Running a Business From a Rental Home
A personal tenant policy should not automatically be treated as business insurance. Working from a rental can add business property, customer, professional and cyber exposures that need to be disclosed and reviewed separately.
Tell the insurer when a business operates from the home
Insurance Bureau of Canada says a person who decides to run a home-based business must inform the home insurer. Personal property policies can provide only limited business-property protection, while ordinary personal liability may not answer business-related liability claims.
IBC — Home Business Insurance →Business equipment may need different protection
IBC notes that personal home policies may provide only a small limit for books, tools and instruments used for a business, profession or occupation. Equipment taken away from the home can face additional limitations.
A renter who keeps computers, cameras, tools, inventory or client property at home should compare the tenant policy's business-property wording with the actual value and location of those items.
Personal liability and business liability are not the same
A tenant policy's personal liability is designed around personal activities. If customers, delivery people or business partners visit the rental, the operation can create commercial liability exposure that should be reviewed separately.
IBC identifies commercial general liability as the coverage commonly used for certain third-party bodily injury and property-damage claims arising from business operations.
Professional and cyber exposures can exist even without visitors
A consultant, designer, developer or other professional can work entirely online and still face allegations involving errors, advice or missed deliverables. Professional liability / E&O is separate from ordinary personal liability.
Businesses that handle client data or rely on systems can also have cyber exposures. The fact that the work takes place from a rented apartment does not make those risks personal rather than commercial.