Rueter Insurance Assurance

Our approach is based on avoiding unintended consequences by recommending the correct coverages at a competitive cost. We accomplish this objective through attention to detail, asking the right questions, and marketing your account to insurance companies that respect quality work. 

Essential Coverages

  • Tenant Discrimination Liability
  • Building
  • Ordinance or Law Coverage, Parts A, B, and C
  • Business Personal Property
  • Outdoor Property
  • Loss of rents
  • Employee Dishonestly
  • Money and Securities
  • Accounts Receivable
  • Contractors’ Equipment
  • Valuable Papers and Records
  • General Liability
  • Hired and Non-Owned Automobile Liability
  • Workers’ Compensation
  • Umbrella/Excess Liability
  • Employee Benefits
  • Employment Practices Liability with third-party
  • Directors and Officers Liability
  • Equipment Breakdown
  • Cyber Liability with data breach
  • Targeted Hacker Attack – Business Income
  • Identity Theft
  • Electronic Data Processes
  • Flood
  • Earthquake

Critical Issues

  • Tenants performing commercial cooking
  • Frame and joisted masonry must be sprinklered
  • Protection class 7 or better
  • Hood, duct, filter and AES must meet NFPA 96 standards
  • Central Station fire alarm
  • Up to date rent roll/tenant list
  • Fire ignition from electrical wiring, heating, air conditioning, and cooking systems
  • Poor maintenance of appliances: must have documented records of periodic maintenance
  • Lost data
  • Code compliance: all smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, and carbon monoxide detectors need to be to code
  • Lead exposure if building pre-dates 1980
  • Slips and falls
  • Exits: sufficient and well-marked
  • Steps: handrails, well lit, and marked
  • Locks: should be rekeyed after a change in tenant
  • Maintenance log should be kept to document owner’s response to tenant requests
  • Hired and Non-Owned Auto. Necessary if employees use their own car to run errands.
  • Prepare a disaster recovery
  • Building and BPP valuations
  • Power surges and power failures
  • Employee theft

Questions agents often fail to ask

  • When was the last time you updated the electrical wiring, heating, air conditioning, and cooking systems?
  • Do you perform periodic maintenance at your buildings? Do you keep a log of it?
  • Do you have your data backed up to an external source?
  • Are all smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, and carbon monoxide detectors up to code?
  • Were any of your buildings built prior to 1980? If yes, have those buildings been checked for lead paint?
  • Are you or the tenant responsible for snow removal?
  • Do you issue receipts for each cash payment that you receive?
  • Who has access to your client records?
  • Do you document client decisions and their written approval?
  • Do you have any of your employees run errands? Do they use their own vehicle?
  • Do you have a disaster plan in place?
  • Do you run background checks on potential tenants?
  • Do you run background checks on all of your employees?
  • What would it cost to replace the current year and model of each appliance?
  • What would you do if your office and equipment were damaged or destroyed?

Case History

Tenant Discrimination Liability

When dealing with potential tenants for rental units, it is important to avoid any type of discriminatory behavior. In recent years, the number of tenant discrimination claims have increased, and although a large majority do not have any standing, they nonetheless cause the unit owner/manager money. The unit owner can either fight the suit in court or settle out of court, both of which can cost the unit owner a significant amount of money. Fortunately, there is an insurance product available in the event of an unexpected tenant discrimination suit. Tenant Discrimination Liability Insurance protects the apartment owners and managers in the event of discrimination, harassment or wrongful eviction lawsuit. These coverages are all excluded under standard General Liability and Employment Practices Liability policies. After the chosen deductible is met, legal costs and damages arising from the following types of claims will be covered: race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability, pregnancy, sexual orientation, any form of harassment, assault, battery, and wrongful eviction from a premise.

 

General Liability

A tenant’s guest slipped in the bathroom and fractured his skull. The visitor was unable to return to work for several months. He had a limited working capacity due to daily headaches because of the injury. The tenant let his renter’s policy lapse six months prior to the incident and the building owner was left to defend the suit. A settlement of $125,000 was negotiated on the landlord’s behalf by his insurance company. It was determined that the building owner was 15% negligent and the tenant was 85% negligent.

 

Building Coverage

The insured supplied coin operated laundry equipment for the tenant’s use. A sign in the laundry room advised the tenant to remove the lint daily. Unfortunately, the sign was ignored, and a lint backup caused a fire that damaged the basement interior, as well as smoke damage throughout the building. The insurance company paid $45,000, including six months loss of rents.

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