Insuring your House Hack

[Heather Bailey]

Hi all!  I purchased and renovated a house with a separate legal mother/daughter apartment that I am preparing to Airbnb here in Central NJ. 
I wanted to find out from those of you who are house hacking; do uou have separate insurance for the rental?   Are you able to separate it from your primary residence for tax and liability purposes?  

[Shawn Mcenteer]

Hi @Heather Bailey something to consider with this is legal mother/daughter may not mean legal duplex. Renting out technically may not be legal for this property. The good news is owner occupying allows you to get away with things like this a bit more. STR is another concern, many towns have laws against it but most towns do not enforce these laws, just make sure you are aware of them becuase they can be enforced.

Regarding insurance adding additional umbrella insurance is great idea.  Requiring occupant to have renters insurance is another possibility for extra protection. The biggest thing with this is if something major happens are you legally covered if the unit is illegally rented.  From tax stand point I would think you can separate from primary and be okay with IRS being that IRS will not be local code enforcement.