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I rent out rooms using Airbnb and co. Does my household and liability insurance cover my house and guests? Who pays for damages, accidents, etc.?
Greetings,
Household insurance normally provides some coverage for the property of guests staying with you in your insured home. However, unless your policy states otherwise, household insurance generally only covers private homes. If you rent out rooms on a short-term basis for money - and particularly if you advertise this service online or otherwise - the insurance company may categorize your property as a commercial property. In the worst case, your claims may be rejected or only partially fulfilled.
If one of your guests damages your property, they are liable to pay for it. This can be difficult to enforce, particularly if you are hosting short-term visitors to Switzerland or if you are not actually present at the time that the damages occur. The onus primarily rests on you to ensure that your guests accept liability and pay (or have their personal liability insurance pay). Some home sharing portals provide some form of insurance for damages or require guests to place a deposit. However, filing claims can be a tedious process - particularly if the portal is not run by a Swiss company.
When you accept strangers into your home, you take on a lot of risk - particularly when you provide a service in exchange for pay. From simple food poisoning to damages, injuries or charges of emotional abuse, the list of possible incidents for which you can be held liable is almost limitless. Personal liability insurance generally does not cover incidents which occur in the line of commercial activities. If your insurer can link the incident to commercial activity they may refuse to accept a claim.
If you regularly rent out rooms or properties, getting commerical insurance can help fill the gaps. Commercial insurance for small and medium-sized enterprises typically includes comercial property insurance which covers your commercially-purposed property and commercial liabilty insurance which covers liability incurred during commercial activities.
Best regards from Moneyguru
More on this topic:
Guidelines for subletting a rental home in Switzerland
Household insurance explained
Glass insurance explained
How to insure a shared home
