacement cost to avoid costly penalties at the time of a claim.

Residential Building Insurance Planner. Evaluate your current coverage and identify potential gaps before renewal with this structured planning guide.

Resources to Reduce Liability and Prevent Costly Claims

Owning and managing buildings in NYC carries risks. Based on decades of experience, these curated articles offer an expert view of liability exposures, risk scenarios, and coverage decisions that have the greatest impact on NYC building owners.

These non-technical articles will help building owners anticipate and avoid liability claims, slips and falls, and other potential issues.

Landlord Liability Insurance: What NYC Landlords Need to Know. The coverage that protects owners from lawsuits, injuries, and third-party claims.
Why Sidewalk Conditions Can Put Your NYC Building Insurance at Risk. What insurers expect from property owners when it comes to sidewalk maintenance and documentation.
Slip-and-Fall Risk Management for NYC Landlords. How to reduce the most common source of liability claims against NYC landlords.
7 Tips for Lower Landlord Insurance. Practical steps that help NYC landlords reduce premiums without reducing protection.

Articles also cover renters’ insurance (it should be required), coinsurance (generally not a good idea), rental income protection, and other topics.

How Landlords Can Avoid Expensive Compliance Penalties

New York City building owners face potentially expensive compliance issues from multiple NYC agencies. Even violations that seem like minor, quality-of-life issues can cause insurance premiums to skyrocket and even lead to policy cancellations and non-renewals.

The resource center offers guides to help building owners comply with NYC regulatory requirements that directly affect insurance eligibility, liability exposure, and claims outcomes, including:

Other guides cover snow removal, bedbugs, lead paint, window guards, the differences between wear and tear and property damage, and other critical compliance information.

Answers to NYC Landlords’ Frequently Asked Questions

NYC landlords and building owners have questions. The professionals behind the City Building Owners Insurance Program offer answers to the most common ones, based on nearly 50 years of experience. These frequently asked questions cover such topics as the following:

Coverage and policy basics
Landlord responsibilities and risk management
Coverage options and policy structure
Basement and cellar questions

Building owners who wonder whether they can rent out a basement or cellar, and how the law says they’re different, will find the answers here. (In short, basements can be rented as apartments under certain circumstances; cellars cannot.) Learn what building inspectors look for, when to get an umbrella policy, the value of a risk-based insurance review, how to avoid being under- or over-insured, and more.

A Convenient Insurance Resource for NYC Building Owners

If you have questions about your current coverage or want to understand how your building’s risk profile affects your insurance options, we can help. The City Building Owners Insurance Program has specialized in NYC landlord and building insurance for nearly five decades.

Check out the Landlord Resource Center, or call our office at 877-576-5200 with specific questions.