Landlord Insurance in Connecticut

By Jon Merwin, Founder and CEO

Connecticut has roughly 481,000 rented homes, about one in three of all occupied homes in the state (ACS table B25003). The largest share is not in apartment towers or single-family houses. It is in the two-, three- and four-family buildings found on side streets from Norwalk to Norwich, which hold roughly a third of the state’s rentals (ACS table B25032). This page lines landlord insurance up against what Connecticut law expects of a landlord, and shows where the state’s weather and older buildings change the coverage you need.

Portsmouth Atlantic Insurance is an independent, family-owned agency founded in 2005. Not being tied to one company lets us compare landlord coverage from 40+ carriers. We serve Connecticut from our Connecticut office and by phone, email and online. Phone (603) 431-4020, or email insure@portsmouthatlanticins.com with your rental’s address.

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What Connecticut’s rental stock looks like

Census estimates for 2020 to 2024 show the buildings Connecticut landlords insure:

Building type	Share of Connecticut’s rented homes	What it usually means for coverage
Single-family house (detached or attached)	About one in five	A dwelling policy for a non-owner-occupied house; condos and townhouses need a unit-owner form instead
Two- to four-unit building	About one in three	Homeowners form if you live there and the carrier allows it; dwelling form if you don’t
Five to 49 units	A little over one in four	Commercial apartment coverage, usually with a package of property and general liability
50 or more units	About one in six	Commercial programs, usually through professional management

The age of the stock matters just as much. Nearly one in four rented homes in Connecticut is in a building put up in 1939 or earlier, and about two in three are in buildings from before 1980 (ACS table B25036). In Hartford the picture is sharper: about three in four occupied homes are rented, and more than a third of those rentals are in buildings from 1939 or earlier (Hartford B25003; B25036). Expect carriers to ask about wiring (including any knob-and-tube), the roof, old galvanized or cast-iron plumbing and the heating plant.

Matching the policy form to the rental

A house or a whole building you don’t live in

Non-owner-occupied rentals of one to four units are generally written on a dwelling policy. A basic form covers a short list of named causes of loss; a broader form covers the building against any direct physical loss not excluded and often settles building claims at replacement cost. See dwelling fire versus homeowners insurance. Liability and loss of rents are add-ons.

A multi-family you live in

An owner-occupied two- to four-family home is the classic Connecticut rental. Many carriers will keep one on a homeowners form, which can be broader than a dwelling policy, provided the rented units are disclosed. The liability limit has to account for tenants, their guests and anyone using shared stairs, porches and driveways.

A condo or townhouse unit you rent out

The master policy covers what the association’s documents assign to it; you insure the rest on a unit-owner policy that recognizes the rental use, with improvements, liability and loss of rents. Our Connecticut condo association page explains how master policies are set up.

Five units or more

At five units most carriers move the property to a commercial apartment policy. Vermont Mutual writes Connecticut rentals up to four-family on personal lines, and larger multi-family rentals, including buildings of five or more units, can be written on a business owners policy (BOP). In Connecticut we also place apartment buildings with Andover and Providence Mutual. See our Connecticut apartment building page for what those policies include.

What section 47a-7 asks of a landlord, and where insurance fits

Connecticut’s core landlord statute, General Statutes section 47a-7, requires a landlord to comply with building and housing codes affecting health and safety, make repairs needed to keep the premises fit and habitable, keep common areas clean and safe, keep electrical, plumbing, heating, ventilating and other supplied systems and elevators in good working order, provide trash receptacles and arrange removal, and supply running water, reasonable hot water and reasonable heat. Stricter local codes win. Performing the duties is on you; insurance answers for sudden losses and the claims that follow when something fails.

Duty under 47a-7	What insurance can respond to	What stays with you
Keep common areas clean and safe	Liability if a tenant or visitor is hurt on a stair, walk or hallway and you are found responsible	Repairs, lighting, snow and ice removal
Keep heat, plumbing and electrical in working order	Sudden damage such as a pipe that bursts or a fire that starts in a panel, subject to policy terms	Wear, maintenance and replacing worn-out equipment
Supply heat and hot water	Loss of rents if a covered loss leaves units unlivable	Fuel, service contracts and routine boiler work
Comply with health and safety codes	Ordinance or law coverage, if added, for code-required upgrades after a covered loss	Code work required before any loss

A lease can hand some chores to the tenant, more easily in a single-family house than in a multi-family. That doesn’t move the liability off your policy, so tell us if tenants handle snow, heat or yard work.

Security deposits are a legal duty, not an insured one

Connecticut’s security deposit statute, section 47a-21, sets rules that every landlord should have in front of them:

• A deposit can be no more than two months’ rent, or one month’s rent for a tenant aged 62 or older.
• Each deposit goes into an escrow account at a Connecticut financial institution, and the tenant gets written notice of where it is held within 30 days.
• Interest is owed at least at the state deposit index each year.
• At the end of a tenancy the landlord returns the deposit and interest, or an itemized statement of deductions, within 21 days or 15 days after receiving a forwarding address, whichever is later. The 21-day window replaced 30 days in 2023.
• A landlord who misses the deadline can owe twice the deposit.
• A landlord who doesn’t live in Connecticut must appoint the Secretary of the State in writing to receive legal papers.

No policy pays any of this: the deposit is the tenant’s money, and penalties for mishandling it fall on the landlord. The link to insurance is paperwork. Move-in photos and a condition report support a deduction and are exactly what an adjuster asks for after a fire or water loss.

Fair rent commissions are spreading across the state

Under section 7-148b, every Connecticut municipality with a population of 15,000 or more must create its own fair rent commission, join a joint commission with neighboring towns or join a regional commission run by a council of governments, by January 1, 2028. Commissions hear complaints about excessive rental charges and can issue orders; units rented seasonally for 120 days a year or less are outside their reach. Landlord policies don’t defend rent disputes, but a repair a tenant keeps raising at a hearing is worth fixing before it becomes a liability claim.

Owners who live out of town or out of state

Plenty of Connecticut rentals belong to owners who live elsewhere. Under section 47a-6a, a town may require a nonresident owner to report a current residential address (or, for an LLC or other entity, the agent in charge and each controlling participant) to the assessor or another office, and to update it within 21 days of a change. Orders about maintenance and code compliance can be served at that address, and reports filed since October 1, 2023 are confidential. For insurance, distance raises two questions carriers will ask: who checks the property between tenants and in winter, and how quickly you would learn about a leak. A local manager or monitored water and low-temperature sensors answer both.

Connecticut risks that shape a l

Connecticut rental property policies can carry a separate hurricane deductible, so check the declarations page for the amount. Our hurricane deductible guide goes further.

torm). Our hurricane deductible guide goes further.

Flood, and the rent it doesn’t replace

Flood is excluded from every standard landlord form. NFIP dwelling coverage protects the building and, if bought, the owner’s contents, but it does not pay for lost rent or a tenant’s belongings (FEMA dwelling form). Some private flood policies offer loss of rents; ask us to compare. Check the FEMA flood map for each building, and tell tenants plainly that your policy does not cover their things. See our Fairfield County flood page for shoreline detail.

Crumbling foundations

Foundations made with concrete containing pyrrhotite have been failing in north-central and northeastern Connecticut, and standard property policies generally do not pay for a foundation that deteriorates over time. The legislature created the Connecticut Foundation Solutions Indemnity Company (CFSIC) to help owners of affected buildings. Its guidelines treat owners of single-family and multi-family dwellings, including condominium units, as eligible claimants, exclude companies that buy distressed residential property as a business, and set deadlines and conditions by claim type (CFSIC guidelines; homeowner information). If you are buying a rental in the affected area, a foundation core test belongs in your due diligence.

Winter, oil tanks and empty units

About one in seven rented homes in Connecticut is heated with fuel oil (ACS table B25117), and carriers will ask about the tank’s age and location. The bigger winter exposure is a unit sitting empty between tenants. Many dwelling forms limit or exclude certain losses after a property has been vacant for a set number of consecutive days, and frozen-pipe damage often depends on whether heat was maintained. Keep the heat on, arrange regular walk-throughs and tell us before a long vacancy or renovation. Our post on vacant property coverage explains the usual limits.

Loss of rents: the coverage small landlords skip

Loss of rents, sometimes called fair rental value, repays the rent you lose while a covered loss is repaired. If a kitchen fire empties a three-family, the rebuild can run for months while the mortgage and taxes keep coming. Base the limit on actual rents and a realistic rebuild time. It pays only after a covered loss; a tenant who stops paying is a matter for the lease and the courts.

Liability, LLCs and umbrellas

Injury claims on rentals often start with stairs, porches, walks, ice or a dog. Landlord liability pays for your legal responsibility and your defense, up to the limit. Owners with several buildings or real assets to protect often add a personal umbrella over the rental liability.

Carriers we use for Connecticut rentals

For one- to four-family rentals in Connecticut our markets include Vermont Mutual, National General, Andover, Liberty Mutual, Hanover, Providence Mutual and Foremost, among others in our 40+ carriers. Vermont Mutual writes Connecticut rentals up to four-family on personal lines, and National General also writes Connecticut rentals up to four-family. For larger multi-family rentals, including five or more units, Vermont Mutual can write a business owners policy (BOP); for apartment buildings and condo association master policies we also place Andover and Providence Mutual. Which one fits depends on the building’s age, location, occupancy and condition, and on your claims history.

Nightly or weekly rentals are a different exposure from a twelve-month lease and many dwelling forms don’t fit them. Rules vary by town, so tell us before you list a unit.

Connecticut town landlord pages

Our town pages go deeper on local rental markets and hazards: Fairfield, Stamford, Norwalk, Greenwich, Darien, New Canaan and Danbury. Compare a rental with your own home on our Connecticut homeowners page, read landlord versus homeowners insurance, or start from our Connecticut hub and the main landlord insurance page.

Request a Connecticut landlord insurance quote

Send us the address, unit count, year built, the ages of the roof and systems, and your current declarations page. We don’t charge any fees. We line up 40+ carriers against your building, explain the trade-offs in plain language, and if a claim happens we help you report it and follow up until it is resolved. Request a quote. There’s no obligation to buy. You can fill in the form on this page, go to our quotes page or phone (603) 431-4020. We answer Monday–Thursday 9 AM–5 PM and Friday 8 AM–4 PM Eastern; the office is closed on weekends. Our client feedback page collects comments from 1,000+ Google reviews and over 2,000 testimonials.

Frequently asked questions

Does Connecticut law require landlords to carry insurance?

No state statute makes a residential landlord buy property or liability insurance. In practice most owners need it anyway: a mortgage lender will usually require coverage on the building, a condo association’s documents may require unit coverage, and the duties in section 47a-7 mean a tenant or guest who is hurt by a broken stair or a failed boiler can bring a claim against you. A landlord policy is how most owners carry that responsibility.

Will my homeowners policy cover a house I now rent out?

Usually not as written. A homeowners policy is built around the owner living in the home, and once a tenant moves in and you move out, the policy may no longer fit the way the property is used. Tell your carrier or us before the lease starts. A dwelling policy written for a rental, with liability and loss of rents, is the normal replacement.

I live in one unit of my two-family house. What kind of policy do I need?

An owner-occupied two- to four-family home can often stay on a homeowners form, with the rented units disclosed and liability that reflects the tenants and their guests. Some owners prefer separate coverage for the rented portion. The answer depends on the carrier and the building, so give us the unit count, who lives where and how utilities are split.

Does a landlord policy pay when a tenant leaves the apartment damaged?

It depends on how the damage happened and on the policy form. Sudden events such as fire or a pipe that bursts are what dwelling policies are designed for. Ordinary wear and tear is never covered, and deliberate damage by a tenant may be excluded or limited on some forms. Connecticut’s security deposit law is the first tool for unpaid rent and tenant damage, which is why a move-in inspection and photographs matter.

Is flood included in a Connecticut landlord policy?

No. Flood is excluded from standard dwelling and homeowners forms. Rental owners buy it separately, through the NFIP (new NFIP policies through us go through Selective) or a private flood carrier such as Neptune Flood, Beyond Floods or Flow Flood. The NFIP’s dwelling form does not pay lost rent, which is worth knowing before a shoreline storm season (FEMA dwelling policy).

I own the rental through an LLC. Does that change the insurance?

The policy should name the LLC that holds the deed as the insured, and many owners also list themselves or a property manager as additional insureds. A deed and named insured that don’t match is a common problem on rental policies. The LLC doesn’t replace liability coverage, and an umbrella can sit over the rental liability.

Which details help you quote my Connecticut rental?

The property address, how many units it has and whether you live in one, the year built and the age of the roof, heating system, electrical service and plumbing, how long leases run, whether any unit is rented by the night or week, current coverage and any claims in the past five years. Request a quote. There’s no obligation to buy. The form sits just above these questions, or phone (603) 431-4020.

Sources

• ACS 2020–2024 five-year data, Connecticut: owner- and renter-occupied homes (B25003)
• Connecticut occupied homes by tenure and units in structure (B25032)
• Connecticut occupied homes by tenure and year built (B25036)
• Connecticut occupied homes by tenure and heating fuel (B25117)
• Hartford city: owner- and renter-occupied homes (B25003)
• Hartford city: tenure by year built (B25036)
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-7, landlord’s responsibilities
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-21, security deposits
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-6a, nonresident owner address filing
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 7-148b, fair rent commissions
• Connecticut Insurance Department, Homeowner Before the Storm
• CFSIC underwriting and claims guidelines
• CFSIC homeowner information
• FEMA, NFIP Dwelling Policy form (2021)
• FEMA Flood Map Service Center

Written as general information for people who own rental property in Connecticut, this page is not legal advice, a quote or a coverage promise. Coverage turns on the wording of your policy and its endorsements and on carrier underwriting; statutes change and census estimates get revised. To talk through your own building, phone (603) 431-4020.