For California Landlords & Rental-Property Owners

Landlord Insurance.
Shopped, Not Settled.

The independent brokerage for California landlords and investors. If you rent out a property — single-family, small multifamily, or seasonal — you need a DP-3 dwelling-fire policy, not a homeowners policy. We shop it across admitted and specialty markets: dwelling, other structures, loss of rents, and liability. Own the home you live in? See Homeowners →

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Indication in about 4 minutes · Leased, mid-term & seasonal rentals · No broker fee · No obligation

Open perils DP-3 special form, not a DP-1
Rebuild cost Valued, not guessed from the price paid
Liability elected Never left blank on a placement
CA DOI #0D94699 Independent · licensed in all 50 states
See who we cover
Tell us how it's occupied

Occupancy decides the placement, not the postcode

Underwriters don't sort rentals by neighbourhood. They sort them by who is inside, how long they stay, and how often that changes — which is why the first question our application asks is the one most quotes skip.

Leased

Annual or month-to-month

The dwelling form's home ground and the broadest market. One tenant, one lease, one rent figure to size Coverage D against — the easiest file to place well.

30+ days

Mid-term & furnished

Travel nurses, corporate stays, relocations. Usually workable on a dwelling form with disclosure — but the furnishings are yours, so Coverage C stops being an afterthought.

Nightly

Short-term rentals

Generally past what a standard DP-3 contemplates, and the most common source of undisclosed-use denials. Specialty markets write it deliberately. How it differs →

Empty

Turnover, eviction & rehab

A third occupancy state with its own rules, and the one most likely to produce a denied claim. Tell us the expected duration — that is what decides the product. The vacancy clause →

Already have an HO-3 and a tenant moving in? Start here →

Availability and appetite vary by property, occupancy, ZIP, and quarter; listing a segment isn't a guarantee of an offer. All indications are preliminary and subject to underwriting.

What a DP-3 Covers

Six lines to get right on the declarations page

The dwelling form uses the same alphabet as a homeowners policy but assigns different jobs to the letters — which is exactly why reading one with homeowners habits goes wrong.

COVERAGE A

Dwelling

Set from a replacement-cost valuation, never the purchase price. Land doesn't burn, and the gap between what you paid and what it costs to rebuild runs both directions.

COVERAGE B

Other Structures

Rentals carry more fencing and more detached square footage than owner-occupied homes. If a detached ADU is producing its own rent, the default percentage rarely covers it.

COVERAGE C

Your Property Only

The appliances, water heater, and any furnishings you supply. Your tenant's belongings are never insured here in any amount — that is their renters policy, not yours.

COVERAGE D

Fair Rental Value

The rent that stops arriving after a covered loss. Left at an auto-calculated percentage of Coverage A it bears no relation to your actual rent roll — the most under-bought limit on the form.
COVERAGE L · ELECTIVE

Landlord Liability

A dwelling fire policy can be issued with no liability at all, and many are. Check your declarations page: if Coverage L shows no limit, you own a rental with no defence.

ENDORSEMENT

Ordinance or Law

The extra cost of rebuilding an older building to today's code. Excluded by default on every dwelling form, and on California's ageing rental stock that is not a footnote.

Every coverage letter, explained in full →

Know Which Form You Have

"Dwelling fire" names three different policies

Most landlords are told they have "a dwelling fire policy," which is about as specific as calling a vehicle "a car." The gap between the bottom rung and the top is the difference between a policy that pays for a burst pipe and one that doesn't.

DP-1 · Basic

A short named-perils list built around fire. Wind, hail, smoke and vandalism usually arrive only as add-ons, and losses are frequently settled at actual cash value. This is what the cheapest quote generally is.

DP-2 · Broad

A longer named-perils list that adds the everyday causes — accidental water discharge, freezing, falling objects, weight of ice or snow. Replacement cost on the dwelling is normally available.

DP-3 · Special

Open perils on the structure: covered unless the policy names an exclusion. The burden flips onto the carrier to justify a denial. This is what you want on a rental you intend to keep.

If your declarations page lists perils by name, you are on a DP-1 or DP-2. If it says "special form" or describes coverage as applying unless excluded, you are on a DP-3. If it doesn't say, send it to us — reading it takes a few minutes.

Straight answers

Four things a DP-3 will not do for you

Open perils is not all perils, and the gaps are predictable enough to plan around. We would rather you know these now than discover them during a claim.

Suspends

Cover an empty unit indefinitely

Every dwelling form suspends coverage — vandalism first, often water too — once the building has been vacant past a stated number of consecutive days. Thirty and sixty are the thresholds you will actually meet. The vacancy clause →

Excluded

Repair wear, tear and neglect

Scuffed floors, a ruined carpet, deferred maintenance a tenant let slide. Excluded on every property form ever written. That is what the security deposit, the lease and your walk-throughs are for.

Not yours

Protect you through your tenant's policy

A renters policy defends the tenant against the tenant's liability. When a visitor sues the property owner, you are not an insured on it. Require it anyway — but carry your own limit.

No answer

Pay rent on a unit you can't fill

Fair rental value responds to a covered loss that makes a unit unrentable — not to a unit that is simply unrented. A vacancy between tenants is a cash-flow problem with no insurance fix.

What Drives Your Premium

Six levers set a California landlord premium

Rental risk prices differently than owner-occupied, and two of the levers below are ones a homeowner never has to think about. This is what carriers actually weigh — and where an independent broker earns the spread.

1 · How long tenants stay

Annual lease, month-to-month, mid-term or nightly. Stay length and turnover frequency shift appetite further than the address does, and nightly hosting leaves the standard form entirely.

2 · Wildfire exposure

The dominant California factor, and harder on rentals than on owner-occupied homes: an owner living on site is a mitigation story an underwriter believes. Documented defensible space is what reopens doors.

3 · Loss settlement basis

Replacement cost or actual cash value — and whether a separate roof schedule quietly depreciates the roof by age. Carriers push ACV on older rentals, and it is the single largest swing in what a claim pays.

4 · Coverage A and coinsurance

Shaving the dwelling limit to hold the premium down doesn't buy cheaper coverage; it triggers a proportional penalty on every claim, including small ones. Insure to rebuild cost.

5 · Age, systems and unit count

Roof, wiring and plumbing drive surcharges and declinations on older stock. Above four units you leave the dwelling forms altogether for commercial property.

6 · Carrier choice

The same rental prices well apart across admitted and specialty markets, and on hard-to-place risks that spread is the entire value of shopping it. This one is our job.

Get Started

Ready to price your rental the right way?

Takes about 4 minutes. No commitment. Live indication as you answer — then a signed application our brokers take to the landlord market.

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Or call us directly: 562-COVWELL · reviews@bollinsure.com