I want to look into the different options for offering insurance to our tenants at the facility I manage. We currently are about 85% full, but have never offered tenant insurace; that's been something we encourage they obtain themselves. We use SiteLink Web Edition software, and we also have an Insomniac 900 Kiosk. Does anyone have any advice as to where I should start?

Check with Deans & Homer.

We always tell customers that we recommend that they get insurance since our insurance only covers the buildings and not the contents of the units. We keep pamphlets from Deans & Homer on the counter and give one to anyone interested. The pamphlets include the price of insurance based on the amount the customer thinks they need.

We also have them sign a lease addendum (also provided by Deans & Homer) that states that we are not responsible to loss or damage to their property and that we do not provide insurance for them. Then they select one of 3 options and sign it: 1. Get insurance from Deans & Homer, 2. Get insurance from their insurance agent, or 3. Be self-insured.

Kim

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Kim Howard
Manager
FCI Self Storage & Custom Police Vehicles

The program where you mail in the brochure does protect you from litigation as long as it is mentioned in your lease agreement, but as far as customers choosing it I have found in the past for it to be very low on the success end. That means something if they are paying you a fee for each customer that chooses it.

I would look into someone like Safestor who has their tenant insurance embedded within the software itself as it seems to be successful and very user friendly.

Thank you for the responses! We are signing up to provide tenant insurance as we speak (as I type).

Hi Monica,

There are many options when it comes to tenant insurance. Quite a bit depends on how much you want to do at your facility. If you have a small facility, you might want to provide brochures at the counter. If you have a larger facility and good onsite management, you might want to offer a "pay with rent" program, utiliting your facility software to accept insurance and rent together. Or, you might want to consider a protection plan where your facility includes coverage for each tenant.

I can point you in the right direction once I know more about your facility. The good news is that there are a number of insurance providers specializing in tenant insurance - Deans & Homer; Bader: and Minico just to name a few.

Feel free to contact me so I can assist you more.
Thanks,
Randy

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Randy J Tipton, CIC
President
Universal Insurance
3300 N Central Ave, Suite 1520
Phoenix, AZ 85012
randyt@univins.com
800-844-2101 extension 1153