These days in Ontario, a home doesn’t need to be considered a mansion to be classified as a high-value home.
Million-dollar homes are everywhere!
With the prices of homes being what they are these days, more people are finding themselves growing out of regular home insurance and in need of high-value home insurance.
WHAT IS CONSIDERED HIGH-VALUE HOME INSURANCE IN ONTARIO?
There is no regulated threshold or standard dollar amount in Ontario that determines which homes qualify as high-value homes as it relates to insurance.
Generally speaking, however, you’ll find many insurance companies in Niagara and Haldimand that consider homes valued at $1,000,000 or more to be high value.
Some start lower at $750,000, others start higher at $2,000,000.
We recommend you speak with your insurance company about your home value, especially if you have an existing policy and are planning on purchasing a higher-value home since policies like the one below may come into play.
A. Renewals.
Any existing Member of Erie Mutual Insurance with a high-value home of $2,500,000 or more will require their home to be inspected by Farm Mutual Re (our reinsurer) recommended vendor(s) before renewal being offered and will require Farm Mutual Re to approve an Underwriting Special Acceptance Submission.
B. Endorsements.
Should a member of Erie Mutual Insurance acquire an additional dwelling to be used as a secondary or rented dwelling, and/or move to a High-Value Home mid-term of their home insurance policy, if the home’s Rebuild Cost or ACV is $2,500,000 or greater, Special Approval from Farm Mutual Re must be obtained in addition to an inspection by one of their recommended vendors.
NOTE: Erie Mutual Insurance is capable of insuring homes with a value of up to 2.5 million.
C. New Business.
Any new business typically allows agents up to $1,000,000 quoting authority and a binding authority up to $1,500,000. Any risk above this threshold will need to be referred to our underwriting department for consideration and approval before proceeding further.
HIGH-VALUE HOME INSURANCE ADVICE
One of the most important things to remember when insuring your high-value home in Ontario is to make sure all of those extras that make the home so luxurious are properly covered.
Photo Credit: Aspect Custom Home Builders Niagara
• High-end materials for the kitchen
• Custom heated flooring
• Luxury bathroom fixtures
• Underground sprinkler systems
These types of things should all be mentioned to your insurance company and explicitly mentioned within your high-value home insurance policy.
HOW MUCH DOES HIGH-VALUE HOME INSURANCE COST?
Since one of the primary variables that impact the cost of home insurance in Ontario is the replacement value of the home, it’s easy to understand why high-value home insurance costs more than the average Ontario home insurance.
It’s also important to note that many insurance companies will add an extra surcharge to the base cost of home insurance for homes of a certain value.
Take Erie Mutual Insurance for example, risks approved for quoting that fall within the $1,500,000 to $2,499,000 threshold will be surcharged by 20% to the starting base rate.
If your home is valued at less than $2,500,000 please reach out to get a home insurance quote anytime.
Erie Mutual Insurance proudly serves the commercial insurance, farm insurance, home insurance and auto insurance needs of members throughout Southern Ontario including Haldimand, Niagara and Hamilton.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions you may have about this or any other topic related to your insurance.
