Stein: Law does not require
landlords to insure property
PHILIPSBURG--Landlords have no legal obligation to insure their rental properties, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.
Following a blaze at a Dutch Quarter apartment building Tuesday that left about a dozen people homeless, questions were raised about the necessity of insuring the property for tenants in case of accidents, natural disasters or other “acts of God.”
Windward Islands Chief Prosecutor Taco Stein said the onus was on tenants, not the landlord, to insure their property, explaining that the law did not make apartment owners liable for losses to a tenant’s possessions.
“If they get a mortgage, the bank might force them to get insurance, but there is no legal obligation to do so,” Stein told The Daily Herald. “It would be crazy to ask a landlord to make sure his tenant’s property is insured.”
Stein explained that the individual rental units were not insured even when the landlord had incident insurance protecting the property. He said having across-the-board insurance for property would be difficult, considering that the values of property in different units would vary and would be hard to maintain.
So even if the premises are ensured, the tenants still have no recourse for property lost to fire or hurricane or sea damage.
