Landlord insurance in Brevard County, Florida

Brevard County's rental market has changed as the launch business has grown. Engineers and contractors relocate to work at Cape Canaveral and in Titusville, Melbourne's aerospace employers keep hiring, and a lot of those newcomers rent before they buy. Add the beach towns, Cocoa Beach, Satellite Beach, Indialantic, with their seasonal demand, and the county has a busy and varied market for people who own a second home or two.

Where your rental sits matters a great deal

Brevard is long and narrow, and the insurance picture changes as you move east.

The barrier islands. Cocoa Beach, Satellite Beach, Indialantic and the stretch south toward Sebastian Inlet sit between the Atlantic and the Indian River Lagoon. Wind, surge and flood exposure all run high. Fewer carriers write here, and Citizens is a common fallback.

Merritt Island. Surrounded by the lagoon and the Banana River, with plenty of waterfront homes on canals. Flood is the dominant question.

The mainland. Melbourne, Palm Bay, Rockledge, Titusville and Viera are further from the ocean but still in a hurricane-exposed county. Rainfall flooding and wind are the main concerns, and the market is generally broader.

What you are insuring, and what you are not

A landlord policy is built around three exposures that belong to you as the owner.

The structure, at what it would cost to rebuild it, which on the Space Coast has climbed steadily. The income, through rent-loss coverage that may stand in for rent you cannot collect while covered damage is repaired. And the claims against you that come from the property, such as a fall caused by a loose step, where the liability limit is what responds.

What belongs to the tenant is the tenant's to insure. Requiring renters coverage in the lease protects both of you and keeps disputes simpler after a loss.

Roof age and the four-point inspection

Brevard has a lot of homes built in the 1970s and 1980s during earlier booms at the Cape. Older homes often need a four-point inspection, covering roof, electrical, plumbing and HVAC, before a carrier will write them, and the roof's age frequently decides both price and eligibility. A wind mitigation inspection can document features such as roof-to-wall connections and impact-rated openings that earn discounts on the wind portion of the premium.

If you are buying a rental, get those inspections before closing, not after. They can change the economics of a deal.

Hurricane deductible and flood

Wind losses on a landlord policy come with their own hurricane deductible, usually figured as a share of the building's insured value. Work out the dollar amount for each property and set aside enough to cover it.

Flood is always a separate purchase. On the islands and around the lagoon it is close to essential; on the mainland it is often inexpensive enough to be an easy decision.

Running more than one property

Owners with several rentals sometimes find it simpler to place them with one carrier or on a single schedule, and an umbrella over several properties is usually efficient. It is also worth keeping the paperwork on each one, leases, inspections, improvements, in a single place, because carriers will ask for it at renewal.

The details of what any policy covers depend on its own wording.

How K2 fits in

K2 Insurance writes rental property across the Space Coast. Because we work with many carriers, we can tell you who is writing barrier-island properties right now, which changes more than people expect.

Reach out, read more about landlord coverage, or see what else we write across Brevard County.

This article is general information, not insurance or legal advice. Coverage, limits and exclusions depend on the terms of your individual policy.